We just got a new couch today and my freakin' male cat will not stay off of it!! Anyone want a pair of dirty rotten cats? I absolutely will not have them wreck a brand new couch in a month!!!!!

So very very frustrated!!

Dig out or go buy a cheapo blanket from Wal-Mart and toss it over the couch to protect it. That's what we had to do when we got our loveseat and the dogs were too interested in it. It won't work with cats, but we spent the first month ordering them off of it repeatedly until now they don't get on it -- while we're home. They have the couch. The loveseat's OURS.

I dont want them but I can sympathize with you and am also frustrated. I got new couches a few months ago and cant keep my 2 cats off them. Whisky vomited all over it...great big hairball but I will spare you of the details. My daughter brought home "Gizmo" at the beginning of summer. I promised myself I would not get another cat but he was cute and fluffy and he liked the dogs, not to mention the 4 kids awww mom he is sooo cute!!....so what the heck. Anyway I didnt get him neutered in time, cuz the vet wont neuter unless up to date on shots, and of course he didnt have any shots when he came home Some free kitten. Anyway now I think my 15 year old female cat is pregnant. She has been with us the entire 15 years and I would never part with her. I went downstairs yesterday to find that he peed on the winter coats I had just pulled out of storage
On the bright side of things, my kids have friends who would love to have a kitten I just hope thier parents feel the same lol.

Anyway, I hope you work it out. I know the pet stores have furnature sprays that repel cats. I also heard of rubbing the furnature with orange peels. Never tried it, but maybe worth a shot?

Unfortunately they get locked downstairs all day long when Quincy is up because they are far too interested in him. Now they may get locked down again overnight.

My previous cat threw up on a brand new chair that was just delivered and had been in the house about 3 hours, big huge one right in the middle of the seat!

I'm done with cats when these 2 are gone. I love cats but will live vicariously through others in the future.

I have 8 cats but they live at the barn. I have never had a house cat. I never let my dogs on the furniture. They have their own plush beds and have never known they could get on a couch or chair, thank goodness.
Cats don't mind very well to say the least , not that it's funny, but good luck keeping them off of your new couch.

I love cats, too, but I'm just not comfortable having one here with the birds and Henry. So I have to get my kitty fix at other people's houses. The house just isn't big enough to keep them separated, and my dogs have some sort of prejudice against cats, anyway, which is very odd because we had one when George joined the family and he and Sunny were great friends.

Here's one you can do....

What you Need:
One light sheet
A dozen CHEAP mouse traps (the old wood and spring kind that SNAP really loud)
One couch
Various cats

Make SURE they are the really cheap dollar store traps. You want the noise but you don't want to accidentally pinch a paw. Set all of the traps up on the couch and spread'em out. Lay the sheet carefully over the traps. Walk away. When the cats see that the couch "bites" they'll stay way the heck away from it even if you're not at home. Especially if occassionally you refresh their memory by setting up the traps.

If you can't find weak enough traps, anything you could rig that would make a huge noise would work - tied together tin cans, whatever. The nice thing about the traps is they're flat and small so the cats can't see them until they're landing on them. Smart cats learn to peek up over the side of the couch looking for cans. LOL

Another thing you can try when you're not home is tape. Cats hate getting their paws stuck on things. Take some packing tape, fold one end over so the sticky side is down, and place it on one side of the couch. Then do the same on the other side (fold over and stick).

Water bottles or squirt guns work wonders, too. Just don't say anything before or during your squirt...you want the cat to associate jumping on the couch with getting wet, not jumping on the couch makes mom get me wet.

Good luck!

Good ideas guys! The mouse traps made me laugh!

I have a friend who has 3 dogs in the house and will not let them on her couch. She bought a long, flat, thin, rubber pad that goes all the way across the front of her couch. It's the length of the couch seat, but only about 10 inches wide. If the dogs put their front feet up on the couch to jump up there, they get a mild shock.

I absolutely love the memory of the look on her face when she first showed it to me and then turned right around and sat on it. I won't be telling what she said!

HAHAHA oh thats priceless Jo!
My beloved cat went No 2 on both my new couches.
Maybe behavor bc she hates my Sons pug. But when the pug goes
to my daughter I will always have the worry will she go again!?
It would just kill me to "get rid" of her, so to speak. I sure
do love her but my husbands very unhappy shes still here. I can
understand your feelings. Hairs are one thing but No 2 and pee wow
thats mind blowing for me...

i can imagine that LOL im laughing so hard now.

Weeza that is priceless! If I could find one of those it would be worth every penny. I'd try not to sit on it though

Consider these points for your kitty:
-Does she have free access to outdoors when she needs it?
-If she is an indoor cat does she have free access to the litterbox? No shut doors/the pug's usual stomping grounds etc in the way
-Is the litterbox near where she eats or sleeps? A cat will go to great lengths to avoid leaving waste around an eating or sleeping area
-Is the litterbox in a vulnerable position? Could the pug turn up and interrupt her at any second? Is it in a laundry next to a noisy washing machine/dryer? Cats like safety and privacy.
-Even if she is a predominantly outdoor cat, you may need to provide a litterbox for her 'just in case'. There may be things you don't know about outside like neighbourhood dogs or a more dominant cat that make her prefer to stay inside without the risk of being ambushed in a compromising position


Quincy's Slave,
I think there is a spray called bitter apple that cats are very averse to. Otherwise they respond very quickly to the 'water torture' method as described by Dani

My heart breaks for your kitties! I have 2 of my own and either I'm darn lucky, or I just know cats, but I have never had these issues, tho I hear about them constantly and it really makes me sad.

First question: Do you have various types of vertical and horizontal scratching boards and posts placed strategically about the house for easy access for kitties to scratch on? (Sisal panels are best) Try placing the scratch posts at the corners of the couch.

2nd question: What is the material/texture of the new couch?? If it is very similar to their appropriate scratching surfaces, I can see where they may see it as a big giant scratch station. In this situation, you may want to invest in some double sided sticky tape(Sticky Paws), a couch cover, Soft Paws vinyl nail caps, Scccattt!! motion detector cat deterrant spray, and/or some training techniques (my personal favorite is the scruff and hiss-cats everywhere seems to understand this language)


The whole idea is to not make the new couch the most desirable place to scratch. Because it is a new object in the home, they may be marking it by scratching to accept it into their home environment. In this case, try Feliway spray on the areas that they are scratching. This will help eliminate the need to mark there.

In the case of innapproriate urination...ALWAYS ALWAYS have the urine checked at the vet's office for UTI or crystals. No amount of behaviour modification attempts will help if the problem is medical. That being said, my male cat(who does make struvite crystals and is on a special diet for it), without fail will always pee in my suitcase if i leave it open on the floor. I travel a lot on the weekends and he hates when I leave, lol

Best of luck! and please be patient! There are tons of things you can try. Also try some of Dr. Elsey's cat attract litter if the urine checks out clear with the vet.

Plastic carpet runners - the type with those little rubber nubs that are used to keep the runner from slipping in carpet - place these smooth side to the couch & the spiked side up. Chances are the cats will learn this is not a surface they want to step or lay on. (Just remember to remove it before sitting down) Though I had a cat who cared less and laid on it anyway.

Aluminum foil is another option - they tend to hate it.