I no longer have cats in the house (I hate cat boxes), but my daughter does. When she moved and got some new furniture she was able to train her cats to not scratch it like they had done to the old stuff for years, by consistently squirting with a water bottle. It took 2 days. No more scratching. Cats are trainable for the most part, but it takes patience and time and mostly consistency. Like it is for most of us, me included, out pet's issues are due to our lack of discipline with them and ourselves!