OT-Cat scratching furniture advice

Ok...we need to get our cats declawed but it's not happening right this minute.   Our male cat scratches the couch but only when we're in bed at night.   We can lie in bed and hear him...run out and yell at him or spray him but once we're sleeping he's doing it more I'm sure.   Anyone have any ideas on how to get him to quit doing it.....or something we can put on the couch so he can't scratch it.   We just got a different couch last night and I hate for him to ruin it already grrrrrrrrrr.

We have trained our 3 cats not to scratch at the couch since they were kittens, and used positive reinforcement when they used their scratching pads rather than furniture.  Make sure your kitty has PLENTY of other attractive things to scratch on and play with, and trim his nails.  Your vet probably has ideas on how to help Declawing is really traumatic for kitty. 

He has lots of things to scratch just prefers to use the couch...we have 2 other cats that we have trained to use the other things...we've tried bringing him to one of the other place he can scratch when we catch him.   He knows not to do it thus he does it when we're not around.   I dont' want to declaw him either....he's like 8 yrs old and we just don't want to traumatize him so that's why he hasn't had it done yet.   Hopefully we'll get it figured out soon.  

I don't know of a vet that would declaw an 8yr old cat.  And if yours would, I wouldn't do it.  We declawed our cat when she was 1 and it was such a difficult and painful thing  for her to recover from.  I would NEVER do that again, especially to an older cat - like I said my baby was only 1 not 8. My cat is terrified of tin foil.  When I don't want her to jump on something (like counters) I put out tin foil for a week or two and she won't go near it again.  She was clawing my closet door so I wrapped some around the bottom of the door and after a couple weeks, she wouldn't touch it again.  Maybe lay out tin foil when you go to bed?

My last cat was older, I think about 6 or 7, when I got him declawed and he didn't have any problems.  He was such a laid back cat anyway. I was going to suggest the crinkled aluminum foil too.  It's especially good over potted plants for those kitties who like to dig in dirt.  Or, put an old piece of carpeting over the area of the couch that he's targeting.  I believe there might even be some sort of treatment you can put on your furniture that cats don't like.  Check out Petco or Petland for options.

I know this is mean.....but I couldn't help it..... I'm not a cat person...the first thing that came to my mind....was....shoot it. SORRY!!!!! I hear there is stuff you can spray on it to get them to leave it alone.  Or get him a scratch mat with cat nip in it so that he is more tempted there.

You can also get claw covers at drsfosterandsmith .com which glue on and last for a couple of weeks at a time until you get the cat trained and save the couch.

Yes, they're called Soft Paws: http://www.softpaws.com Please do not declaw the cat. You are removing part of their digits (fingers/toes).  Another good option is this: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2755193 I don't know how well this works, but you can also try this: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752872 As the cat coordinator for a local humane society down here, we do not allow any of our cats to be declawed and make all of our adopters sign a contract that states as such.

I was hoping you would reply.....thank you sooo much.   I knew there was something like this out there.....I am going to order some or stop at our PetCo and see if they have it.   I really don't want to declaw them at all...I know there are better solutions. 

You're welcome! Let me know how they work - I've never tried them myself. heheheh I'm thinking about you lining your sofa with tinfoil.