To cat or not to cat

We had a new loveseat delivered today, and they took the old one away. We bought new living room furniture (couch, loveseat, chair) when we moved into the new place, and I discovered one day that the back of the loveseat inside was wrecked. Since it's under warranty, I called the Company Named After A Piece of Masonry and they sent out their repair tech. He gave me the option of them taking away the loveseat, fixing it, and bringing it back 2 - 3 weeks later, or just exchanging it for a new one.

Gee, that was a hard decision.

So today we got our new loveseat. Which is fantastic, because, despite my best efforts, the cats have been using portions of the couch and loveseat as a scratch post. Despite having a scratchpost next to each piece of furniture. Sigh. The loveseat was the most wrecked (and it wasn't overly noticeable if you don't live in our house and aren't obsessive compulsive) but Muffin was rather pissed off about. So new loveseat = less pissed off Muffin.

Now hopefully the cats leave the new one alone. He wants to get them declawed, I absolutely refuse. I have heard of those plastic caps for kitties' claws - anyone have any personal experience with those? I tried buying that "this stuff is supposed to stink and keep the cats away" stuff, but it didn't work. Covering the corners with aluminum foil worked (they only scratch at the corners) but really, who wants aluminim foil over their couch corners 90% of the time?

May long weekend camping was fabulous - ridiculously busy, but fabulous. I again leave you with a precious picture of my baby and his momma.