Forums >Off the Beaten Path>Leather furniture with fully clawed (armed?) cats
rectumdamnnearkilledem
Ouch! Heal quickly! I hope the bike was okay
Not a scratch!
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
I have a multiple cat house... have done rescue work on and off for years. My oldest and most beloved boy cat uses my leather cat as a scratching post. Of course there are several scratching posts around the house that still look brand new.
John
Leather couch and chair have worked well for us.
We have 2 cats that made mincemeat of our old couch and chair. They have never tried to scratch the leather furniture. They will walk on it to reach a lap or a blanket but that is about it.
We also purchased a new a recliner about 6 yrs ago with a polyester fabric of some type that is holding up well. There are some claw pokes but no tears and the cats do not consider it to be a scratching post.
I would still go with leather.
John www.wickedrunningclub.com
In the beginning, the universe was created.This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
--- Douglas Adams, in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"
We have a leather couch, which my cat does not seem to care for, she will only lay on it if I put a folded up blanket on it, but leather does not appeal to her and she doesn't hardly even walk on it. I don't know if this would be true for most cats.
We have a leather couch, which my cat does not seem to care for, she will only lay on it if I put a folded up blanket on it, but leather does not appeal to her and she doesn't hardly even walk on it.
I don't know if this would be true for most cats.
--- We have one cat, and leather couch/loveseat also, and I also have put a folded up blanket on the back of the couch where it is next to a window. The cat will lay there on the blanket and look out the window, but does not claw the leather couch or loveseat.
--- The cat did have 3 other places where it liked to claw, which happened to be the carpet, (Next to walls, or the bannister), so on 2 of the 3 locations it was a nice place to put a scratching post for the cat, and on the third spot, I bought a bottle of spray that is supposed to deter cats, and that worked. Cat didn't like the scent from that spray, so it stays away from the areas that I sprayed with it.
I think a cat can be "trained" somewhat on where to scratch, and where it cannot. I have been able to achieve this with my cat. ...But since you have 3 cats, might be more of a problem! (Especially with one of them getting sick often). At least in my personal experience, cats don't go for leather, but not certain if your cats would feel the same way or not...
The Plan '15 → /// "Run Hard, Live Easy." ∞
Yeah, none of them strike me as felines that would target leather. I think we'll be more worried about trim and carpet, since they already have an affinity for those. Glad to hear the deterrent spray works. I always wondered about that.
If you adopt the following point of view, it will make your life easier: "I love my cats more than I love having nice things."
Note that is cats plural. Given 4 paws and 3 orifices, damage risk is proportional to (number of cats)^7. It may be possible to have nice things with just one cat, as that one cat will already know that it rules the roost and won't do bad things for attention or retribution. Yes, cats are the most clever creatures in the world when it comes to seeking attention and exacting retribution. I haven't bought a new piece of furniture for 15 years.
Buy used furniture on craigslist that already has wear and tear. If you couldn't bear the thought of taking it to the dump tomorrow, don't buy it.
This just happened to my mom: one of her two cats became diabetic and began peeing on her leather couch, because the cat box was upstairs (too far away). If you buy new furniture, cover it with something waterproof.
Ha, I should mention that our almost-12 year old son might be as destructive as the cats when it comes to things. No matter how many times we tell him "no food in the living room," he still manages to sneak something in and dump it on at least a monthly basis...little turd.
The 3 furbabies and kid are reason why we won't ever buy anything "high end," that's for sure. Probably not even after the kid is grown and out of the house, since we always manage to have stray cats find us, so we'll never be pet-free (and we're perfectly OK with that). They can smell suckers from a mile away (we've only had 1 cat ever who was a shelter adoptee--the rest just saunter into our lives).
We'll also never have a fully carpeted house, which my allergies appreciate. The houses we're looking at all have some carpeting, but that's one of the first things we'll get rid of. Bamboo and ceramic tile are looking really good....
Get the leather! We had leather and never had any problems. We did have a few scratches from when the cats landed funny and slipped but those faded. We recently bought a fabric upholstered couch and chair to replace the leather (because it wore out on the arms) and I am so unhappy. You can see fur everywhere and I have blankets covering the furniture. I hate it -- I am just happy we didn't shell out a fortune so we can replace it in a few years.
Sara
MM #2929
Yeah, leather is looking more and more appealing. Plus the set we have our eyes on is sort of distressed-looking in a medium gray, so a few superficial scratches won't really even be noticeable.
not bad for mile 25
I'm really thankful to not have jumpy, neurotic cats when I read stories like this!
At one time in our lives, the cuckoo clock or the phone ringing was a signal to the dog to jump up and chase the cat. Naturally, cat quickly developed a pavlovian response to these sounds, even if the dog was not around.
Heh! I have 14, 14, and 15 year olds, all 3 are boys... The only thing that will change in the next few years for you is when they are caught in the living room and elsewhere with food at age 14, they will say stupid crap like "This is America! I have rights too!" Something they teach them in the public schools, (Constitution, etc), but the kids try and apply it in the wrong ways! --- I reply with : "I have the right to have you move out at 18, and I have the right to not help you a dime with your upcoming college education..." But even that lecture doesn't stop them from sneaking food around in the house on occasion. Oh well, choose your battles, right? :-).
Yep. Some days I'm just happy my kid eats...he's rail-thin!
"I have the right to take your cell phone away" worked best when my daughter was that age. I am not sure it would work as well on boys and we didn't use it for something minor like eating in the living room. I eat in the living room too, so I would have looked like a hypocrite anyways.
Yeah, we eat all over...but we don't spill. He spills fairly frequently and leaves empty or partially full cups all over the house...and food wrappers and crumbs. Kid is slovenly. It was easier when he was a baby and we could strap him into a high-chair for feeding!
We've taken away screen privileges (Wii, computers, TV) and that helps. It's unbelievable sometimes how disobedient he can be. I think he's actually worse than I was, at that age! It's gotten to where I have to log-out on my computer before I go to bed, or we are guaranteed to find him on my computer early on weekend mornings on gaming sites that jack things up (luckily I have a Mac. I think if I had a PC there would be really serious malware/virus issues). Last night I logged-out and he tried to get on and managed to turn my computer off, but not before jacking up my wireless mouse.
My daughter left dishes all over the house for us to clean up too. She is moved out now and living with her fiance. It is funny how she doesn't do that in her own apartment, or at least she cleans it up before we get there.