We just added a new kitten this past summer. He is now about 6 mos. old. He has single handedly ruined our leather sofa and chairs. The other 2 cats don't scratch the furniture, difference is, they go outside, little man does not. DMIL asked me the other day if I would buy leather again, duh. DH was freaking about the furniture as well. I said to him get the newspaper and hit yourself in the head. We knew when we bought these pieces that we have 3 cats... My opinion, it gives the furniture character.

We live in our home, it's not a showroom. That said, I don't want everything completely shredded so I have purchased squirt bottles from the dollar store which are now filled and ready. I am placing them at the strategic places in the house where needed. Only problem is you have to catch the action:)))).

Good luck.

Thanks for responding. With Jasper it isn't so much a behavior issue because he isn't purposefully scratching the sofa. It just happens when he climbs up or down. I allow him there, and actually want him by my side or on my lap when I am watching TV. That's why I thought soft paws might be an option.

It is always a good idea to get lots of things they can scratch on, because they do have to scratch on something. Scratching posts, cat trees, throw rugs, etc. all over provide good distractions and objects for scratching.

About the food: He is still a kitten at 6 months. You are feeding him kitten food? Feed him more often. 1/3 can 3 times a day at least. Or read what it says on the can regarding his age. You have a better chance of keeping his weight down by not allowing him to free feed on dry, but you can offer some quality dry as part of the feeding routine.

I like the quality dry food because I think it offers more nutrition, but the wet offers hyrdation. When he is over a year offer a bit of both?

My kitten is 8 months old and gets 1/4 of a can (3 oz kitten food) in the am and 1/4 at night. I wish he would eat more wet and less dry but that is about all he'll eat at one time.

I think you feeding 1/2 of the 3 oz can per serving is just fine.

As for the Soft Paws -- do you intend to put them on his hind claws? If you can do -- go for it! My kitty would never let clip his hind claws let alone put Soft Paws on them. IMO, leather and cats just don't mix. We have one leather chair in the whole house (very very $$$$) and thankfully the cat never goes on it. But I have seen the damage claws can do to leather and I don't think you do anything to avoid it.

Maybe you aren't clipping far enough? I'm afraid to clip too close myself, but there was a young volunteer in our rescue that could clip so close it was hard to find the nail. Don't know how she did it, but never saw her have a bleeder.
I've never heard anything good about soft paws. Too much bother from what I understand.

LOL! I realized a long time ago that you either have cats, or nice furniture...but never both at the same time! My cats are the same, they aren't trying to scratch things up, but it's the normal wear and tear their claws make on leather/fabric. Dear spouse and I do have new leather recliners that I throw shoe boxes on whenever we leave the house, to discourage them from hanging around on them. Other than that, it's kind of a fact of life. As for food, I would feed him the recommended amount for a kitty his age and size. Some cats are extremely food focused (like one of mine) and will spend all of their spare time trying to convince you that they are starving to death...don't fall for it.

I use soft paws. Since your cat is used to you messing with his paws it should be pretty easy for you. I did the hind claws once, but my male cat sat there yanking at them with his mouth until they came off!

They don't seem to mind the front and you only need to change them when they fall off. You won't lose all of them at once, just one or two at a time.

BTW, there are vets offices that will apply them for you - for a charge of course.

You can even get them in colors or paint them. (I'm sure your MALE cat will be thrilled with you if you do that, lol!)

They aren't too expensive, so definetly worth a try to avoid surgery. No matter what surgery is surgery and their are risks involved!

Good Luck!!

http://www.armarkat.com/index.htm great place for cat trees and excellent prices and low to free shipping!! we have 2 of the bigger ones for our cta, and she loves them. Stays away from our furniture. We have 1 in the living room area, and another in the second bedroom.

My roommate tried to use the softpaws and they never would stay on her cat. We used to find them all over the apartment. Finally she just gave up. I am not sure why they fell off. Her cat was actually pretty good, and didn't claw the furniture. Of course, it had a super bad habit of peeing on my bed when I left my bedroom door open! arrrrgh!

My cat's nails used to snag the sofa when she walked on it, though she never intentionally clawed the furniture. Next time you go to the vet, ask to have them show you how closely you clip the claws. It's possible you aren't clipping close enough. Also you might want to use a regular cat claw clipper instead of a human style clipper. Maybe then the claws will have fewer snags.

You could also get a pretty throw and put it across the loveseat for now.

I know he uses his clawing post, but another thing our cat loves is the cardboard clawing box, the one that sits flat on the floor, you put a little catnip in it to pique the kitty's interest. Just a Christmas idea for His Majesty. Get the velour seat; leather is too cold.

Aerobeds are pretty tough, so I don't think you need to worry about that. If he did puncture it, it would just deflate.

Don't get kitty declawed.