advice on pet "safe" furniture?

[mattkime]

billb wrote:
Just "train" the cat
after all, pets don't have bad habits - they have bad owners.

That's a fact.

I can't tell if you're serious although there is some truth in what you're saying.

Still, durability in furniture varies widely and i'd like to verify that i'm getting something durable.

[NewtonMP2100]

......something like the ones that your grandparents used to have......entirely wrapped in plastic........in the summer it stuck to your sweaty thighs and always make a noise when you sat down and when you got up......

[Phy]

I have full-grain leather couches and chairs, and my cats never claw them. They do, however, claw the fabric couch downstairs.

[Chakravartin]

mattkime wrote:
Still, durability in furniture varies widely and i'd like to verify that i'm getting something durable.

My cat is drawn to the odor of leather and will destroy leather shoe sitting out on the floor. She likes to sit on leather briefcases and has scratched mine incidentally with her rear claws. I'd expect a leather couch to get damaged whether or not she deliberately clawed it.

She's also clawed my fabric couch quite a bit over the years. (Mostly when she wants my attention while I'm sitting on the couch.) I managed to make this couch last more than a decade by installing thick fabric panels on each arm where she's most prone to scratch, but she also uses her claws to pull herself up on the cushions and -- after a decade of this behavior -- it has added up to the cushions becoming very ragged along the front edges.

In retrospect, I think I should have been using one of those protective covers designed for dog and cat owners and I'd recommend one to others. Leave it on for day-to-day and take it off when there are guests coming. It worked for my sister when her lab decided to take up residence on the leather couch.

[Pam]

billb wrote:
Just "train" the cat
after all, pets don't have bad habits - they have bad owners.

That's a fact.

Obviously said by a dog owner One can only "train" a cat to a certain point. The rest is up to the cat.

[mattkime]

Cats are much more trainable than we give them credit.

Pam wrote:
[quote=billb]
Just "train" the cat
after all, pets don't have bad habits - they have bad owners.

That's a fact.

Obviously said by a dog owner One can only "train" a cat to a certain point. The rest is up to the cat.

[Pam]

mattkime wrote:
Cats are much more trainable than we give them credit.

[quote=Pam]
[quote=billb]
Just "train" the cat
after all, pets don't have bad habits - they have bad owners.

That's a fact.

Obviously said by a dog owner One can only "train" a cat to a certain point. The rest is up to the cat.
As I said, to a point. Dogs inherently want to please their owner, follow the alpha dog. Cats do not have that drive at the same level as dogs.

[Speedy]

De-claw the feline. Alternatively, I hear they taste like chicken.

[Buzz]

Pam wrote:
[quote=mattkime]
Cats are much more trainable than we give them credit.

[quote=Pam]
[quote=billb]
Just "train" the cat
after all, pets don't have bad habits - they have bad owners.

That's a fact.

Obviously said by a dog owner One can only "train" a cat to a certain point. The rest is up to the cat.
As I said, to a point. Dogs inherently want to please their owner, follow the alpha dog. Cats do not have that drive at the same level as dogs.
We lived in a nice residential neighborhood when I was a kid growing up, and we had pretty good luck w/ training cats... the more responsible the cat was, the more time they got to spend in the house. Most were good, but a couple were primarily outdoor cats. I'm pretty sure "Leo" was a very small human, disguised as a medium-sized red tabby, as he was the best trained, best behaved cat in the history of cats. He'd even run errands for us, and never scratched anything he wasn't supposed to. His only (minor and humorous) flaw, was that he didn't realize that he shed a little bit, and that even at about 16-17 pounds, he left a dent in the down topped cushions on the living room couch :-). He knew he wasn't supposed to hang out in the living room unless people were there, but he loved the overstuffed couch and chair, even when the room was empty... he knew enough to hide when he heard, or sensed, the parents coming, but dear old mom was pretty adept at scoping out the dent in the cushion and the few distinctive hairs he inadvertently would leave behind. He was smart enough to try and deny that he had been in the living room when he wasn't supposed to. If all cats were like Leo, cats would've already taken over the world.

Pam, I think that dogs have become more domesticated than cats, and have become more dependent on humans than their feline counterparts... it would be interesting to find some totally uncivilized outcrop that had both wild dogs and wild cats, and see which species could be domesticated the quickest and the best, based on no given roles for them, such as those that exist in our society today. Maybe dogs would bury their poop, and cats would want to please their new owners more....


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[Speedy]

Buzz wrote:
it would be interesting to find some totally uncivilized outcrop that had both wild dogs and wild cats, and see which species could be domesticated the quickest and the best, based on no given roles for them, such as those that exist in our society today. Maybe dogs would bury their poop, and cats would want to please their new owners more....


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And pigs would fly.