Furniture vs. cat claws

addiebee · Jul 28, 2012

I need to get some furniture for our family/living room. My boys DESTROYED the occasional chairs I had for 20 years - nice, nubby fabric.They loved extending on the arms... and pretty much every place else. Ijust had them recovered in microfiber. They look really nice but now I am thinking maybe something else would be more resistant to claws.

They also scratched up and damaged my leather sofa. Sigh...

I DO know that I cannot have anything loosely woven or nubby. And I am hoping that when I purchase MORE scratching posts and trees - now that I will have the room - I can redirect their scratching to those items.

But does anyone have any advice on fabric or insight to share on what I should get?

I also plan on investing in squirt bottles and large sheets of double sided sticky tape. That tape does deter them. But it doesn't look so nice on the furniture.

AbbysMom · Jul 29, 2012

We have had luck with microfiber fabric. She's never scratched those and I've never seen any tiny holes from her claws.

burretje · Jul 29, 2012

I've got no advice on the fabric. But when you go shopping for scratching posts make sure you get horizontal and vertical scratching surfaces as well as different materials they can scratch on.

rockcat · Jul 29, 2012

I didn't have the same luck that AbbysMom had with microfiber. The boys like to scratch the one corner that is visible as soon as the front door is opened. It's not really bad, but I did have to color in a teensy spot where the white that showed through with a magic marker. LOL!

We have tried many scratching posts, but I found one in Walmart that Oliver loves. I can't find it online, but it is supposed to hang and is made out of cardboard, but not like those layered corrugated ones. It is molded a half of a tree trunk shape and was only $4.99. I put it right next to that corner of the couch for a couple of weeks and then moved it. He's still using it.

Tripod is still using the couch.

addiebee · Jul 29, 2012

Rockcat... can you post a link to that cat tree???? I am ready to try anything. They do scratch microfiber b/c I have a MFib bench and had to wrap one corner in particular with that sticky tape and that worked but I have to keep pulling it off and replacing it.

rockcat · Jul 29, 2012

I can't find a link. I will take a pic and post it though, if I can't find another one at WalMart with the brand name. We are going there now anyway.

rockcat · Jul 29, 2012

Well I didn't find another one. I have a couple of photos and tried to post them, but when I try to submit the photo, I get an error message. I uploaded them as an attachment. I hope you can open them. If you can find them, it's definately worth a shot for $4.99. Keep your vacuum nearby though, if your cats like it, it will generate some debris. LOL!

addiebee · Jul 29, 2012

Oliver is stunning!!!

What is the tree made of?

rockcat · Jul 31, 2012

AddieBee said:
Oliver is stunning!!!

What is the tree made of?

Thank you. He will be 13 (or as close to it as I can estimate) tomorrow.

It's cardboard, but not corrugated. Its molded like the packing for electronics (when they don't use Styrofoam or plastic).

Good luck. I need to find another myself. Oliver is going to wear this one out soon.

yosemite · Jul 31, 2012

AddieBee said:
I need to get some furniture for our family/living room. My boys DESTROYED the occasional chairs I had for 20 years - nice, nubby fabric.They loved extending on the arms... and pretty much every place else. Ijust had them recovered in microfiber. They look really nice but now I am thinking maybe something else would be more resistant to claws.

They also scratched up and damaged my leather sofa. Sigh...

I DO know that I cannot have anything loosely woven or nubby. And I am hoping that when I purchase MORE scratching posts and trees - now that I will have the room - I can redirect their scratching to those items.

But does anyone have any advice on fabric or insight to share on what I should get?

I also plan on investing in squirt bottles and large sheets of double sided sticky tape. That tape does deter them. But it doesn't look so nice on the furniture.

I can only tell you that Bijou NEVER destroyed any furniture UNTIL I moved here and bought a sofa with a nubby fabric. He made a horrible mess of the bottom of the couch. I went to a fabric place and bought a remnant of a very smooth material that was a very close match to the sofa. I put it over the nubby material (under the cushions and tacked underneath. Bijou has not touched the sofa since, so nubby fabric seems to be the culprit. Also, with leather I believe the smell has a lot to do with them scratching it. From my own experience of before and after, I would definitely recommend a smooth, finely-woven fabric.

subvet642 · Aug 2, 2012

In our home we're moving toward vinyl because it's durable and easy to keep clean, but our kitties tend not to scratch the furniture, just the rugs.

Furniture vs. cat claws

addiebee

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AbbysMom

At Abby's beck and call

burretje

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rockcat

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addiebee

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rockcat

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rockcat

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addiebee

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rockcat

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yosemite

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subvet642

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