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"Really, all it takes is a little training of the cat owners instead—trim their toenails and make a scratching post available."-9YearLurker

Depends on the cat. I've had cats most of my life and enjoy the company of two right now. The older of the two cats is simply too lazy to scratch anything. The younger, female will not ....WILL NOT be reduced to scratching a post or corrugated cardboard panels either. She prefers my wallpaper, vinyl chair covers, and wall panels ($$$ owens corning fabric covered fiberglass panels).

We've treated the fabric with deterrent sorats, provided dozens of climbing towers and commercially available scratching posts to no avail. I've nailed the scratching posts to the walls she preferred - even spraying the posts with scents to attract her. She pulls the panels down and tears away at the repaired wall paper instead.

So far, I've been able to re-affix the fabric to each of the fiberglass panels, but eventually they will need to be replaced. I worry about her paws getting cut up by the fiberglass bits she paws at (feels like a splinter), but so far, no injury.

Keeping both kitties nails trimmed is the best option for us thus far.

I've adopted declawed cats in the past. I personally cannot bring myself to declaw my cat, despite the damage she creates.

FWIW, she uses those paws to embrace my cheeks every morning as I come downstairs. She reaches her paws through the railings to reach my cheeks - where the stairs bend 180 degrees at a higher level - just to say good morning as she pulls her wet nose to mine. She never uses her nails, just the pads of her feet to embrace us. Who would want to change that?

Why NY needs a law to address this is lost on me.

I seem to recall a product that had a sticky side - some kind of paper or fabric - and you could apply it to surfaces to deter scratching. I think the idea was that the cat wouldn’t like the sticky feeling.

Can’t recall where I saw it...but I think it was more useful on upholstered furniture than hard surfaces.

-JT