Save my sofa! (Cat question with bonus rant).

azith28

So, I recently purchased a new sofa. My old sofa will eventually go to a goodwill store (Bonus rant under spoilers).

It's pretty interesting how goodwill and all these other used furniture charity stores apparently expect you to be jobless if you want to donate something to them. "Oh we only pick up on mondays and tuesdays between 9 and 4." .....Really? So i need to not have a regular job to GIVE YOU A FREE SOFA do i? Apparently I need to not only give them my old sofa but pay to have it delivered to them?

Currently my old sofa was moved to a corner, and my cats have taken to using it as a bit of a scratching post. I didnt mind because this kept them off my new sofa. What im wondering is whats going to happen when that sofa dissapears.

If i have it removed and at the same time put down a new scratching post in its place do you think that will work? They have other scratching areas, just not sure if this dissapears they will just move to the new sofa.

bowen

Generally you need one scratching post, per floor, per cat. Just like litter boxes.

My cats ignore our scratching posts because they like to piss me the fuck off.

Djeet

Get them using a scratching post BEFORE you move out the old sofa. Once they've decided to use the new sofa as a scratching post you will not be able to get them to stop without rendering the sofa useless to humans (covering it in foil, or duct tape sticky side up). In your situation I might section off a piece of the old sofa and keep it as a scratching post and toss the rest.

Enc

You need to have something vaguely like this:

or one of the innumeral variations of these cardboard devices in every room of your house. Cats require room to scratch and flex their claws, it is an instinctual reaction for them and one they need to do to feel comfortable both physically (as it takes off the dead outer "coat" of their claws) and psychologically (as they use it to also mark territory using the scent glands in their paws).

Canip cardboard boxes are typically better than carpet posts because cats will associate the carpet posts with similar color upholstry or your flooring carpet. The cardboard boxes also come with catnip to rub into their holes to attract cats to them and generally make your cat all sorts of happy to use them. They tend to be cheap, also (about 10-15 bucks for the basic kind).

My cats love this kind because it can also be used as a bed:

That's not my cat, mind you.

Concerning Goodwill, you are thinking about the service in entirely the wrong way. You are not doing them a tremendous service in giving away your old, dander-infested and clawed up couch. Yes, they can use it, but honestly the cost for pickup in terms of gas relative to what they will make of reselling or re-purposing it (if they even can) is usually a wash. Like most Non-profit companies, they only have the resources that they have, and your desire for free furniture removal is more silly than their pickup times. Last time I wanted to get rid of sizable furniture it was either pay a service company ~$90-150.00 or rent a Uhaul and drive out to the dump and pay drop-off rates (~$60-80 plus my time). Taking a day off work for free furniture removal that is also tax deductible is incredibly convenient and cheap comparatively.

azith28

Oh ive got several of those cardboard scratchers, a medium sized cat tree, and a carpet and rope scracher. I'm just hoping this goes kind of like folgers coffee. (We secretly swapped out this old sofa for a small pillar of carpet and rope...lets see if they can tell the diff...OH GOD MY NEW SOFA).

Nova_C

Bowen, you and me both.

My cat has taken to scratching the carpet right at the edge of the scratching post's base because she knows she's not supposed to scratch the carpet, and that I want her to scratch the post, but she's a passive aggressive douche and tries to act like I'm the asshole when I spray her with water.

SwashbucklerXX

Before you get rid of the old sofa, try spraying it with citrus scented Febreze fabric stuff (cats are not generally fond of citrus) while also dousing your existing scratching surfaces with catnip. See if you can get them to transition over. At least you can learn if they dislike the citrus scent and use that on the new sofa if it keeps them away.