pet-friendly couch

Watching this thread. Our cats have not been kind to the armrests of our leather couch, despite an abundance of scratching places scattered throughout the house, just for them.

I went almost 20 years with a white pottery barn sectional. I loved the white because I could take the covers off and wash and bleach it as needed. I only got rid of it because we were moving and put everything in storage and figured I could buy new when we settle again. I already regret getting rid of it.

My solution has been to get a sofa with a washable slipcover. The slipcover can be washed when needed. If/when that wears out, just replace it with a new one. The sofa I have is 19 years old and is from Quatrine. Last year I had new inserts made and it's like a new sofa again. The slipcover needs to be replaced though. A less expensive option is the IKEA Uppland (an updated version of the Ektorp) sofa with washable slipcover.  They sell replacement covers as well.  

I did this as well.  I bought a couch and two recliners from a store that specialized in leather furniture that were not cheap.  I was happy that the little scratches didn’t make it look ruined and could be sort of wiped away with a little oil-based cleaning product.  My cats did leave marks on it, but never from using it as a scratching post but just from running across it in their typical mad dash maneuvers while playing.  Probably my fault for not trimming their nails.

The furniture was expensive, but I had it taken to the dump during this move because the leather started to just split open.  First it was on one of the recliners and I figured I would just get rid of that one and keep the lesser used one.  Then the remaining pieces started showing these rips.  I was frustrated and irritated because the base of the furniture was still in very good shape and it had only been used for 10 years.  I considered having it recovered but then decided that I didn’t need both living room and family room couches when I was moving to downsize.

The couch and two side chairs that are coming with the next pods were also bought at the same store but in a different finish on the leather.  That one is a suede finish in a black/dark grey.  Since it was in the living room, it wasn’t used near as much as the family room was and it looks to be in very good condition.  At least there were no rips and the stuffing was still full with no sags anywhere.  The only thing wrong with it was the black mesh fabric underneath was ripped during the move.  I will be cutting that off and either just leading it off or stapling on new myself.  I am really hoping that this one holds up better with daily use than the more rustic set did.

I don’t know how long the leather on a sofa is expected to last, but I thought 10 years was much too short.

Merge, I was living in Southern California, so I would say yes, it was rather dry.  We certainly didn’t get much rain at all over the past 10 years.  I expected the couch to last much longer than 10 years.  Especially since it was just my fiancé and I living there, then after I kicked him out, I moved Mom in.  My son had already moved out.  The frustrating thing was the leather still looked good, it just started ripping and I don’t know why.  It didn’t split open on the arms, sides, or back, just the seat portions.  Prior to this it was a favorite set because, as you said, it was made for hiding small scratches and that just made it look more rustic.

I'm back and still missing my sectional but i wanted to throw in that we've stayed at a few places with joy bird furniture and have had conversations about them with the homeowners and they're all thrilled with hiw they're holding up even with pets and people in and out. They aren't cheap, but they look really good in each space, are super comfy, and hold up well!

We bought a Love Sac sectional which was expensive but the cover we got is pet hair resistant (as well as liquid resistant from kid spills).