Leather sofas and evil cats with sharp claws

[Washersaurus]

I am looking to buy a new sofa and would usually go for one with removeable washable covers as DS routinely covers it with bogeys and other gunk, but quite fancy a leather one this time.

My problem is my evil cats who have destroyed the covers on the arms of my last 2 sofas with their persistent clawing (the cats are provided with other entertainment BTW -am sure they were sent to torment me for wrongs in past life).

What I was wondering was if a cat would be more or less likely to have a go at a leather sofa, and how much of a battering leather covers can normally take??

We have the same dilema, would love a leather sofa but have two cats who think every bit of furniture is for them to sharpen claws on.
Have found a product that seems to put them off it's like double sided sticky tape. I've stuck it around the corners of our old sofa and it does seem to have put them off. (Also helps hold the ripped to shreds cover together).
I got it from petsmart, only trouble I live in the states so don't know if it's available in the UK.

My cat did (and still does occasionally) claw at our old fabric sofa - but so far (touch wood!) has not touched the new leather ones.
However - she is now 16 years old and is a lot less active than she was, so that may be the explanation rather than the change in material.

Leather covers no match for animal claws i'm afraid. Ours was torn by the dog!

mmmmm my previous cat did not damage our leather sofa at all - current cat has damaged it just by jumping on and off it..........

you could file their nails? not as ridiculous as it might sound, well actually it is but you might be able to

my parents had leather sofas but they were ripped to shreds by the cats, as have the leather sofa's in our rented flat.

even if the cat doesn't do it often the problem with leather is it gets really badly damaged every time and it's VERY noticable

Oh that is really depressing , kind of hoped everyone would say 'hey leather is a great idea with pets' .

The main offender is a very overweight blind cat who lives indoors - he has never taken kindly to us attempting to do anything to his claws (when the opportunity arises we pay the vet to sedate him to cut them - but obviously this is EXTREMELY expensive to become a routine and they always grow back within a week anyway)

We have tried everything we can think of to stop him clawing - including spraying sofa with'get off' and 'pet behave' sprays, squirting cat with water pistol, temporarily covering the sofa arm in tin foil, and putting his scratching post laced with catnip next to the sofa.....so far, nothing has worked.

I suppose I will have to wait until he passes away to get the sofa of my dreams (about another 10 years I reckon), and just get another loose cover one for him to destroy in the meantime

My current sofa is half leather and half fabric. My cats have never scratched it, even though they are indoors 24/7. Our new, top of the range, leather job is arriving a the end of May
Whats the betting the have lulled me into a false sense of security and will rip it to shreds!?

I think its the luck of the draw ,what kind of cat you have.
We have 2 soft leather sofas and two cats. It took no time at all for cat 1 to repeatedly puncture and tear them. cat 2 doesn't seem bothered and hasn't affected them.(Her forte is to shread the carpets ,everywhere!)

Mine don't claw ours intentionally but as they jump up and haul their great arses up,it does the damage I am afraid.
If you have a floor-living cat you may be ok.

My cat has an enormous backside unfortunately - he takes up 1.5 seats on our current sofa. He gets up there by hauling his huge arse up with his claws rather than making any effort to jump.

Am now convinced I am never to own a beautiful leather sofa ....resigned to having crappy looking sofa with clawed arms for ever and ever (boo hoo)

Washersaurus - I threatened to put scratch mitts on the cats recently for this very reason

When I moved in with DH the first thing my cats did was rip the crap out of his very expensive Heals sofas. But having knackered furniture was, in retrospect, excellent training for the mess creation that is being a parent!

Oh tinkerbell what a fab idea - not sure how the mits would fare in the cat litter tray though

DH is all up for putting them up for adoption as in the 8/9 years we have had them they have cost us a fortune in vets fees, 2 sofas, a king size bed, too many rugs to number, new carpets upstairs etc etc

TBH I do find it is the combination of the clawed sofa arms and the sofa covers covered in cat fur, DS' bogeys and food remnants the main problem

Just realised how minging my house sounds ...now I want to move out

I have three cats who totally shredded 2 fabric sofas, but haven't laid a claw on our leather sofas in 3 years!! (apart from odd scrape jumping onto or off of them!) It's weird.

Washersaurus - I did a financial audit of how much my cats have cost me in the 11 years we've had them....in terms of vets bills, food, and replacing things they've destroyed: £9,800 odd!

If I didn't love them I'm boot them right out!

As with some of the others, it's the jumping (ha!) on and off that seems to do the damage. I've tried leaving lemon skin around on the carpets when they were attacking those, and that seemed to work a treat, they HATED the smell

my cat sprawls all over our leather sofa

I think my blind cat would actually relish the sound of his claws on the new leather - I wasn't joking when I said they were evil evil cats