To wonder how to protect my sofa from the cat?

[QuadBod]

My cat badly damaged a previous sofa by scratching it. Now we have a new sofa which I have completely covered with 2 throws so the same doesn't happen (would prefer one throw, but they don't seem to make them big enough to cover 3-seaters). I only take the covers off if we have visitors. It does the job but it doesn't look great. We do have scratching posts, and use spray strategically (which works temporarily, until it wears off). I've seen some products on Amazon which look a bit rubbish - like a sheet of sticky plastic on the side of the sofa. Any recommendations?

For context, she's an outdoor cat. The at-risk sofa is in our kitchen-diner which is the room where she stays overnight (accessible to outside via cat flap). During the day she has access to the whole house and we have a scratching post in almost every room.

My cat is the same, the last sofa she shredded as she could get her paws in the material. I now have a velvet one and she has no interest.

Those plastic sheets are rubbish. What material is the sofa?

It's a fabric sofa from Made. I don't know what the fabric is but it has texture and the cat will scratch down the side if the arms are uncovered.

The previous sofa that she spoilt was leather.

I’ve had some luck with sticking strips/panels of tin foil round the sides and legs of my sofa before - many cats hate the texture and indeed the crinkly sound of tin foil, and it puts them off quite effectively!

I should say that I haven’t had to leave the tin foil on forever Once the cats had got the message, I’ve been able to take the foil off and it’s remained unmolested.

I got something from Amazon that is harder plastic that is pinned in. I don’t notice it and because I put it on as soon as the sofa arrived the cats have never scratched. I can’t do links, I’ll look it up in a sec and post details

Here. It actually covers more of the arm than shows on the photo (maybe I have a smaller sofa) and luckily the tacks are same colour as my sofa fabric

We had a new (velvet) sofa delivered 1 week before picking up our kitten. I mentioned this to the breeder and she looked horrified and said 'it's not leather is it?'
I can see why she was worried, we have a leather bed, and it is ruined just by him jumping on in, he doesn't deliberately scratch it. The velvet sofa is totally unscathed, at first I did put throws over the arms so they draped into the corner creases as he did start to dig around that area. Seems to have grown out of it now tho, phew.

Thanks @HappyDaysToCome. As it worked for you, maybe I'll try it. And if it doesn't work, maybe I could make something suitable out of velvet. The throws we have currently are faux fur and she likes to knead them, and snuggle up in them, but not scratch them. They look a mess though.

I don't have anything helpful to add. Just wanted it noted that every single thing I own has been licked, clawed, climbed, sat on, chewed, shredded or slept on by cats.

I was going to suggest tinfoil. Upside down contact ie sticky side up, also works. Not sure on the logistics of sticking that to a couch though.