This is Finnegan, our Maine Coon clown. As you can see, he lurvs my laptop. And he lurvs to scratch and claw my furniture. In fact he lurvs clawing so much that he’s been systematically ruining each piece of upholstered furniture I have.
A while back, I asked for advice about Finn’s clawing the furniture. Jen, from Fuzzy Logic, recommended Feliway (Comfort Zone) spray and diffusers . Feliway is a cat pheromone that duplicates the smell of a cat’s natural scent glands. The pheromone helps cats feel calm. which significantly lessens the urge to claw (or urinate or spray) to mark their territory.
I’m not one to put much stock in miracle products; I’ve been disappointed with the results too many times. But Feliway is one product that really delivers!
Without further ado — the results of using the Feliway plugin.
Before Feliway: Clawing until the stuffing gets pulled out.
After Feliway: No more clawing. Stuffing stays put.
With results like these, I’m thinking it might even be safe to go ahead and get this couch reupholstered now.
I’ve switched into using Feliway for several months now, and it works like a charm. It’s like a magic wand for cats. Its totally a purrfect product!
Ohhh that looks like our furniture. we have a maine coon too… Merlin. They can rip and tear for sure.
Going to check out the product as soon as I can. With 9 around here, well, you can imagine some days.
Purrs for Finnegan!
Teetotaled, the saran wrap and foil didn’t work. Nor the sticky tape, Judy.
So far, the Feliway is the only thing that’s made a difference.
Judy, thanks for the great suggestions. We do have a lot of scratching posts around, both vertical and horizontal, and Finn could care less about them. And, yes, our couch has pretty dense fabric. I’m thinking loose slipcovers may help. We’ll see.
I haven’t had much luck with Feliway (spray, not diffuser, but I’ve begun thinking about giving the diffuser a try) or DAP, for that matter.
Luckily, my cats aren’t big scratchers. Then again, there are more cat scratchers around my house then there are people & pets — that’s saying something for 2 cats!
Sometimes it’s a matter of the texture of your scratchers & your furniture. I’ve only had trouble with one or two pieces of furniture over the years, and often I’ve found that the ones with very dense, hard fabrics are the ones cats go for.
It’s best to have a variety of scratchers, both vertical & horizontal, cardboard & sisal usually being the favorites (but some cats like bare wood). It helps to actively encourage them to use them by treating them for scratching their scratchers & periodically rubbing them with catnip, if your cat is into that.
Also: location, location, location. Sometimes having a scratcher right by their favorite piece of furniture helps. Not always aesthetically pleasing, of course, but then neither is unstuffed furniture!
Cats like to scratch before eating, often, and after waking up from a nap. So it helps to have scratchers near their favorite napping places & where you feed them.
Sticky Paws (doublsided tape) can help, altho I haven’t had much luck with that, either.
I always wonder what He was thinking when he created cats. There’s something about them, so different. I almost want to diagnose them. Now there’s a post.
THat’s even worse than what our rogue hamster would do on his nights over the wall. He didn’t last long around here once he chewed up our new carpet :)
Can you hear me shouting YES!!!! Thank YOU!!!! I am getting this stuff tomorrow. Malcolm my Mainecoon ( and long lost twin to Finn) had ruined a couch too. The fabric has been pulled out from underneath also ( the couch sits on raised legs) and all the stuffing is falling out on the floor as well as the sides and cushions that are torn open. Last week I caved and ordered a new couch made with fabric similar to a bullet proof vest! You saved me the online search and vet consult on a scratching remedy. I bought him one of those stuffed mouse things with a rough fiber patch on it. It’s like spring loaded and hangs on a door knob and bobs up and down when he scratches. He uses it about 2 seconds then finishes his scratching on the poor couch. I love your blog! ;)
Thanks for the info on Feliway. I’ve often wondered if it worked.
OK, but what about the other 127 bad habits cats have? :-)
Thanks for the review. Maybe I will check this out. I usually wrap whatever the kitty is interested in in either aluminum foil or saran wrap. Doesn’t look so hot when company comes over but it sure keeps the cat away.
Oh good! I’m so glad it worked for you! We got the spray kind because when we moved, Chaos felt the need to “claim” everything with her claws. Our vet recommended that we spray the feliway on things that we didn’t want her to scratch on… worked like a charm.
To be fair, I know of one case where the plugin caused an asthma attack in the owner.. but then again, the owner was ready to give up the cat so I think she fibbed to me.
What a cute cat. I had problems with my puppy chewing and remembered bitter apple saved me.
Oh wow!!! We may have to get some of that before it’s too late! That’s amazing!
Woofs,
Johann
Karen, thanks for sharing this product with us…we’ve got two cats who are relatively new to our home and both are scratchers (our previous cat, who lived to be 28, wasn’t, and I’d forgotten what damage they can do!). We’ve been keeping their claws trimmed and it’s helped a bit, but I’m headed straight from here to buy some Feliway. I never know what products are more hype than help so it’s great to get a recommendation like this.