While I can’t say I sacrifice for my pets rather than vacuum every day I add a few dust bunnies to my menagerie. I do advise guests to sit on vinyl seats or seating not favorited by the animals.

We did have to get rid of one of our cats due to peeing problems – it was a kitten when it arrived, and never got along with our two older cats who were already firmly established in the household. Unfortunately, the younger cat expressed its displeasure with the others by peeing in their favorite sleeping spots, thus ruining our mattress, couch and one armchair cushion in the process. Now that we have just the two older cats, we’ve had no problems, though we do have to keep some unsightly pads (some made of rubber with little spikes) on the couches and chairs (when we’re not sitting there) to keep the cats from any sort of peeing temptation, and also to keep their fur off of the upholstery. Our older also likes to sleep between us in bed, so we lay a towel there to keep fur off the sheets.

Oh, and we’ve never had scratching problems, since both cats (sorry, PETA) are declawed. The weird thing is that both cats still love going through the claw-sharpening motions, as if they still had claws, which leads me to believe our furniture would be in tatters had they not been declawed.

Any accommodations I would have had to make for my cat I had already made for my kids. Mainly, leather upholstery (spills clean easily but it also does not pick up fur), and a cheap white shag rug for the lounge instead of the amazing but very expensive one I had been coveting. I don’t worry too much about scrubbing the stains out with bleach – and I don’t freak out either that the rug has become an 8 X 12′ scratching pad.
I originally had my eye on the bent plywood cat scratcher from Moderncritter.com, but given the giant cat scratch magnet on my lounge floor, it probably wouldn’t have seen much use anyway

we were scratch free for years – regular nail clippings and a couple of scratching posts are mandatory. but after our 2 new chaises arrived, our older cat went right at them. When we had the arms recovered, we had 2 arm slipcovers made that come off when company comes.

We also put down various blankets/throws in their favorite nap spots. Thankfully cats are such creatures of habit, they stick to the same places so the whole house isn’t covered. but those still get put away for company.

We don’t have any rugs in our place at the moment. We’ve had a few and our cats always seem to gravitate towards them when they have to puke or pee on something.

We’ve also held off on buying a new couch. But I’m rather intrigued with Kim’s awesome sofa. We’ll have to add that to our list.

I know — why is it cats, just as they’re about to vomit, gravitate toward any floor coverings?

Oh totally about the vomiting. Sometimes I feel guilty moving my cat to the wood floor mid hurl.

With our last couch, we did try to buy something kind of microfiber-ish in hopes that the cats couldn’t scratch it. They’ve made a few snags so far, but it’s nothing like a woven fabric.

I tried covering the arms in foil, but my one freak cat seemed to like that even more, so it only succeeded in making my sofa look like it was channeling aliens.

Any suggestions would be awesome.

I’m getting creative with these anti-cat solutions. One thing I never thought of and wonder if it would work: what if you put a cookie sheet with a 1/2″ of water in it where the cat had to stand to do its scratching near your sofa? Then, for a few days, the animal might get the hint. Of course, it might always go right back to the couch scratching post after you remove the water….

Love your blog! Pragmatisim is pushing me to comment for the first time.

What do you mean by bowls of lemon juice? I, too, have a naughty cat.

I, too, keep my cats in mind in my design but don’t let them rule the house.

Oh, I just read your comment. The cookie sheet trick doesn’t work. At least not with my cats. I just came home to a rusty pan.

Thanks for blogging about my cat experiences!

I’d like to add that if anyone out there has a cat that is peeing excessively, there are drugs that can help. Felix, the cat in the photo, is a chronic pee-er, and is on Chlomicalm which has stopped him from peeing all over the house. If the drugs didn’t work my only other option was putting him down. So PLEASE talk to a vet before having a peeing cat put down or taken to a shelter.

I just put a tiny bowl — the smallest in a set of nesting bowls — in each chair, filled to the top with lemon juice. Apparently the cats hate the scent, so they steer clear of it. The same happened when I covered the chair with pepper. I try to stick to things that are unpleasant but organic. My mom recommends moth balls but they’re unpleasant to most people, too.

Wonderful thrifter’s question. I’m an idiot: I just buy things I think are beautiful without a thought as to how my cats will deal with them. A gorgeous 100-year old Persian carpet is now residing, rolled up, under my big brass bed as one cat couldn’t keep his claws off it. So yes, I am sacrificing that particular design dream (fore the moment) as I don’t feel like having a precious carpet I’ll likely never be able to buy again torn to shreds. My solution? Picked up an old worn Persian runner style carpet for under $100 and he can scratch on it all he pleases; it’s part of the look! Other stuff like chairs found at the curbside or thrift shop I’m reasonably ‘ok’ with him sharpening his claws on … if I don’t recycle them out one day I’ll reupholster them in the future (after he’s long gone, sorry buddy….).

I do hide my furniture under fleece blankets or towels to avoid hairball spit ups and tons of fur, but I like the fabric idea mentioned.

An interesting place to find modern cat furniture is a blog called http://www.ModernCat.net. The thing is most of the pieces are $100+. Every once in a while though they have a DIY one featured too.

Hmm. I may have to try this pepper. I doubt lemon juice would work. One of my cats is part bengal and is pretty obsessed with water. He can’t walk by a glass without knocking it over.

My problem is that they climb UP on the arm, lie down, and scratch that way. Yup. Laziest destructive bastards ever.

I so agree with the cat “hurling’ comment — why does my cat run to the nearest expensive throw rug to hurl? Why not politely run to the bathroom and use the toilet? ) I am so much happier since I now have hardwood floors; furballs are easier to clean up. But, my cat now gravitates to the throw rugs. He now has his own throw rug to nap on that he can be a cat and do those cute or not so cute cat things on.

i have a ’special needs’ doggy. she has an ill-formed back leg and aggressively poppy eyes, and so is primarily an inside dog. any chance encounters with other dogs might lead her to pop out her eyes. no kidding. doctor’s warning. and so olympia generally goes on a potty pad in the kitchen. which she’s pretty successful at. i think of it like a doggy litter tray. except about 10% of the time she misses a little bit. because of her bad back leg, her aim sometimes gets a little off. and so there is a constant battle against the errant pee. this summer i was forced to take up the vinyl floor that she’d ruined with urine, remove the adhesive, and paint the plywood underlayment with exterior porch paint in an attempt to make a waterproof base for her pee pad. seems to have worked thus far. and i think it looks pretty good. more interesting, certainly, than vinyl. it’s ‘bold terra cotta’ and gives the room a pop. some friends have looked at it askance, but i think we’ve made a successful adjustment, with design in mind, to accomodate our handicapped dog. i have some photos on my flickr page. (sassnasty)

[...] There is a reason I call them “damn-inals.”  Remember a while back when I asked, “Do you sacrifice for your pets?” [...]