Durable, Practical, Pet-Friendly Sofas and Chairs

These sofas, loveseats and chairs are extremely long-lasting and suitable for any heavy use, but are especially practical for households with active pets. Some people might even call them pet-proof, dog proof or cat proof, although those are stronger terms than we can commit to. But you probably won't find any sofas and chairs that are any more pet-friendly and pet-practical than ours. Cat owners are glad to have oak wood with a hard, tough finish on sofa sides and arms, at locations where (on normal furniture) cats would be likely to reach up and claw the fabric. They often order the California model sofa (shown below) or the Florida or New Jersey models, with the all-wood arm top option. But they also often feel comfortable buying the optional padded arm wraps (shown below), or even ordering the Virginia model, since the arm covers on that model are relatively easy to replace.

Dog owners like having the polyurethane-finished oak at places where dogs are likely to rub themselves against furniture. And they like our large selection of cleanable, heavy-duty fabrics. A Napa, California customer was nice enough to send us the picture, above, of our 76" California model sofa in use in his home. One and a half years after receiving his sofa, he wrote, ".... the sofa works great and is really the perfect sofa. Dogs don't like to chew it. Cats have no sides or front to scratch on and it is easy to clean.... It is holding up well and is very easy to keep clean. Now we are talking four cats, two dogs including one very large male German shepherd, two rabbits, cockatiel and a husband who is 6'3" and over 200 pounds. All animals are permitted on the sofa. The sofa is tough, well built and meant to last. One would not expect it to also look good and be comfortable but it sure does and is. Feel free to quote me...."

The southern Maryland customer who ordered this loveseat has allergies, so he especially liked how easy it is to clean below, removing the dust and dust mites that are sources of allergens.

This 64" Florida model loveseat is made with a "Crypton" fabric. These fabrics are not only liquid repellant, extremely stain resistant, and bacteria resistant, but they also pass the minimum standard for heavy-duty abrasion resistance several times over. (However, there are many fabrics, mostly solids and tweeds, that are even more abrasion resistant, with cleanability that's good enough for most people.) The Crypton fabrics stand out in comparison with most fabrics in their permanent liquid repellancy and stain resistance while avoiding most of the disadvantages and decorating limitations that most people find in vinyl fabrics. They are also said to be "breathable" (therefore pleasanter for body contact than vinyls or leather); but see the note below about slow air passage.

This customer also chose our option of making the supporting components below the cushions to be water repellant. (This is something that you will have to remember to request if you want it, since we probably won't ask you if you want it.)

If you want assurance that pet accidents will be prevented from soaking into the foam filling, but don't want a faux leather or Crypton fabric, consider the option of liquid-repellant inner linings (at $6 per cushion).
NOTE: With either liquid-repellant outer covers or inner covers, the tight seal that's required means that the passage of air in and out of the cushions will be very slow, causing the furniture to feel extremely firm when first sitting down, as well as making the cushions slow to regain their shape when a sitter rises. These effects can be reduced significantly as follows: Vinyl or Crypton covers can be unzipped several inches to allow more air passage; and holes can be cut in plastic inner covers near corners, where spills would be less likely to dribble down; we intentionally leave small gaps at all four corners of the inner covers for this purpose already, but bigger holes would obviously have more effect.

Owners of all furry animals like the huge color range of our fabrics, which enables them to find fabrics that their pets' hairs would be less likely to cling to and to show up on, and on which soil would be less likely to be noticeable. Almost everybody likes the fact that it is relatively easy and inexpensive to renew this furniture by replacing the zippered cushion covers or cushions, with little or nothing else to be done (depending on how you order the furniture). Dog owners tend to especially like our wide selection of extra-heavy duty fabrics. Cat owners like our excellent selection of smooth fabrics, which are less inviting to cats' claws. And we have an excellent selection of fabrics that are both smooth and very heavy duty.

Bear in mind that the arm padding is optional and can be lifted off if it gets in harm's way.

Solid oak wood arm tops are always part of our California sofa model (at left), and also of our New Jersey and Florida models. But you can also order the padded arm wraps, to be applied when you want cushiness at that location. An all-wood back can be ordered on any of our exposed-wood models.

You'll have to look closely at the left side of the picture to see (leaving the room) the cat that may have created the need for pet-practicality in this household.

The Boston customer who ordered the New Jersey model sofa on the right did so with cats in mind. Several months after receiving it she wrote, "By the way, I adopted a second shelter cat.   My first kitty had clawed through the fabric and stuffing of my previous sofa, and was down to the wood!   I knew the same would quickly recur with any standard sofa replacement I bought.   Neither cat is clawing my new sofa.  Comfy1 has been the perfect solution (I'm delighted with the sofa in general, too)." When asked specifically how the padded arm wraps were faring, or whether she had needed to remove them, she responded, "The cat that loves to claw furniture ... has mostly ignored the arm wraps.   She does occasionally give it one minor claw, but doesn't seem to like the fabric or whatever. I would guess it depends on the cat!    I ordered the finished arms in addition to the padded wraps, so I'd have an option." Having your sofa covered in a fabric that cats "don't seem to like" isn't just a matter of chance. Although little regarding cats can be said with certainty, ordering a smooth micro-suede (such as the one shown, in just one of hundreds of available beautiful colors) is a good second step, in addition to choosing an exposed-hardwood frame.

The micro-suedes are free of the nubs, loops, and textures that cats' claws seem to be attracted to, are very popular in general, and are usually also heavy duty and very cleanable (information on those specifics should be available from the supplier). A Pennsylvania customer reports about one of these fabrics on her sofas, "The fabric is as durable as expected and amazingly cat-proof. The kitties never tried to scratch it, probably because it is too smooth and taut to register as something worthy of sinking their claws into. One of them fell off a couch and grabbed the cushion on the way down. No claw marks."

Shown here is a decades-old sofa made by us, in a photo sent by a Pennsylvania customer just after receiving her new cushions. The couch had been in a household of a dog breeder, and after long use and abuse by "many dogs... over the years" of a breed "that love to hang out on furniture," it had looked like it was ready to be trashed. In response to our comment that the renewed sofa in the picture (after merely placing the new cushions on it) "looks great," our customer said, "You're absolutely right about the condition of the couch.  I didn't have to do anything to it." (This sofa had an all-wood back, as opposed to a fabric-covered back that might have required an hour or so with a staple gun to replace the fabric on that.) A typical sofa would have long since been adding to the unnecessary waste in a landfill.

Cat owners:
Chances are good that you know how an otherwise perfectly good sofa can look terrrible as a result of abuse by your cats' claws. You don't have to regard that as the price of having a cat, now that you know that sofas and chairs can have cat-proof polyurethane-finished oak where claws would otherwise be damaging a sofa. (Shown on right is a New York City customer's old sofa out next to the street as her new sofa from us was being brought in.)

Shown on the left is a Boston-area customer's sofa that was ordered with pets in mind, in another of the micro-suede fabrics.

Success story, and thoughts on how to do a "cat test", as quoted from a customer's blog (for the complete blog, click here)

"In 1994, Diane's cat Sydney destroyed her 8th couch.  Yes, over her lifetime this one cat personally shredded no fewer than eight couches -- Diane's (2), Brett's (2), roommate's (2), and landlord's (2).  It was time to get a cat-proof couch. A furniture company called Creative Comfort (now called Comfy 1) advertised just such a couch in the Boston Globe newspaper.  It has sides, front and back made of hardwood, rather than fabric, so the couch doesn't have those vertical fabric surfaces that cats love to scratch so much.  The only fabric covers the cushions themselves, and the (optional) armrest covers.  We bought one of their couches, and it worked like a charm.  It has been a great couch, and our cats have not touched it.  The reign of couch terror started by Sydney is over.

"Here is the same couch today (15 years later)." (Editor’s note: Picture showing shabby-looking couch is not shown here; please just take our word for it that it looked shabby.) "The cushions wore well but have finally succumbed to 15 years of hard use by family, friends, sleepovers, teenagers, and dogs.  The cushions have lost their shape, and the armrest covers (not shown) are badly stained.  But the wooden frame and sides are still like new.  This couch is the Comfy 1 "California" style. Comfy 1…. still had our original order and couch specifications.  We contacted them and they happily made us new cushions to replace our old ones.

"Here is the same couch frame, with the new cushions and armrest covers in place.  The result is a like-new couch for about a third the cost of an all-new couch!"  (Editor’s note: We no longer make drawers to go below the sofa, as shown, but inexpensive large plastic bins are widely available, and they can be covered at the edges with some matching fabric or concealed with a drape attached to the inside of the front rail.) "We picked a number of possible fabrics at a local fabric store, and brought samples home for the "cat test".  We rubbed each sample with catnip and then waved it in front of a cat so they would grab it.  We picked a fabric that didn't snag easily, and that didn't discolor permanently when it was cat-licked.  We arranged to send the fabric to Comfy 1; they made the cushions and shipped them to us 4-6 weeks later."

Owners of destructive pets may be interested in our page about the many organizations that need furniture for hard use and that have bought our furniture, which you can see at www.comfy1.com/heavy-duty_furniture.htm .

To go to the Comfy 1 home page and much more information on our various designs, quality features, sectional sofas, and PRICES (shown in the individual linked pages for each design), click here.