Cat Proof sofas?

[speakout]

I woud like to replace the sofas in my living room, and looking for advice about fabric/material. One of my cats loves to destroy furniture by clas sharpening. I do try to correct them if I catch them actually doing it, but obviously I am not around all the time.
I am loathe to spend money on a new sofa if it will end up being damaged.
I really dislike leather- any other solutions?

I have a velvet bench whih my cat spends alot of time on (having destroyed the previous leather one) and he has been unable to damage that. There are no threads that can be caught in claws.

the most cat resistant sofa we've had was a thick, almost corduroy like material but without the ridges - kind of a super thick velvet I guess.

One of my current cats is REALLY scratchy though, and I'm thinking about next time getting an IKEA sofa where they sell the covers separately and replacing them every few years.

Oh gosh I need advice on this, my cat has ruined my sofa. I’ve heard good things about velvet but they’re super expensive!

Best thing we ever did was put a very tall cat scratcher next to our sofa on either side. They scratch to mix their scent with an area that has a lot of your scent- the sofa being an obvious one.
Ours scratches next to the sofa on the scratcher but never the sofa itself. And there are plenty of areas where she scratched before we could get in there with a scratcher so it's not like we've "trained" her or anything.

This kind of thing

When we first got DCat we had leather sofas that he left alone, since we changed to fabric he scratches on them quite a bit, partly just the placement and them being in a good position honestly. We got this for the areas that he scratches. It has worked really well, and on our beige sofa it is not at all noticeable.

Hahahaha! (That was a hollow laugh).

My cats occasionally scratch and always moult. Fur everywhere!

The best solution have found so far has been ikea with multiple replacement covers so I can change them before guests arrive and eventually get around to washing the spare covers.

Watching with interest for other ideas.

Haha!
"Cat proof sofas" indeed!

They don't, exist.

Exactly what we’ve done, and he doesn’t touch the sofa. Win!

Go for a really thick material (as @TheTurn0fTheScrew said). We have an Ikea Gronlid sofa made from a similar material and it is completely cat proof! Our cat completely shredded our linen DFS sofas :(

@HangryFeminist , I weighed up "which looks worse and costs more" a shredded sofa or a couple of cat scratchers? We barely notice ours now

The scratcher not the cat. Obviously we notice our cat 24/7

Exactly, occasionally if we have people over we shove the cat post in the cupboard as it’s ugly but there’s someone around to shoo him away from the sofa on those occasions!

We have leather and it has been scratched to bits so it’s not even as easy as that.

I bought a tall scratcher the same as @bellinisurge and it has made a huge difference. Also have one of those corrugated cardboard scratch pads which our cat absolutely loves.

Our velvet sofas remain in mint condition 18 months after purchase. Very occasionally one of the cats will have a go but they can't get any grip so give up. My sofas are from Snug and were quite expensive, but a cheaper fabric one would've been in bits by now.

Short pile velvet - works a treat! Nothing for them to get their claws into

iron bench

I can't bear the feel of short pile velvet. Seriously, cat scratch pole. Sorted.

Love that! I have a cat scratching post in several rooms, including the living room, right next too the sofa.
One of my cats doesn't scratch at all, the other does it deliberately to annoy me, he will plan his escape route, start to scratch and look over his shoulder to see if I am watching with a " "can't catch me" look in his eyes, knowing he will be able to get in a good few pulls before running into the garden.
He taunts me deliberately.
I think he has evil genes.

I have this problem too. I’ve tried to train him to scratch his post by giving him Dreamies when he does and pulling him off the sofa. He just goes and pats his post, takes the treats then sinks his claws into the sofa.
He’s a terror.

Another vote here for velvet. I consulted Mumsnet a couple of years ago on this and someone recommended velvet. They haven't touched it (although they are partial to the new rug that the sofa is on!)

My cat loves her scratching pole, and will dance round it ripping merrily, or go there to scratch to express disapproval of whatever dinner I have offered. The sofa doesn’t seem to interest her at all - she has never scratched it, despite it having tempting soft washable fabric covers. She likes to sprawl along the top of the sofa back cushions, behind my neck, to roost and watch tv.
OP, I think cats are either sofa rippers or not - I doubt that the choice of cover makes much difference.

My girl ignored my leather sofa for years. But now the little bugger looks me in the eye and does it when I'm sitting on it.

I did read they don’t like velvet. I have leather and mine have been scratched lots.

DD has a couple of faux velvet sofas from Next, which aren’t great quality IMO but she lives alone and her cat doesn’t click them, despite reaching and stretching on them.

he does shred her carpets though and clicks her outdoor rattan sofa so there’s deffo something about velvet they don’t like.