I seem fated to share my life with extraordinarily difficult creatures. I did, after all, date Squeaky for awhile 
But lately Clancy’s been the one giving me trouble. I bought him one of these:
And one of these:
And for good measure, one of these:
Little fucker won’t touch ANY of ‘em. Instead I have a bunch of torn-up rugs all over the house, and my shoes look like this:
Argh.
Catnip the new items.
I tried that, actually. He doesn’t seem to be susceptible to catnip.
My method (and I’m no pro):
Pick a rug or a chair to be his rug or chair. A yell or a squirt from a squirt gun when he messes with your rug or chair combined with ignoring him when he uses his.
Most importantly: Keep his claws trimmed.
what tam said.
also, double-sided tape on the spots he likes best. obviously that won’t work on your shoes, but you might want to put those somewhere he can’t get to them, anyway. i once had a cat decide that my shoes were his personal litter box.
Gotta get him hooked first.
Loose catnip, brown paper bag, kitteh, some assembly required. =)
It has to be good catnip. “Cosmic” is the brand I give mine. The Hartz stuff is trash, like all of their other products.
i don’t think hartz is even catnip. i think it’s grass clippings doused in peppermind oil.
As Tam said, a moderate claw clipping once in a while is called for. Not a total cure, but it helps. The vet can do this. Best tool for the job is the guillotine type with the sliding blade. Stoning the blade a bit makes it work much better. And you get to reinforce your alpha cat status.