Cats need to scratch, period. It makes them feel good when they stretch and it keeps their nails and/or paws healthy. My wife Jas & I have two cats: Fat Frankie and A-hole Sammie. When we found Frankie and she had already been declawed. When we got Sammie from the NE Humane Society, she still had her claws and we didn’t even consider having her declawed because we think it to be inhumane. Therefore, we were willing to accept the fact that some of our furniture could become victim to her Freddy Krueger ways. Luckily, the couch and recliner have survived. The wooden bannister, however…heh-heh…moving on.
There are ways to let your feline participate in cat scratch fever and protect your furniture at the same time, as Jessica M. Gladkowski talks about in THIS ARTICLE including one option that I never knew about…“capping”.