[Pudding]

Help! I am looking for a new sofa, chair and ottoman. I really like the classic leather look in the traditional colors with the nail stubs but I am not sure how this will hold up with a cat with her claws. I will not declaw her since we live out in the woods and she loves to go outside. Do any of you have cats and leather??? Please advise even if it is not a good combination. Thanks so much!

[JLStoltzie]

DO NOT DO IT!!!! Me and my DH just re-did our living room and bought some very gorgeous leather couches. Gosh, I just loved them!!!! My cats only have claws in the back...no big deal right? WRONG! We have scratch marks all over. Some worse than others. It really stinks because there is nothing we can do about it now. We try to keep them off the arms since that seems to be the worst. I can't imagine how bad it would be if they had front claws. We are chalking it up to a learning lesson and will keep them till they just get too bad.

Good luck!!!! I love furniture shopping!

Jenny

[becky]

I agree...it does not work! When my two kittys were alive they scratched up the leather and my dining room table of all things!!

[Pudding]

Jenny,
Thanks for the advice. I will definately take it. I have had enough problems with the last set that I bought. It was a light colored canvas and between the husband, cats, & kids it is destroyed. It is only four years old. I appreciate your quick response.

[MsPoppy]

I had a friend who had gotten some of those glue on nail covers for cats, I think she said they come in colors also, they shed the covers when they shed thier nails, this might be an option for you so you can get whatever kinda furniture you want, I know it worked for her, I think she paid like 19 dollars a set each time she had to get them for her kitty, just a thought, ask your vet about them, might not hurt


Jeannette

[Rivka]

We have 2 yr. old leather loveseat and sofa, and 2 indoor, VERY active cats (never go out), who aren't declawed. We haven't had too many problems with the sofas, just made sure the cats don't get on them at all, ever. To that end, we 'put them up' in the laundry room at night when we are sleeping, so they aren't tempted to get on them when we aren't around! We do have a couple of scratches on the loveseat, but from the kids, not the cats!

[BrandyHagz]

If your heart is set on Leather - try "Softpaws" for your kitties.

We don't have leather - but we do use Softpaws, and the cats don't seem to mind it at all.

[susanhuff]

We have cats and leather. We have a sofa and chair with ottoman in the livingroom. Yes, the cats have put claw marks on it, but not that many. At first I was so sad. Now I'm glad we got the leather because it is so comfortable. The claw marks are there, but hey! Our house is lived in.

So go ahead and get leather for the family room, but not for your formal areas.

Cheers,
Susan

[Mandy B]

We have the "weathered" leather sofa and chair. It has scratches, but that is part of the look of the sofa. Does that make sense? I have not noticed our cat scratching it too much....maybe our dog, but, it just adds more character to the weathered look.

[DPline]

Well, I am obviously in the minority (maybe the only one!) but our cat has never touched our leather sofa or chairs, and we have had them for 8 years. Now, the "cloth" furniture in the living room is another story. THAT he has made a horrible mess of in two short years.

[annaguat]

Uhhhhh......well my experience was not good. The cat liked it a lot for scratching pole. Anna

[tookie12]

NO NO NO
My leather couch is all scratched up AND for some reason this perfectly housetrained cat will pee on it if it is left uncovered. I have heard this with many cat/leather couch owners.

Originally Posted by Pudding

Help! I am looking for a new sofa, chair and ottoman. I really like the classic leather look in the traditional colors with the nail stubs but I am not sure how this will hold up with a cat with her claws. I will not declaw her since we live out in the woods and she loves to go outside. Do any of you have cats and leather??? Please advise even if it is not a good combination. Thanks so much!

[BebitosMama]

I had a cat who was a scratchaholic. She destroyed a sofa and an armchair -- but she NEVER scratched on the leather. Don't know why, but she wasn't satisfied by it, I assume, as she really liked nubbly textured things best.

My new cat was declawed before we got her at the pound, but she doesn't scratch on anything, luckily. We decided we would get an older declawed kitty when our last kitty died. I don't have the heart to have a cat declawed, but I don't have the money to keep replacing furniture, so this was a good compromise, as it saved her from being destroyed (she's 11), and we now have the sweetest kitty around!!

We used softpaws for our last cat, and it helped, but didn't completely slow her down on her mission to shred and destroy...

And I tried it all, the scratching post, scractching pad, putting catnip on scratching stuff, the spray, tin foil, etc... she was unrelenting!!!

Mary

[dixiemom]

when I saw the title of your thread it really peaked my curiosity....HAHAHA I thought maybe you were dressing your cat up in leather or something! You've gotten lots of good advice here though. My cats were de-clawed (front only) but they only liked to scratch on the bottom of the box springs (with their back claws)...

[Punkyboo]

We have 2 dogs and a cat and a leather sofa and loveseat. Yes we get the occasional scratches from all of them but Armor All works wonders, once you use it on the furniture you can't even see the scratches

~Kathleen