How do I stop my cat scratching the furniture?

Scratching is not a habit a cat can be trained out of, because it is not a habit. The American Association of Feline Practitioners lists what it is for: shedding the old outer nail to expose the sharp new one, a full-body stretch after resting, and marking, both the visible scratch and the scent from glands in the paws. A stressed cat scratches more. So the job is to give the cat somewhere better to do it than the sofa.

The post

The AAFP's toolkit says a post has to be tall enough for the cat to stretch out fully along it, and sturdy enough not to wobble, because a post that moves gets abandoned. Cats have preferences: sisal rope, corrugated cardboard, carpet and bare wood are the usual ones, and some cats scratch horizontally rather than up a post. Offer more than one kind and let the cat vote.

Where it goes

Next to where the cat sleeps, because cats scratch when they wake. Next to the furniture it is scratching now, not in the spare room. Near doors and windows, where the marking instinct is strongest. And in more than one place in the home.

Moving the habit

Reward the cat within three seconds of using the post: a treat, catnip on the post, a game, petting.
Make the sofa worse for a while: double-sided tape, foil or a plastic cover on the spot.
When the cat starts on the furniture, move it to the post. No shouting, no spray bottle. Punishment adds stress, and stress adds scratching.
Trim the nails regularly; the clinic will show you how. Soft synthetic nail caps, glued on, last four to six weeks.

Declawing

The AAFP strongly opposes declawing as an elective procedure. It is not a nail removal. It is the amputation of the last bone of each toe, and the association lists what follows: acute pain, chronic nerve pain, changes in behavior including aggression and soiling the house, and problems moving. A cat that scratches is a cat with claws, and the toolkit above is the whole of the alternative.

Sources

Read 18 September 2026.