2 cats better than 2 to prevent scratching/urination?

Question
Hi,
A year ago we got a year-old cat for my daughter (cat already declawed
because we have expensive leather furniture). Unfortunately, we had to return
it to the no-kill shelter because of inappropriate urination that we couldn't
find a solution for, and we tried everything and I mean EVERYTHING (Feliway,
medication, Vet visits, you name it we did it.). We were all heartbroken.
We'd like to try again, avoiding a declawed cat as the no-kill shelter told us
when we returned her that declawed cats can be prone to urination issues.
My question(s):
1. Are problems with inappropriate urination/soiling and scratching of
furniture less likely if you get two kittens from the same litter? We're
wondering if they would act as a "pride" and keep the stress level down for
each other. We owned two cats who were littermates for many years and
never had any urination problems with them, although furniture scratching
was always an issue. (But then we got those cats back in our poverty-stricken
college days when we owned no decent furnityre so it didn't matter.)

Or would adopting two kittens make the likelihood of problems twice as
great?

2. What suggestions do you have that would save our leather furniture from
being destroyed since even one incident of scratching by cats would destroy
it? (A recliner sofa  -- it wouldn't be easy to cover with plastic) Please help
because we would love to own a cat or cats and so would our daughter, age
11 who  has wanted a cat or dog since our elderly cat died 5 years ago.
Thanks,


Answer
Jean,

There are all kinds of reasons a cat may engage in inappropriate urination, but this is the first I have heard it as a result of declawing.  Usually, if there is nothing medically wrong with the cat, then there was a behavioral problem with the cat.  I am including a URL which points to an excellent article on feline house soiling:

http://www.netcat.org/housesoiling.html

Before getting another cat, I would ensure the area where the other cat peeed inappropriately has been cleaned thoroughly with an enzyme based cleaner specifically for pet odors and pet stains, available from most pet supermarkets and farm stores.

As far as kittens getting along with each other, they do not have to come from the same litter, just be pretty close in age.  Also, I would not get a kitten any younger than 16 weeks.  By then it should have had all of its shots and have a fully developed immune system.

The only sure way I know to keep cats from scratching on furniture is to keep them out of any rooms with expensive furniture.  Certainly plastic slip covers would do the trick.  Sometimes putting two sided sticky tape on the furniture may help keep cats off, but I would be dubious (and, the sticky tape could do its share of harm).

I do not know of any reliable cat repellent (although your vet may have heard of one).

I am sorry I cannot be of more help on this.

Best regards... Norm.