Teach your cat to scratch on a scratching post

Cats scratch instinctively. Don't try to get your cat to stop scratching; instead get them to scratch on the scratching post rather than the furniture. Fortunately, cats can be taught to scratch on a scratching post. This avoids surgical declawing, which is illegal in some places and frowned upon in many circles, due to the invasive nature of the surgery, the possibility of complications, and the fact that many cats (especially outdoor cats) need their claws.

Clipping your cats' claws regularly might help, but it won't remove the cat's desire to scratch. You can also buy claw covers which are glued onto the claws and replaced after a number of weeks. I haven't tried them, as I have been successful in teaching my cat to scratch on the scratching post.

First you need a scratching post. Actually, you should have several scratching posts. Because you are going to be rewarding the cat for scratching, the posts will need to be where you and the cat spend time. I'd recommend one per room. They need not take up much space - although I call the scratching surfaces "posts", they can be attached to the side of bookshelves, sit on the floor, or any place where the scratching surface is solid enough to stay still while the cat scratches. Get or make a few different kinds and see which ones your cat seems to prefer. Possible surfaces include sisal rope, sisal fabric, the back (under) side of carpeting, natural logs, or cardboard scratchers.

There are those who say you can train a dog merely by offering praise and relying on the dog's desire to please their owner. This isn't necessarily the best way to train a dog, but I have yet to hear someone even suggest it in the case of a cat. Therefore, we will use food rewards.

Cats are finicky eaters, so it generally will take a number of attempts to find a treat that interests your cat. Start by just offering the treat to see whether they will eat it. Once you have some treats your cat likes, make sure you have some stored next to each scratching post (a glass jar is a convenient cat-proof container). The goal is to reward your cat within a second or so of scratching, so that's why you want the treats next to the posts.

In the beginning, give your cat a treat every time that you see them scratching on the scratching post (later on, you can drop back to occasional treats). At first, the hardest part may be getting your cat to try the scratching post the first few times, so you can offer the treats. Spiking it with catnip, putting the post near places you have seen your cat scratch, or even scratching it yourself as a demonstration might help get the ball rolling.

If you catch your cat scratching the furniture, calmly pick them up and take them over to the scratching post. If they scratch the post, give them a treat. They will associate the treat with the most recent thing they did (scratching the post), not what they did before that (scratching the furniture).

Until your cat has learned that scratching the post is a good way to get treats, you'll want to make the furniture undesirable to scratch. This is to prevent your cat from learning to scratch the furniture, as well as to protect it. I've had good luck with double-sticky tape (sold at pet stores to control scratching), although I've also seen recommendations for aluminum foil, sprays, gadgets, and the like. The good news is that if you are successful at teaching your cat to use the scratching posts, the various deterrents should only be needed temporarily.