eDog -- I think getting a leather sofa when you have cats is asking for
trouble.

Try the Softpaws, they may work. If they don't -- please don't punish
the cats with declawing because of your furniture choice. You have to
keep in mind that a living creature is worth more than a piece of furniture.

Rhonda

Reposting my response to you from the other thread you started--but first
I'll add that I have very nice Natuzzi butter leather furniture that I have
had since '95:

Trim their nails short and they will not damage it.  There may be surface
scuffs, but unless they use your leather as a scratching post, they won't
tear it.  The rivets on your blue jeans will cause more damage.  Make sure
you have several tall scratching posts available for them to use and teach
them not to scratch the leather.  It works in my house just fine.

You had the cats before you had the leather.  Considering performing a
barbaric and cruel procedure on them to protect an inanimate object is
reprehensible.  Just don't do it.  Or, if you are still considering it, cut
your own fingers off between the last two knuckles first so you'll get an
idea of what it's like for a cat to be declawed.

Another experience may be helpful:  we lost our home and five kitties
in a forest fire several years ago that occurred while we were on
vacation.  It was horrible!  Believe me I haven't been going around
saying how much I miss my couch!

We now have three kitties, one leather couch, one leather chair.  I
keep their nails trimmed, and we placed a board covered with carpet at
the end of the couch.  They love to scratch on the board.  I did put a
fleece throw over the arms of the couch, but we use them in the winter
anyway.  Most of the inadvertant scratches are probably from *my*
nails, and my husband has yet to suggest I be declawed. ;>0  Most of
the scratches rub out of the kind of leather we have anyway.  They
completely ignore the chair.

Trimming well and providing other outlets should take care of the
issue.  To clip a wiggler, I often wrap in a towel, like a burrito,
with only the limb in question sticking out.

As for declawing, it can cause behavioral problems others have
outlined.  Some come through it okay, some take to biting, some hate
digging in litter so don't cover (probably it's painful), and some stop
using the box.  There's no guarantees.

Softpaws have worked for some, but I've never bothered, as my kitties
are family, and worth far more than any possession that I have.   I
believed that before the fire, but it was certainly reinforced with the
pain of the loss.

Do the best you can- KD

I would imagine you'll have as much success as having to, well lets say,
haul cinder blocks in the back of your Cadillac STS.

I've had a leather sectional for about 4 years, and I've found some
puncture wounds in it, but it's from my cats jumping on it, not
trying to scratch it like a scratching post, just as you describe. On
the spot (in the corner; it's a sectional, so the corner must be a
fun spot to play hide-n-seek) I just put a throw over the back of it
in that corner, and they pull it down sometimes, but I just put it
back when it see it down. I'm not too worried about it. Over these
years, the marks aren't really noticable.

Hi,

Firstly, declawing shouldn't even be on the table here. You don't cut
off a child's fingers because they fingerpaint on the wall. That's a
boundary that needs to made right now. To solve the problem: invest in
*at least two* 48" tall sisal scratching posts. If you have space in
your home, I'd add a floor to ceiling cat tree as well.
When a cat tries scratching the sofa, pick it up gently, say no (don't
yell it) and redeposit the cat next to a scratching post. Put some
catnip on the posts regularly, and if you have to, get down there and
run your fingernails along it, or even the cat's paws to encourage
them.

I'd also get some Polartec throws and either leave one or two on the
couch itself during nothing special days (to encourage the cats to sit
on it rather than scratching it) or put them on OTHER less valuable
furniture to make it more comfortable and appealing to the cats than
the leather couch.

Here's a link to a good scratching post:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=10290&N=2002+113632

Polartec throws are easy to get and cheap - just look for soft and
fuzzy ones.

This is solvable if you put the energy in, don't be too anal about the
couch and just forget you everh heard the word declawing. It's
mutilation and torture - end of story.

Take care,

Tracy