Material/fabric cats will not claw

[jsacks]

new to the board....Hope someone can help.....looking to buy a new sectional sofa. I have 2 cats ( still have claws ). What would be the best material/fabric to get on the sofa? Cats have clawed my older sofa.

[Traci]

That would depend on what you're willing to invest

If you've had a problem with the cats scratching furniture, chances are, they will continue to scratch a new piece of furniture as well. In this case, it's never too late to consider nail-trimming, soft-paws if necessary, and learn how to divert their attentions to a scratching post, their toys, or interactive playtime and activity with them.

If you are resigned to them scratching occasionally and worried about the furniture's appearance, then I would suggest not spending alot of money on high-quality furniture, and resign yourself to replace it in another few years. Any polyester or poly-blends with some sort of print or design would probably do, I would certainly not choose leather or suede or plush-looking. Another option would be a set of wicker/rattan furniture where you could replace the cushions much cheaper than the furniture itself. Only thing about wicker is it is not as durable as other furniture, especially if you have a large family, kids, a busy home, etc.

Whatever you choose, try to re-train the kitties to use their scratching posts, consider regular nail-trimming (you need to be familiar with nail-trimming before you do it) before investing in an expensive piece of furniture.

[jsacks]

Thanks, I do trim their nails regularly. One cat is approx 10yrs old & the other approx 2 1/2 yrs old. They only scratch my chaise & couch, no other furniture. I do have a scratching post, which they do scratch occasionally. I was told by one person, a heavy light colored ( beige )leather may work because if they can't get their claws in the leather right away they should/might walk away from it, and if they do scratch the leather a lighter color woul dnot show the scratch as much as a darker leather.
Waht is soft paws?

[slvrwhispr]

www.softpaws.com

They're nail caps you glue onto your cat's nails so that when they scratch, it doesn't do any damage. I had them on Izzy for a little while, but now that she's bigger, her nails are bigger too, and they don't tear things up the way they used to as long as I keep them clipped.

We have couches that are made out of a very thick almost corduroy kind of microfiber. It's very dense, and she scratches one side fairly regularly, and it's holding up quite well. It's just one corner that she scratches, so I just kind of live with it.

[Tina B and crew]

cats can and will scratch leather. My daughter has leather furniture, light beige, and you can see where the cat has scratched on it. She doesn't do it often, but their claws can tear into the leather, especially if their claws are not clipped. Like Traci said, keeping the claws clipped and re-training them is the best bet. My cats prefer the cardboard scratching pads over the carpeted ones. Good luck!

[Beleriphon]

One thing that a friend of mine did to get her cat interested in the scratching post was to rub it down with cat nip once per week. And then onto once per month. The stuff lasted that long and by the time she stopped using the cat nip the cat had totally lost interest in the couch.