Lickorish has been scratching our leather sofa

i considered those claw caps but you have to glue them on and . . . i don't know. it just seemed easier for me not to have anything they wanted to rip apart. they leave the furniture alone but neither one of the clawed cats really wants his nails trimmed. i do it occasionally but it's a big ordeal.

i'd get slip cover if i were you.

i did babysit a cat with claws about 20 years ago before i got any cats, a big black tom cat named ozzie. but he didn't go after anything leather. the owner told me, "he won't scratch your sofa if you cover it with a sheet." so i did, and a week later i was changing the sheet and the back of the sofa was destroyed. it was so bad i had to throw it away so i charged the guy for a sofa lol. (he paid it too.) he also left the cat for two months, i can't even remember why. i still have a scar on my arm because i was lying in bed and the cat jumped on my forearm and wouldn't let go. eric said, "did you have your hand under the covers?" and i was like, "i don't really remember, probably, i was watching tv," and he goes, "oh yeah, he HATES that." thank you for telling me.

We cover our one and only leather lounge chair with a heavy blanket. Seems to keep the kitties off it. They only scratch when their claws are too long. Best answer is to trim them often. The longer a cat's claws are the more they want to file them down with scratching.

There are leather repair kits available to cover small holes. (Like Leather Repair Kits - Do it yourself leather repair products for furniture auto just about anything leather or vinyl) Depends how much damage you have. Ours is not too bad. We stopped the kitties before they could really make a mess of it.

You can also try spraying citrus or Feliway on the sofa to keep them away. We had good success just chastising them when they went for the chair, covering it and redirecting them to their tree. Also trimming their claws keeps them from damaging the house. It also seems to calm them down. I notice when their nails are long they seem to get more wild and rough in their play. Long claws accentuates their animal instincts.

We do nail trimmings every other week as well. We started the cats with routine trimmings as soon as they moved in and in time, they got used to it.

I have a sofa and loveseat set in pleather. Could not afford real leather then I put slipcovers on them to protect them for when company came over. 2 years later the slipcovers were ready to be changed, and when I removed the old ones, I found the furniture itself had tiny pin pricks all over it. I decided to buy new slipcovers and move on. It's just not worth the aggravation. I decided to see it as a blessing in disguise. Varied slipcovers and an assortment of throw pillows allow me to redecorate my living room without spending a lot of money.

I have found the cats prefer the loveseat since it's closest to the cat shelves. They don't really scratch it per se, but use it as a springboard so I got one of those pet covers you thrown on top for the loveseat, and so far, the new slipcovers have been on for over a month and no snags or tears.