My sister's cat clawed her leather sofa, so it's not impossible to have it happen. Have your kitties clawed your other furniture?

We have had a battle with our ONE cat to prevent her from clawing furniture. Finally had to put on the Soft Paws claw tips. But that's another story.

Yes, they do, though rarely in that room, but they have. Gosh I wish I would have had them declawed with they were kittens. It's so expensive when they are grown.

$500 is such a good deal for a nice leather sofa. Would you allow your pets to prevent you from getting a good deal like that? That's just not right!!! LOL!

When you bring the sofa home, have a can with coins and shake it when they go near it. Or squirt them with water.

When you get it home, you could go over it with some kind of leather cleaner/conditioner. I use car upholstery leather cleaner and conditioner. Maybe it would give the leather an odor the cats would not like. Maybe then they will learn to avoid it.

I could live with that, but I know my hubby couldn't.
It's not like they spend a lot of time in that room. Wish I could keep them out completely, though our main level separate rooms they open to each other with wide doorways. No doors to close them off. It's also their way to the screened in porch which they love since they are not allowed outdoors.

I have a leather sofa and a houseful of kitties, and yep, my sofa's been clawed in places. I just try to look at it as the overall "patina" of the piece now ... y'know, that distressed look. ;-)

Even if your cats were declawed in front (I don't know of anyone who has all four feet declawed), you're still going to have scratching issues, as the kitties will dig in with those hind feet when they jump on and off the sofa.

How bad does it look Jen? Can you share pictures. I really want this, but don't want to have to fight the cats off because it will get ruined in a couple months time.
I know $500 isn't much. Especially for leather, but I still don't want a ragged leather sofa.

I'll try to get a picture this weekend. My youngest two really went after the sides of the sofa before they learned that the scratching post was sitting right there for a reason! ;-) It's definitely scratched, but as strange as this may sound, it seems to have slightly "healed itself" over time. I've heard that better quality leather will do this! A leather conditioner applied on the scratched areas helped.

I think it depends on the cats. My two cats don't really like my leather chair--they never sit on it. Occasionally, they will walk across the top of the back of the chair if that is the quickest route to get where they want to go, and yes, there are one or two small scratches where they have launched themselves off.

But they don't go up to the chair and claw it the way they do the chair in my study, which is in the study because the upholstery is hanging in shreds in places due to their claws.

Of all my upholstered furniture, the leather chair is the one that shows the least amount of damage from the cats.

But there are cats who like leather furniture and will sleep on it. The more they are on it, the more likely they are to scratch it.

Gosh, I wish there was a good answer for this. I'm so tired of the sectional we have in there now. It's not the I don't still like it's looks it's that it consists of two full size sofa's and we have two full size lazyboy recliners in there too. It's the "guy" room in our home. One of the recliners is mine though. Got after being hospitalized and needed my legs up for a coulpe months.
I'll go talk to my hubby and see what he thinks. Thanks so very much.
I'll check back incase others have stories too.

We have a beautiful Hancock and Moore chair and ottoman that the cats like to sit in and have scratched up. We also have a large ottoman in leather, but it has an aged sort of look to it, so any marks they leave don't show up hardly. They also don't tend to sit or lay on the ottoman.

I have a lot of leather furniture and in the past, have always had my cats declawed. The cats I have now are not declawed. They are Bengals. One was an adult and the other a kitten when I got them, so I decided to give it a try and it has not been bad. They like to sharpen their claws on the carpet and that's fine with me. Most of the cats that I did declaw became bitters and that is why I decided against it this time.

Our cat left our leather sofas alone. No claw marks or jumping on/off marks. She didn't like them at all. It's a tactile thing. She prefers soft furnishings especially if there's an afghan or throw out. She sits on the new velvet sofas all the time. And a basket of clean laundry stands no chance.

Thanks NP, MGD and LSM. I just talked to my hubby and *now* he's saying he wants to wait until we have the wood bought for the window trim, baseboard and stairway treads and risers.
Why does it take men so long to make up their minds? It's been almost twenty hours since I mentioned it to him. And when he saw the photos he really liked it. Grrrrrr!

And guess who had to call the sweet lady that was waiting for him and I to figure out when we could come and pick it up while she has others waiting? Yep. You guessed it. ME! She was very sweet about it and happy that I called to let her know. Now I'm bumbed out. Totally dudettes. Ok even being weird isn't helping.

Been there done that. I'm sorry.

Thanks socks. I'll get over it. It wouldn't be so bad except for having to call the sweet lady.
I hope she sells it soon, because I know my hubby won't change his mind and I'm sure she felt it was a done deal. Heck I thought it was a done deal and I know my hubby. Love as I do, but he can be a pain sometimes. He is a very good man. God bless him.

Unfortunately, the answer is in training the cats, preferably from when they are very young, but they aren't too old yet. Cats respond to loud noises, but they don't learn the way dogs do, with negative reinforcement or being told not to do something or being yelled at. They learn from positive reinforcement. You might want try a book called "how to get your cat do what you want". Its available from Amazon. Its going to be difficult with that many cats to train them all well at the same time, as all will have different personalities. Cats need to scratch. You would have to be comitted and determined to do it. What worked for me was cardboard scratchers in each main room, a cat scratcher I made myself out of similar fabric to the sofa so she had an acceptable place to get the same sensation, and positive reinforcement. If she went for the sofa I would nicely pick her up and place her at the scratcher, and tell her what a good girl she was every time she used the right one. Occasionally if I was ignoring her, she would go for the couch to get my attention. I made sure she didn't get whatever she was looking for so as not to reinforce the act, but place her nicely on her scratcher again, and only get her what she wanted (food, toy, attention, whatever) if she used the scratchers. She is now 11 years old, I still tell her she is a good girl sometimes when she uses them, and she never touches the furniture. She is a playful, active short hair with some real attitude, not a sleepy lap cat at all, but I could have chintz furniture if I wanted.

By the way, the marbles in a can might work, but you would have to leave them on the arms of the chair when you go to work so they fall off and scare them if they start scratching, even when you are gone. Otherwise, they don't learn not to scratch the sofa, they learn not to do it when you are around. :)

Declawing is major surgery and very painful, the equivalent of having your nails surgically removed and alters the way they walk, and causes changes to the bones in the legs over time. It is preferable to euthanasia if that is the only other option, but is not a small thing.

How did you end up with 5 cats not trained not to claw the furniture, without resigning yourself to many years of shredded furniture? A very sturdy microfiber is what I have found to most resistant, but 5 cats with sharp claws can shred ANYTHING if they want to and are given the chance. But you would have to pay more than 500.00 for even a nice sturdy microfiber, so at that price go for it, and do what you can to keep them from using it as a scratching post.

Sue

Training only works to prevent scratching. I don't have any furniture damage from cat's scratching ... they use the posts ... but my cedar chest is full of scratches from them jumping/launching off of it. That would be my concern with anything leather.

RE: Clawing furniture . . .even if your cats are trained and have never clawed furniture before, they can start at any time.

I read you are not getting the couch now. But for those who are considering it I wanted to say that my cat does not scratch my leather sofa. In fact he does not seem to be a big fan of it altogether. Also keep their nails clipped that helps accidental markings and may reduce the urge to scratch.

"Declawing is major surgery and very painful, the equivalent of having your nails surgically removed"

This is an incorrect statement- declawing is not just pulling out the nail it is the same as cutting off your finger at the first knuckle joint behind the fingernail. In a declaw the last phalanx is removed- usually with guillotine nail clippers or a surgery blade- the opening is closed with surgical glue- and wrapped with bandages.

It is an incredibly painful procedure and is normally only performed on the front two paws. However, I have worked for a vet that will remove all 4. It is not a surgery to take lightly, death can result, serious infections, and most common behavioral issues.

As far as the topic of having leather sofa with cats- I would not unless it was an area they were restricted from accessing.

I have always had cats and am well aquatinted with the clawing issue. But I also have to deal with cat hair sticking to the furniture. So I have opted for a leather sectional in my family room and a leather sofa in my living room.
The sectional is about 15 years old, it was an inexpensive model with the harder leather, and doesn't show a scratch. The cats are on it all the time and their hairs just slide off. They never have tried to claw it. Now my sofa in the living room (4 years old) is more expensive, with the butter soft leather. It shows every little scratch. The cats have never tried to claw it, but have made many launching off scratches, and long skid marks when they slip off the back by accident. It is a dark, brownish burgundy color which really shows the scratches. So I have dealt with it by treating it with leather conditioner. It makes the scratches blend in pretty well; I am eventually going for the "distressed" look. What my cats love to claw are my dining room chairs, which are chenille. They have a cedar scratching pole that they all use, but still love to ruin my chairs. I have covers on them that they push up, so they can sharpen on the edges.