Watch out for their back claws. My daughter's cats spent a week at our house and all my "leather - look" dinette seats were left with gashes from their back claws. DD has a real leather couch and the cats have put small pinholes in it, but not nearly as bad as the "unleather".

We use these things called Soft Paws on our cat. They are little soft plastic caps that you glue onto their nails. They only need to be replaced every 8 weeks or so, or whenever they come off. They don't hurt the cat.

Yes, Soft Paws are wonderful. They are much better then declawing. And if your cat doesn't scratch the furniture you can let them wear off. Most new vets do not declaw cats anymore, only the old school vet office does that now.

Thanks everyone. We went shopping again. More confused than ever! I feel in love with this set. LOVE it...but hubby thinks I will get sick of the color. It is seafoam green and brown.
He still wants leather...real leather. We found a camel colored fabric set we like but don't love. So back to square one.

I have three cats (two now, sadly). They are declawed, but have their back claws. Also have a leather recliner. We've had no problems except occasional pin pricks. If you want to keep a cat from scratching your furniture, put double-sided sticky tape on the surfaces that they scratch. They hate it. Doesn't work where people sit, of course.

Yes, I have similar and MIL cat really scratched it.

Sharon

This is the most impressive part of this whole thread. Smart man.
I would think, if the cat has a history of damage to furniture, would make all the difference.

My DH and I bought leather in 2001. We are dog and cat lovers and rescued several. I don't declaw my cats and the dogs climb up all the time so I expected scratches and messes. Leather cleans well for spills and stains. But if you are concerned about the scratches from climbing cats or some that loose their footing, then I say go for cloth. I can't stand the fur and smells that get into cloth. We love our animals. A couch can be replaced.

I think he was hoping all of you would say go for it. Honestly, the cat has never damaged anything. She would probably be fine. But, I do not want leather. Not gonna happen. :wink:

hope he doesn't read this! I do the same thing - I researched blah blah on the net (what he wanted to do/buy), and I found out that ner ner ner (what I wanted to do/buy)is a MUCH BETTER IDEA. And it works!!!!