So my boy almost 1 year loves to scratch my chair. I don't really care because I don't like the chair, however I do not want to encourage this behavior because I will eventually get a nice sofa and chair. He usually stands up and scratches the corners so I have put the sticky paws tape in the corners, then he started laying down and scratching the bottom, so I put sticky paws tape on the bottom. He has now moved to the middle of the sides and back. I'm not taping anymore of the chair as that no longer bothers him. hes scratches through now.I've tried different smelling sprays- bitter apple, hartz brand and some all natural thing.He has scratchers and posts all over. he has ones that vertical, horizontal, diagonal-made of carpet, sisal and cardboard. he has one that is coved even (like a house) he sleeps in it. the largest is next to the chair he scratches and I kid you not, he steps on this scratcher to get to the chair.
It sounds like he wants attention. My little lady (approx 4 years), will scratch the chair and stare at me at the same time. If I continue to ignore her, she uses my leg as a scratching post (as long as I am wearing jeans, but it still hurts!!). She has 3 scratching posts. One she uses, but the other two she ignores. The main problem started when my mother brought 3 feathers on a bit of string tied to a bamboo garden cane. If I don't swing it around the room relentlessly, the furniture and my leg gets it! When I get tired/bored and she scratches, I either grab hold of her paws, remove them (from whatever she is scratching) and say NO!, or grab her by the scruff (she usually flattens to the floor) and say NO. It works for a few minutes. Sticky paws worked the same way as it did for you! It also looks horrible too.
Don't declaw. Shame on those who have suggested it. I don't have a great answer for you, but I'll just throw out suggestions left and right and hopefully something will click. Regarding catnip - if he doesn't respond to it, try valerian instead. It often works in cases where a cat is not sensitive to catnip. Is he only doing this chair and leaving your other furniture alone? If so, it's certainly possible that he will not harm any new stuff. He may just have a thing for this chair. What fabric is the chair covered in? Can you get a similar fabric to use to make your own scratch pad? I once had a similar situation. The girls loved to scratch on the back of my computer chair. I didn't stop them because I knew I'd be redoing it soon. But I also used some of the same fabric, wrapped it around some foam and hung it on the wall at scratching height. They absolutely adored it! And when I recovered the chair, they left it alone. Can you remove the chair? Without it he may turn to the scratch pads/posts you have for him. Or can you let him claim the chair as his? If he has this favorite scratching place it seems more likely that he'd leave anything new alone. Note - when you get new furniture you might want to get something in a different type of fabric from what the chair is done in, in case that's what drew him to it. Or how about recovering the chair in some less enticing fabric?
When people come to my house invited or uninvited, my cat is always on the spare chair. I either hold the cat or put him on the floor and she can find another place to lay for that time. Maybe if you don't want these visitors, if you do tell them to stand or leave, maybe you will not have to worry about them any more.
have you put cat nip on the scratchers it will make him want that more but if not try orange peels they really dislike that it's the only way i could keep my gwen from my plants. GOOD LUCK
I agree, spray water, maybe with a bit of something safe. I have a very expensive chair and my cat used to climb all over and after the first few digs in the leather, I covered it with a blanket. other than that, best of luck, cats are not like kids or dogs, at least in my experience, cats are a breed of their own and will do as they please.
