Our Sofa Lasted Three Days With Gyoza

We bought a grey linen sofa in March because it looked lovely in the showroom in On Nut. Gyoza, our six-year-old Ragdoll, had other ideas. Within three days he had found a loose seam at the back and was happily pulling threads out of it every morning before breakfast. Yelling never worked, and spray bottles just made him think we were playing a game.

What did work was boring. We put a cheap throw over the arm he likes to scratch, added a scratching post right beside it that is taller than him, and rubbed a little catnip on the post. We also stopped letting him on the sofa when we were out. Two months on, the seam is still intact. He now uses the post as if it was his idea, which, to be fair, it was.