What do beaks, claws, nails, and teeth have in common? All will damage furniture, and none are covered by the manufacturer’s warranty or even by the 5-year furniture protection plans.

If you’re a pet owner, here are some of our best tips for shopping for your next perfect furniture:

Trick Your Pet

We cat-sat for our daughter’s cats one month. They clawed the fronts of our best living room chairs. Solution: We draped a shawl over the fronts of each chair. Since it was loose, the cats went elsewhere and didn’t return, even when we removed the shawls.

Those same cats jumped to our piano bench and onto our baby grand piano top. Initially, we laid a large shawl there, causing them to slide right off. Then we ordered a tabletop in the piano shape, and it did the trick.

Also, a neighbor of ours once bought a battery-powered zap pad to keep their pets off their furniture. It worked perfectly. However, I leaned on it and vouch that it works!

Does Your Pet Scratch?

Cats and dogs are known to scratch surfaces and cause irreversible damage to your furniture. It can happen accidentally when they make a nest from their blanket. If you have a pet with long, sharp nails, consider choosing a tightly woven fabric to prevent damage or a bold pattern to hide signs of scratches.

 

If snags are infrequent, trim the loose threads. If frequent, resort to a dog sofa blanket.

Does Your Pet Shed?

If you have a pet that sheds, expect hair on your furniture. You can choose a tightly woven fabric that matches their hair color. Typically, you can easily remove hair with a roller and clean certain fabrics and leather.

Licking or Chewing Furniture

If your dog is a chewer, aim for a skirted base instead of exposed wood feet. If your dog is a licker, you could avoid microfiber or velvety fabrics. Otherwise, unattractive wet spots on the furniture can dry and leave water rings.

 

By the way, when you spot clean fabrics and blot with a damp rag, you can avoid water rings. Just blow your hair dryer until the wet spot disappears.

Choosing the Right Fabrics

There are hundreds of beautiful, pet-friendly fabric choices.  Just avoid velvet, chenille, and silk (claws can snag these); tweed and coarse or tapestry (these capture pet hair and will snag).

Leather, especially distressed protected leather, can easily be cleaned and is odor resistant. Although vulnerable to scratching, distressed leather patterns are great at camouflaging pet blemishes.

Where Does Your Pet Sit?

If you and they agree about sitting on top of the back cushions, you can buy sofas with the back attached to the frame.  This minimizes the sag from the pet’s weight.

If you’re a pet owner looking to add new furniture to your home, consider Wine Country Fine Furniture for further assistance. They have lots of experience with pets, and sell the best, high-quality, durable furniture pieces that will last you through years of use when taken care of properly.

Contact us today to learn more about our furniture pieces from reliable sources like  Hooker Furniture, Palliser, Temple, Bermex, and Hekman!