cat+leather furniture?

tk123

can cats and leather furniture live together? I want to get a new couch but I don't want the cat to wreck it! He doesn't really scratch the furniture at the moment but he has done it a few times....

peasant

The quick and simple answer is ....

NO !

Even if your cat is very good and doesn't deliberately scratch the couch, just jumping up and darting off WILL leave marks over time. And buying an expensive leather couch only to cover it in throws is kinda pointless ...

Alun

The other quick and simple answer is ...

MAYBE!

We have a leather suite and haven't really had any problems. It isn't one of the really shiny ones though, but more of a suedey leather, nappa, I think it's called. I can imagine that if it was a glossy leather they'd lose their grip when jumping up and have to dig their claws in to stop sliding off, but like I said, we've had no problems even when they were kittens.

YMMV

formatman

I know a good taxidermist

hadook

IF your cat lives indoors all the time then you could try Softpaws

www.softpaws.com

They're a plastic "false nail" for cats. My 5 wear them & the difference its made on my furniture is unbelievable.

The cat will be unable to climb etc with these on so don't use them if your cat goes outside.

formatman

thats cool , I actually like cats contary to my post

how does one attempt to glue these on though without sedation ?

hadook

None of my cats minded too much. They're all used to being groomed etc so will sit still on my lap.

For my nervous cat I waited til she was sitting on my lap and started to rub her paws and extend the claws while petting her. After a couple of days of this I could put them on her too with no problems.

Here's Homer showing off his - that's about as annoyed as he got throughout the whole procedure

peasant

And what (besides looking utterly stupid) do these rubber caps do to the cats' claws?

I mean, they will keep on growing, without the cat being able to "cut" them, they are locked away from air while covered in glue ...

Couldn't be healthy, that ...

For example on human fingernails ...if you leave artificial nails glued on for too long, the natural nail will just rot away underneath.

Leaving that aside, I think it is just cruel to rob a cat of the functions of its claws ...kinda like if you made people wear boxing gloves all the time.

Could only be an American product.

Utterly stupid and unnatural.

If you are so bloody worried about your stylish home ...don't get a cat!

hadook

They fall off after a few weeks. And if they dont you cut the very tip off the softpaw and they then fall off. The entire nail is not covered by it either. Most importantly my vet thinks they are safe to use.

I cut my dogs nails so they don't destroy the floors, I put shoes on the pony, I provide wood for my gerbils to chew so that they don't chew the actual cage itself, so routinely cutting the cats nails & putting false nails on to save my curtains & furniture while they're indoors doesn't seem like that big a step.

The road I live near by has gone from fairly quiet to insanely busy almost 24/7. I live 50 miles from Dublin in the middle of the countryside & when we bought the house we didn't think the traffic on the road would get so bad. I can't let my cats out as my garden (all 1 & 1/2 acres of it) is not secure yet. I'd prefer them to wear daft looking plastic claw covers to burying them in the garden tbh.

peasant

I cut my dogs nails so they don't destroy the floors

... thought so ...

I cut my dogs nails so that they don't get too long, forcing the dog to walk unnaturally with "curled toes", damaging its feet in the process.

That the floor gets less scratches is a negligable side effect, although positive.

To come back to the original post: Surely it is much simpler and fairer to all involved, to "deny oneself" an expensive leather couch, go for something cheap and cheerful in cloth, where a few scratches won't matter and live happily ever after ...cat and human
The money saved on the leather couch will buy a new cloth one every so often and the money saved on false nails for cats might just be enough for a nice throw or some pillows