Upholstery and Cats

[grannypie]

Hi all,
Silly question here. My favorite store-Crate&Barrel- is getting rid of some of their floor samples, but I would like to informally research the type of upholstery you guys think would work best with cats. Now, declawing is definitely NOT an option, and our cats are trained to use a post. We also try to keep their nails blunt. However, the cats do love to "knead" on the arms of our furniture!! Does anyone have a suggestion? I've heard good things about ultrasuede, but I also heard it stains easily. Any suggestions, personal experience??

[Deja]

The only fabric I have found to totally discourage cats from "kneading" or "scratching" is leather!

Seriously - I've had various fabrics over the years and my cats always find a spot on the couch or loveseat or chair to totally fray


I'm thinking - the tighter and more durable and strong the weave of the fabric is - the harder it would be to fray...

If you find something that is "cat scratch" resistant - please let me know! I'm dying to replace my couches!

[BrendaLynn]

Leather you say?!! Yeah! That is what we have! I'll let you know if you're right or are you already sure? I sure hope so because my dear hubby is freaking aout about the kitten ruining the furniture. I can not let her do that or she'll really annoy him.

[Deja]

Honest! They have never even tried to scratch on the leather couches in the den. My living room couches are made from a silky floral fabric upholstery with piping around the edges - well... there is no more piping, just nicely frayed threads that kind of match the fringe around the pillows

I keep all animals gated out of the living room and dining room now. I'm a slow learner -- it took me a while to do that!!

[BrendaLynn]

Good to hear. It gives me hope!

[elfomatic]

Yeah, leather is extremely durable. When I had a lab she could walk all over the leather furniture and it not leave any toenail marks or scratches.

[BrendaLynn]

My dog is all over mine and he doesn't mark it up too much, now my sons...well that is a different story all together.

Angel came home yesterday and she is absolutely wonderful!

[CTChin]

We have 7 cats and when we decided to get new furniture we picked the smoothest material we can find and it works! Cats love rough, scratchy material which is why we get them sisal rope cat furniture. It's been 7 months with the new furniture and we just had to tell a couple of cats "NO" a few times they tried to scratch and all is well now. No scratch marks noted

[Pure14K]

Thanks for the tip Linda! My fiance has lether in his car (as do I) and we were both worried about Dozer being in the backseat & ripping up the leather!

[veggiegirl]

I haven't found a material that my kitties won't scratch, but I bought this cardboard scratching post thing and it saves my couch. I have three super expensive cat trees, yet my cats prefer this $7 thing made of pressed cardboard boxes. Oh well, at least it works! I keep it next to the couch and I haven't had a problem since I put it there.

Steph

[The Litterbox 5]

We have two leather couches (some might say one for each of our cats...). Like me, they love to lay on them because they're soft and warm, but they've NEVER intentionally clawed them. Our youngest, Chloe, has left a few scratches because she'll spaz out if the doorbell rings, but the cats don't scratch on purpose. As long as you have something else they can scratch (our cats love those cardboard scratch things) I'd think youd be OK with just about anything. To be on the safe side, though, I'd stay away from anything with loose threads. If you keep their claws trimmed, their kneading shouldn't hurt leather or fabric. The other nice thing about leather is that it is easy to clean - stuff (read: cat hair, cat drool, maybe even cat puke, though we haven't had to deal with that yet....) pretty much wipes off.