what will cats scratch more, leather or cloth?

[Huh]

Hey guys,

I am thinking about getting a couch (yes the lawn chairs are getting a little old in the living room) and I was wondering what was better for someone with cats, leather or a cloth sofa?

My thinking is that with leather I can clean it more easily, but my husband says that it won't take the scratching as well. The problem with cloth is that my husbands cat has white fur while my cat has black, so no matter what color sofa we get, some cat hair will stand out! Hence the leather idea, get something we can just wipe off!

You see, my husband is very much like a cat, he runs when he hears the vacuum. He has banned vacuums from the house, luckily we don't have carpets! Another reason for leather!

Any advice is appreciated.

[atlantagirl]

He's right. The leather doesn't take scratching well. My cat loved both my cloth sofa arms and leather recliner. The cloth sofa didn't look great after the scratching, but the recliner looks dreadful.

Try to find a black and white tweed sofa. ;)

[BlackThorn]

Plus with leather and any carnivorous pet, there's the danger of chewing. Not so much of a problem with cats, as their mouths aren't as big, but they can wreak hell on the corners and edges of cushions.

I say get a cloth couch and one of those really good custom fit covers. That way you can strip it off and wash it whenever there's too much cat hair. The cover is also more easy to replace if damaged than an entire couch.

Edited to add: Just thought of naugahyde. Artificial leather made of vinyl. It's the easiest to clean if there's a mess. It looks similar to leather, but it doesn't have the leather smell that entices chewing. Plus if you get good quality, it's usually a bit tougher than leather.

[VBKatLou]

It's been my experience that cats will scratch anything except the scratching posts that I used to waste money buying. :rollin:

[atlantagirl]

I was thinking of those slipcovers too (yeah, I really was I just hadn't made it back here before BlackThorn posted!). Leave it on till the company comes, then banish the cats to the back of the house, rip off the slipcover and voila! perfect sofa! :kitty:

[Shipscat]

They like rough textures best-tweed wouldn't be a good idea, although it wouldn't show as much as leather. Very soft fabric attracts the least amount of scratching.

[Frellster]

My cat is trained to scratch anything I tap. Usually I take him outside and tap on trees, but occasionally, I'll accidently tap on something and out comes the claws.

[Judith]

If you had to reupholster the couch due to scratching, which would be cheaper...leather or cloth? I think cloth would, but I'm not sure.

Also, cats are more likely to scratch the scratching posts with rope or twine on them rather than carpet.

[talyn3]

probably the most expensive one.

[fermicat]

Leather cannot take any amount of cat scratching without it showing and looking awful. My cats shredded the back of a leather office chair. They will scratch cloth, too, but it might not show as bad depending on the fabric choice. I put a scratching post next to the tempting furniture and the cats will scratch the post 9 times out of 10.

I made my own scratching post that the cats find irresistable. It was pretty easy. The base and top are covered with carpet scraps, but the post is covered by wrapping sisal rope around and around, all the way up. I stapled it at intervals as I wrapped. Then I rubbed catnip on the rope. They use it a lot and find the rope surface ideal for sharpening their razor sharp talons of doom.

[eta_carinae]

We trained our cats not to scratch anything but the scratching posts....it was a lot of work, but boy did it pay off!

I just bought a couch in august. I wanted a cloth one that would be easy to clean (especially with two longhair white kitties), so I got a microfiber one. It's great! Spills clean off with just a little water and a cloth, and the cat hair comes right off with no problems.

[Judith]

I've come to the point where I've decided it's not worth it to train the cats not to scratch on the furniture. When my boyfriend and I get a house, we want to get a couple of dogs, more cats (if our current cats will let us) and have four kids. I don't really have any hope for having my stuff look nice. But that's fine. When I grow up (someday!) I want to have the kind of house where all my kids friends feel welcome and the carpet is that ugly color that hides most stains. It's a tradeoff.