Microfiber can dissuade cats from scratching

Category: Cats

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Microfiber can dissuade cats from scratching

Updated Dec 8, 2024

Dear Cathy,

I read your recent column on how to get cats to stop clawing the couch and wanted to share my solution. As a woman in her 70s, I have had two cats in my home at all times for decades. I am very much against declawing cats. To me, it’s amputation. It’s illegal in some countries; I wish it were illegal here.

My advice on how to prevent cats from damaging a couch is to buy microfiber couches. I have had four microfiber couches over the years, and they are impervious to my cat’s claws. It must not be a satisfying texture for them to scratch because they seldom, if ever, try to use it. As a bonus, spots are removed easily with a wet cloth.

— Colette Agazzi, Palos Heights, Illinois

Dear Colette,

Thanks for your letter. I wondered what might be an option for those of us who don’t want to buy new furniture and found microfiber couch slipcovers available online. These slipcovers might be a permanent solution or a temporary training tool. Provide a scratching post, so your cat always has something he can scratch.

Cathy M. Rosenthal is a longtime animal advocate, children’s author, syndicated pet columnist, and pet expert with more than 30 years in the animal welfare field. Send your pet questions, stories and tips to moc.tidnuptepobfsctd-876b8f@yhtac. Please include your name, city, and state. You can follow her @cathymrosenthal

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Cathy Rosenthal (aka The Pet Pundit), CHES, CFE

Animal Welfare Communications Strategist, Writer & Educator

Cathy M. Rosenthal is an award-winning humane educator and author, animal welfare strategist, pet columnist, and speaker who has spent more than 38 years working in animal welfare with local and national humane organizations. She helps people better understand and care for animals through her nationally syndicated My Pet World column and has been the longtime pet columnist for the San Antonio Express-News since 2003.

In addition to her writing, Cathy develops humane education, leadership, customer service, and compassion fatigue training programs for animal welfare organizations nationwide, and has helped raise millions of dollars through grant writing, strategic communications, and program development.

Cathy is the editor and curator of Humane Perspectives: Leadership in Animal Welfare and is the author of several books, including Grant Writing Boot Camp for Animal Advocates, The Lucky Tale of Two Dogs, and The Happy Tale of Two Cats, which was the 2026 winner of the Association of Professional Humane Educators’ (APHE) "Educator’s Choice Award" for Best Humane Education Book for Young Children. She also received the 2026 APHE Nathania Gartman Heroes Award for Impact in Humane Education. Her humane education programs in Texas have reached more than 45,000 elementary school children since 2019.

She resides in Texas with her husband, their cat Sterling, and a former community cat, Maddie, who successfully negotiated an indoor living arrangement but still considers human affection highly negotiable.