‘Cat proof’ sofa fabric?!

[sofaquery]

We need a new sofa as our current one is old but has also had its fabric ruined by our cats clawing on it. We now have a cat tower and clawing posts but I imagine the cats might still claw the sofa sometimes when we’re out- particularly as the fabric is a bit textured….

what’s the best fabric to choose to minimise the chance of them scratching? I like the chenille I saw in the showroom but wonder if velvet / something else is better?

I'm sorry but I don't think that either human ingenuity or physics has developed any chair covering material that is truly cat proof.
I've considered metal garden furniture...

My cat ripped our sofa to pieces, it was a weave that was tempting to put one’s claws in to be fair. Have had another sofa for a
year covered with velvet and she hasn’t been interested at all!

we've always used sofa covers on ours, they're not attractive but they do save the fabric of the sofa. Also we try to keep nails trimmed, it helps decrease scratching. I put a reminder on my phone to do it monthly so I don't forget.

Another bonus of sofa covers is if one of our dogs sits on the furniture and gets it dirty we can just machine wash the cover. Good luck, its frustrating to see furniture look ratty from pets, hope you find a good solution.

My cats were terrible with fabric sofas, but have been pretty good with my leather one.

Velvet. The fibres are too short for them to pull.

We have a large velvet sofa and 2 cats. Bought it specifically because of the cats, and it has worked. They never claw it, no fun at all for them.

Thanks everyone. Agree cat proof furniture is probably only metal! But velvet seems like a good plan and I think we’ll invest in some covers or throws to try and minimise any damage. I did like the chenille but it does have a bit of a weave in so is probably too risky….

You can buy rolls of giant double sided sellotape type stuff on Amazon. Stick it on the vertical bits of the sofa. Cats avoid it and it’s pretty much invisible.

We have recently ordered new sofas with exactly the same issues in mind. The sofa shop recommended short velvet upholstery, so that is what we chose.

We bought a “clever velvet” sofa from Loaf and it has held up amazingly well, even during cat mad hour when they race around the house!

Just the newness of a new sofa might be enough. Different smells etc.

Maybe rearrange the room at the same time to help break the habit.

My husband took our cat out in the garden and showed him how to claw trees. It was when he was very young though. It may not work with older cats.

Did hubby demonstrate with his own nails. I really hope so as that's what I'm imagining!

Our leather one is now 20 years old. The cats don’t scratch it intentionally at all but there are light scratch marks where they have run across it. I would never have any kind of fabric sofa again as they just destroy them.

Yes. The kitten watched what he was doing and then dutifully copied. It was funny to watch.

Velvet - definitely works here, leather chair is unscathed too.

We did a really good job of bribing ours with treats for using the cat tree instead when we brought our new sofa. Went very well until we moved house when he expressed his displeasure at being locked in for 2 weeks by being as naughty as possible, picking everything, up on all the surfaces, lots of biting. Since then he still tries when he really wants to annoy us.

Leather.

My Duresta is ruined & covered in a cheap throw off amazon which covers the lovely velvet.