I'm still here
I know the silence has been deafening but I'm still here. The house is on the market, things are rolling along in the whole grand scheme of moving and once I get the house re-cleaned every morning I can actually knit or read or do other things that don't make messes. The bad news is, the knitting I've been doing is on the Air socks so I can't show you, but the good news is that I'm hoping to have the pattern released later this week. This is the last pattern in the Elements Collection and I'll be glad to get it finished before the end of the year.
I have an un-knitting related question: If you have a cat (with claws) and leather furniture, does your cat sit directly on the leather? I've asked one person before and her cats only sat on people who were sitting on the leather or if a blanket/throw type thing got left on the leather, the cats would sit on that, but not directly on the leather. I ask because Mickael wants a leather recliner but is afraid Ramius would ruin it. Comments? Personal anecdotes? Random unrelated bits of information?
I have an un-knitting related question: If you have a cat (with claws) and leather furniture, does your cat sit directly on the leather? I've asked one person before and her cats only sat on people who were sitting on the leather or if a blanket/throw type thing got left on the leather, the cats would sit on that, but not directly on the leather. I ask because Mickael wants a leather recliner but is afraid Ramius would ruin it. Comments? Personal anecdotes? Random unrelated bits of information?
posted by Melanie at 7:27 AM
31 Comments:
We have leather furniture and 2 cats that are declawed only on their front claws. I would vote no on the leather recliner since your cat is probably too old to be declawed.
Ours chewed through the leather covered recliner handle thingy within a week or two. They love to un velcro the back cover and play in the "guts" of the chair.
I think it depends on the cat. We've got one who has all of her claws, but she's not much of a scratcher in general, so she doesn't really mess with the leather. If Ramius is a scratcher, he might do some damage.
My cat used the arms of my (thank goodness hand me down) leather sofa as her personal scratching post. I think it may really depend on the cat on how they will react to leather furniture!
My two are not interested in the leather for sitting but they poke holes in it when "passing through", meaning when jumping up to say "hi" or when avoiding each other. My head rests have lots of little holes from the cats trying to hang on to the slippery surface.
Ages ago we had a cat and a leather sofa (actually two cats but the second one after the first passed away). They were not declawed. At one end of the sofa we had a cheap blanket folded in quarter on the sofa. That was the cat's place. They learned very quickly that they were only allowed on the blanket and never clawed the sofa.
The cats actually meowed if their blanket was not there (and didn't jump on the sofa). Once, the blanket was folded even smaller (think about letter size), cat nevertheless lied down on it but the only thing not on the blanket was the tip of the tail.
If we needed room for visitors, blanket was put on the floor next to the sofa and the cat was actually OK with that.
My mother used to have both, a cat (with claws, of course, they come like that, do you seriously declaw cats on your side of the world??!??) and a leather sofa.
The cat never sat directly on it. Simply because she refused to do so. She would stand in front of the furniture and meow until my mother would make a nice spot of a folded blanket for her.
(The prefered claw sharpening device was a spot on the wall...)
But I'd agree with the others... it depends on the cat.
we had cats with claws only in the back.... totally ruined the leather couch we had. Ours was also, thankfully, a hand me down.
Cats + Leather furniture = Never again.
My parents have two leather chairs and while the cats didn't intentionally scratch them, in their efforts to race around the house chasing each other or jumping and missing the chair, managed to scratch them up A LOT. I wouldn't recommend leather and cats, unless you like that weathered look....
Second what cellowingnut said...they didn't sharpen their claws on the leather couch/chairs, but they ran across them, sat on them, and generally tried to keep their balance on the slippery surface, and the result was very scratched leather armchairs! So it depends on how nice you want your furniture to look...
Interesting mix of responses - we have had three cats during the life of our 15 year old recliner (which still looks like new). none has shown any interest in clawing or even sitting on the leather. Anything with nubby fabric, however, is unfortunately fair game.
One thing that's helped on upholstry is some 3" wide double sided sticky tape (bought at a pet store). We've run the tape down the corners they prefer and that stops them.
I have had 3 different cats during the same timespan I've had my sofa. All three did the same thing, they would sit on the arm of the sofa but not the bare cushions. If I have a throw on the cushions my current cat will sleep there. The sofa I had when I first got two cats was a woven pattern and one of the cats was a scratcher. She destroyed that sofa by scratching and pulling herself along the front.
Well before I read the other posts I would have said to get it and not to worry about it. My cats scratch either the rug of the fabric foot stool.But after reading the other posts, I might have to consider it quite a long time. Leather is expensive and un-fixable so I don't really know.
Love your knitting btw. I am so slow that I never really finish anything. I start a lot but ....
We have a leather chair that the cat sits upon with all of his claws. He's left marks on the chair but since it is distressed leather it is ok. Nice shiny new leather, not so good.
My 16 year old cat (with claws) always used to sit in my chair or on me in the winter. Recently I got a leather chair. The cat wants nothing to do with it and sadly won't even sit on my lap ( however that could be the knitting that's always in my hands). I think it depends on the personality of your cat. Mine is pretty mellow and adaptable.
I have leather chairs, and a leather couch. My cats have claws and all of the furniture has been destroyyed, They sit and chase each other on the couch, therefore, ripped seats. Someone also used the sides of the chairs to scratch - another unsightly mess. Seriously reconsider the leather, or learn to live with it with a "distressed" look, like I do,
I also had problems with my cats and a leather chair. In the end we gave the chair away.
Also - I just have to remind people what it means to declaw a cat. You are amputating the end of the finger. It makes me literally nauseous every time I think of it. Better to buy hardy furniture or not get a cat.
We have four cats and a leather recliner. Despite the reassurances of the sales person that the tensile strenghth of leather would hold up to claws, it won't hold up to a cat that's sliding off and trying not too! We also have an Australian Shepherd who is pawsy and she has added a bit of interest as well. That being said, a bit of shoe polish and you barely notice!
I have a cat with claws and a leather sofa and she liked getting up on it. I leave a throw on one side, though, and that's what she always wanted to lay on. I imagine the leather is okay, but the throw is softer.
I have 2 cats, one 18(declawed) the other 5(has claws). We also have a leather couch and DH has his leather chair in our primary "family room" space.
Both cats sit on the sofa right on the leather, but the older one prefers to be on a blanket. The little one sits anywhere. The couch is 14 years old now and shows little evidence of cat marks. Neither cats are big scratchers, and the little one prefers fabric to scratch over leather. My guess is that it depends on the cat.
One thing to keep in mind if you are going to get leather furniture and are concerned about surface scratches - make sure you get what is called "full grain leather". This is leather that is dyed all the way through the skin, so if there are scratches they are less noticeable. The other type of leather is called "top grain leather" - this sounds like it is better, but it isn't This means that the leather hide is only dyed on the outer surface, making scratches show up as white marks.
When we replace the couch, we'll be getting another leather one - certainly is easy to get the cat hair of it!
We have two 4-wheel-drive cats and a leather sofa, and it's never been a problem. One of them really doesn't like the couch at all, but the other one wants to sit with me all the time.
I've found that keeping a throw over the bits that she prefers to sit on does a very good job of keeping the claws out of the leather and making sure she stays in some convenient spot.
I also agree about getting "full grain" rather than "top grain" leather -- I strongly suspect that's why our couch doesn't have little puncture marks all over from being part of the Kitty 500 Obstacle Course Races.
Learn to clip the tips off the cats nails....
We've never had a problem with our cats on the leather couch. My old cat slept on it for 15 years with minimal scratches ( I think my kids have done more damage) and our 2 new cats also like sleeping on it and don't seem to scratch it at all. One of the cats likes to try and have a go at the fake leather base on a small leather love seat we have but doesn't touch the leather. My friends 2 cats on the other hand, have completely destroyed their leather sofa and armchair, so much so that they have had them declawed, much to my dismay.
We have leather furniture, and 3 cats (they all have all their claws) that don't bother with it. When we had tweedy sort of upholstery, they shredded it. But they do nothing with the leather (thank goodness!) We kept it covered when it wasn't in use for a long time, but nothing ever happened.
What Svati says is worth repeating: "Also - I just have to remind people what it means to declaw a cat. You are amputating the end of the finger. It makes me literally nauseous every time I think of it. Better to buy hardy furniture or not get a cat."
My own experience is that our cats were never interested in our leather chairs.
Madeline
Dear Melanie -
Would this really matter? Entire family must relocate - not sure how anyone or any body might react?!
Take care...
Our cat sits on the leather couch and does not scratch at all. Of course, she can go outside whenever she wants, so she only is home for sleeping and food anyway. I would never ever declaw a cat, I think it's very cruel.
Both my cats have claws and we had leather couches the last place we lived. The cats never purposely scratched them unlike the current fabric couches that one thinks is her big scratching post. Of course the leather is slippery so in the process of running around and playing they did get scratches, but never broke through. They didn't care to be on the leather directly most of the time so I kept blankets on them for them to use.
We have a leather recliner and two cats. Our issue between the two is that the cats like to jump up to the very back of the recliner. And then it rocks and then they dig in their claws. So the few scratches we have in it are up along where our heads rest. Yeah, we tried keeping a blanket draped over the top, but we aren't very good at keeping it up there. Other than that, the recliner and cats have a good relationship.
I'm late to this game, but I have to agree with everyone else. It depends on the cat. I've got a cat with all her claws (I'm ambivilant on the declawing issue, but I do think it's mean to do to a cat who otherwise behaves and lets you trim their nails). She doesn't bother any of the furniture, so I'd get the recliner. It really does depend on your cat. Maybe get a bit of leather and give to the cat, and see what it does? If he eats it, you may want to reconsider.
My 2-year old cat harasses carpets and my bedspreads constantly, and liked sticking her claws into the woven couch I had in a previous apartment. In the current one I have a leather sectional - she loves to sleep on it, but hasn't once decided that it felt nice to claw. (What a relief for me!)
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