How to choose upholstered furniture if there is an animal in the house

It seems that upholstered furniture and animals are incompatible or even mutually exclusive concepts. This is not quite so. Possible problems such as torn upholstery and piles of wool are not a reason not to buy your favorite sofa or chair. There are many ways to keep the upholstery intact without punishing your pet. We will talk about five useful tips in our article.

Method 1: educate an animal

If you don’t teach animals discipline, they will do whatever they want. Punishment will not help either – the animal may get stressed or continue to harm for the harm’s  sake. But zoopsychologists claim that it is possible to find a common language with a four-legged pet. It is advised to raise the dog from childhood and over time the funny puppy will grow into an obedient dog that will not cause too much trouble. Cats cannot be trained, but you can also establish a relationship with them: scratching mat, sprays, silicone pads on the claws, regular nail trimming – some of the methods are guaranteed to work.

Method 2: protect soft parts with removable covers

The removable cover solves two problems at once: it preserves the appearance of the soft part and makes it easier to care for the furniture. The cover can always be removed, washed, or changed. It will still be cheaper than changing the sofa. In addition, you can buy a cover of a different color and refresh the interior in this way.

Removable covers can be stretched over cushions/seats or cover the entire sofa with a single cover. But not all sofas can offer such a luxury as a solid removable cover. However, there is a solution: removable seat/cushion covers – such as in Hermes, Fellini, and Place sofas.

As for the color of the covers or upholstery of the sofa, it is advisable to follow the rule: if you can’t clean all the dirt – hide it. The color of the fabric “to match the color of your pet’s fur” will partially solve the problem. However, you will have to give up bright shades.

Method 3: choose an anti-claw fabric for upholstery

Upholstery fabric manufacturers claim that the best pet upholstery fabric is anti-claw fabric. The material does not contain any special impregnation, simply due to the dense and fine weaving of threads, damage from claws and teeth is less noticeable. That’s all. So the anti-claw fabric is not a panacea. If the animal sets a goal to tear the upholstery, it will certainly do it.

Method 4:  vacuum the upholstery regularly

Regular cleaning of the upholstery is recommended in any case. And if there are animals, even more so. We do not recommend cleaning the sofa with detergents, but going over all the joints and seams with a powerful vacuum cleaner with a special nozzle is exactly what you need. Such cleaning will remove fur and rid the furniture of an unpleasant smell.

Cleaning with a vacuum cleaner should be alternated with cleaning with a sticky roller for clothes. A sticky roller can cope with hard-to-reach places: corners and hollows. After such cleaning, it is worth treating the surface of the fabric with an antistatic spray, which will partially repel the fur.

Method 5: clean complex dirt in dry cleaning

Complex dirt with an unpleasant smell (animal urine, for example) is better to entrust to a professional dry cleaner. In this case, home remedies are unlikely to help, but they will definitely spoil the upholstery fabric.

Yes, the ideal anti-vandal coating for furniture has not yet been invented but if you choose a dense fabric from our catalog and arm yourself with the advice of consultants, the sofa will last much longer. To the joy of the owners and their pets.