Leather furniture - cat proof?

no1catman

As there have been no comments on my earlier thread regarding microfiber furniture - which is said to be less susceptible to cat damage, I thought I'd try something else.


Anyone with a pet cat(s), have leather furniture - sofa/settee etc?
How does your cat treat it? Is it ever scratched? Does result in surface marks or right through? Does the cat ever curl up on it, or is it deemed to uncomfortable?


Experiences and comments very welcome.

comeandgo

Hi as I write this my mainecoon is curled up beside me on my leather sofa. She does not scratch it now though did when she was a kitten, there are some marks on it. The leather warms up when you sit on it so it is warm for her.

gunsandbanjos

I had a leather sofa, cat scratches definitely show up.

They were happy to sleep on it though.

Mrs_Z

To start with we had a sofa with a fabric cover which our then new rescue cat demolished by using it as her scratching post. Eventually we decided to replace the sofa with a leather one and get a scratching post at the same time. We were very pleased that none of our 3 cats showed any interest in scratching the sofa. Not sure if that was just a co-incidence, or they didn't like the material or that we got a scratching post at the same time.

meritaten

I have leather sofas - but my cat was 7 when I had him and he showed no interest in scratching the sofas - just my rugs! I buy cheap rugs - but the sofa does have scratch marks - mainly from the grandkids shoes! Why do kids shoes these days have gems and metal bits all over them???? oh well - I never expected to have a home which was pristine! and a 'distressed' leather sofa adds character to a room..........that's what I tell OH anyway.

calicocat

I had fabric sofas when mine was a kitten and young (and numerous cat scratch posts,) but she still trashed the sofas and chairs.

When she was older I happened to change to leather.....she hasn't touched any of them.

I have heard it said though, that what they grow up with as kittens and scratched they will always go for, and they stop if you change to leather later. I don't know if this is actually true, but it did happen that way for mine.

All the people i've known say they trash leather are when they have always had leather from the start.

Mine doesn't sit on the sofas much, but will go onto them when she wants to, but does tend to prefer to find something fabric to kip on, other than baking on the leather one in the conservatory when it's hot.

Much easier to get rid of the cat hairs with leather too.

hollydays

I used to have a good quality ( next) antiqued brown leather sofa. I've never had a cat so I can't be sure, but the leather was good and thick to start with so as already said, a continued " distressed " look on dark brown antiqued leather isn't a terrible look. Be aware that there are people on eBay for example selling " bonded" leather sofas , which , if they were good quality might be ok in some situations , but it's not the same as real leather.

hazyjo

I have leather and they don't scratch it like a scratching post, but they play on it and there are scratches from that - especially as they like to lay on the fur inside of my indoor-cardi and play with the ties, or other toys they have. It gets very scratched, but it's 10 years old and the scratches are very fine.


Jx

calicocat

What I did when decided to go for leather was to not go too expensive the first time to check the whole scenario out.


I was very tempted by an amazing sofa that was very expensive, but decided that if she trashed it I would feel like ripping her lovely cute amazing little head off....:D

So the first time I went with a really good deal on one I found that had been made up in the wrong colour for someone and was on sale.

After I knew she wasn't interested in treating it like a long lost brother (idiot /psycho tortie) , I knew I was safe from then on.

helcat26

yes there will be scratches on a leather sofa. Not necessarily from intentional scratching, but jumping to get on the arms or cushions.


Having said that there is also "i am not getting attention" standing on back legs with paws/ claws latched onto sofa arm


Also this is talking about real leather, I also have a fake leather sofa in my little office and she had decimated that

tea_lover

I have leather sofas that were second-hand, so already had quite a bit of wear. My cat doesn't intentionally scratch them, but he has marked them just by jumping up and walking around on them. He's happy to settle down on them - happier than I am, I can't stand the things but they were free and I'm stuck with them for a while yet!

If they were brand new and I loved them, the cat would probably scratch them on purpose - that's what cats are like