Question about cats and leather sofas/chairs.

[XNASA]

Are kitty cats inclined to clawing up furniture covered in leather?

[Buzz Clik]

1. yep

[tk2kewl]

2. i had a cat that clawed leather bags

but i now have a leather chair and 2 cats. neither claw the chair.

the chair is one of those mission-style recliners, so only the seat and back are leather; the rest is wood. maybe it would be different with furniture that has leather arms.

it is a concern, especially if that cats have claws and you dont let them outside

[Philostopher]

3. Haven't had a problem, here.

We bought a leather sofa a couple of years ago and put it in the family room. We have four cats and a small dog. It's actually vinyl-wrapped around the 'barrel' underneath. There are a few divots in it from them coming and going to get to the windows, but they don't deliberately claw it.

It's smooth finished, by the way -- anything that was matte finished, like suede or nubuck, I'm guessing they'd make short work of. This one has sort of a patent finish on it and I don't think they can really 'dig in,' they prefer the carpet and the cat furniture, apparently.

Your mileage, however, may vary. I've heard folks say leather was the way to go, and I've heard folks say they've had problems -- someone else here with a house full of cats bought a leather sofa a year or so ago, let's see if they chime in. We've had great luck with it.

[Not_Giving_Up]

4. My mother in law once had a cat that

attacked anything plastic, chewing it to shreds, and anything leather got urinated on...go figure. I have three cats, no problems like this.

[Bertha Venation]

5. They'll claw anything unless you train them not to, and it's not hard to

train them. All it takes is consistency, patience, and having a squirt bottle (water) at hand at all times. If you squirt them and say "NO!" very sharply every time, it won't take them long to learn not to do what you are teaching them not to do.

Of course you will need to have good alternate scratching surfaces available. Carpet-covered posts, sisal rope-covered posts, and corrugated cardboard scratchers are all very good.

There is a very good scratcher, a surface about two feet tall and 6-8 inches wide, mounted on heavy metal with a lip that you put under the foot of the couch. It forms a new corner to the couch. This is great for hard cases (or for when the couch is new and kitty hasn't had a chance to learn).

[Atlas Mugged]

6. Big time.

Funny you should ask. I'm training two 8 month old kittens right now. Once I find a bit of evidence that they're interested in an area on a piece of furniture (they usually have a preference for a specific area) I take a piece of double sided sticky laminate and stick in on the spot. It won't harm the leather if it's not there for long, and kittens hate it. They've yet to try that particular spot again.

These have been very easy kittens to train, I might add. Every time they got on the kitchen counters I would just clap my hands and they'd haul ass. This went on for a couple of weeks and they've not been on the counters in months.

[flamingyouth]

7. Sadly, yes

I already have a few scratches on my leather couch I bought over the summer. :(