Which sofa?

[HirplesWithHaggis]

I shall shortly be redecorating my livingroom, and replacing my thoroughly-knackered sofas. I have three cats.

I know they will scratch the new furniture, especially as my old boy is mobility-impaired and gets on to the sofa by sticking his front claws into the seat/arm and hauling himself up. He's 13 and I expect several more years out of him. The other two aren't two years old yet and still have the odd mad half hour, zipping across the sofa backs and up the curtains, so damage is inevitable.

What material should I choose for the new sofas? Does fabric show damage more or less than leather, for example?

I have 5 cats and a fabric sofa from sofa.com. It has a few marks from claws but nothing major considering it's so heavily used (I also have young cats who jump and run all over it). It's one of their linen/cotton blend fabrics and has some texture which probably hides claw "pulls" a bit anyway.

Thank you, I'll have a browse. :)

We have leather and so far so good! The last leather sofa had a couple of claw marks but nothing major, but anything fabric is fair game.

Oh, now that's interesting, I've seen some badly-scratched leather furniture in the past and assumed fabric would "hide" it better, current sofa didn't look too bad till they actually put holes in it. But then, that's why I asked in here!

My fabric ikea ektorp was shredded, they've not touched my DFS leather one!

If you‘re also buying a new armchair, I can highly recommend the Ikea Strandmon one. My cat does her „mad kitty“ game on it at least twice daily with claws out (it is fun ) and the armchair is absolutely unharmed and looks new after two years. She has also vomited twice on it but I could easily remove it without any stains.

OP, I also have the Ikea Ektorb sofa and the cover on the Strandmon armchair is certainly a lot better and more cat-resistant.

Thank you both, I like those IKEA pieces, and the cat-resistance of the armchair is a definite bonus... atm we have a three seat sofa and a sofa bed, both of which are well past their best but, thinking about it as I type, the sofa bed shows very little damage per cat claws. The cover is a very thick cotton, I think. Might be the way to go. Hmm.

I’d put a little step by the sofa for the old boy. Save his front legs.

That's a thought too, thanks. :)