Settee throw

We bought a new settee last year from the UK when it was just the two of us. Now we have 3 lively 6-month old kittens who jump and climb over the settee and other furniture in the room. We covered the settee with basic cotton/linen throws but the kittens have torn it to shreds. We have searched on the internet and visited several shops to try to find a heavy duty throw that we could use. The ideal size to cover it completely would be 335cm x 290cm but try as we may, whatever we put in the ‘search’ it comes up with everything but …
We don’t want fleece, faux fur, chenille. We do want heavy duty cotton/linen, washable and (if possible) reversible. Can anyone recommend a company (preferably in France) where we could get one. Thanks.

How about going to a fabric shop and buying something by the meter? You’ll get more ideas from materials like denim through to heavy duty furniture fabrics and even tough stuff for deckchairs etc.

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I’d suggest a well-tanned ox-hide, or a couple of Icelandic sheepskins (yes, my long standing dislike of most things Icelandic does have limits!).

A friend had a valuable ox hide sofa. Her two cats destroyed it in one night when they were accidentally locked in the room…

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Look for jeté de canape. And, loathe that I am to say this, maybe you should get a moderate priced one and replace. This sort of thing maybe?

https://www.maisonsdumonde.com/FR/fr/p/jete-de-canape-coton-fond-blanc-rayures-bleu-200-x-300-casablanca-M20025014.htm

Sorry no idea but we have a kitten the same age and have the same issues! Luckily our sofa has a preloved cover on it so not the end of the world. I’ve moved the scratch pole a few days ago to the corner of the sofa where he was scratching and 90% of the time he does that now. Action does nice ones for sub 10e.

We do that as well. Two scratching posts, one at each end. If you fuss them/reward them when they use the post, they soon get the idea. Whatever you do though, don’t chastise them in any way for scratching the sofas. If you do, you’ll probably find a wet patch on your bed soon after :joy::wink:

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My friend gave me a very heavy duty cotton large bed eiderdown cover that served me well for years when I had the five cats and a dog vying for the sofa. It had so many pulled threads that I had to take a needle to it and work them back in but it did its job for a good ten years or more then I binned it. I took ages to dry when it was washed regularly so had to make sure I had other covers to take its place. Have a look in bedding shops, material shops etc

Try Ikea!

These are absolutely brilliant and have all sorts of uses. Two sizes, you may need the larger. Best things Ikea ever sold!

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Thats similar to what I had although mine was exceptionally thick but still kept the claws off the leather.

Our cat studiously ignores the (IKEA Poang) leather seats, which would make a lovely scratching post, but has shredded the arms of the cotton sofas. It made me wonder if he’d learned not to go for leather before he came to us.

There are deterrents which might be worth exploring: lemon/citrus spray, double-sided sticky tape … even aluminium foil!

We have 9 cats and had 4 kittens at one point, we have used the throws below for years and they also keep the hair off the settees, you get them on Amazon, temu, aliexpress etc.
Use a spray bottle with water in it to deter them from scratching, they soon learn to stop, even though we haven’t had to use the spray for years they still scatter if they see you get a spray bottle of disinfectant out of the kitchen cupboard for the worktops, I have used the water spray technique for 40 years with kittens.

71kJI-ziaZL.AC_UF350,350_QL50

https://www.amazon.fr/Housses-Impermeable-Accoudoirs-Réversible-Protégé/dp/B0B4JZF58M/ref=mp_s_a_1_3

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I had a female identical to your three coloured one, she was a lovely affectionate feline who searched us out when our neighbour found her on the road as a kitten but she did not want to stay with them so came to us. I miss all my cats so much but living near a main road now, I would be forever worried if they went outside.

I understand that point of view. I look at it differently though. If I can give a cat a loving home, who would otherwise live in a cage in a shelter, and may even be put down, then I know that the cat will have a much better life. Even if that life is short, It’s still much better.

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I thought a “settee throw” was going to be some sort of new highland game :slight_smile:

No suggestions (beyond practising with a caber first) but you do have my sympathies - over the years we have had many expensive replacements or repairs needed thanks to our cats’ propensity to favour the furniture and curtains over the supplied scratching posts.

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Thank you all for some really good advice and links. We’re still on the lookout for something. It seems impossible to get the actual size we want so we’ll probably end up having to buy more than one. The kittens have a lidl (Zoofari) large scratching post/bed/hammock etc. besides numerous toys and games to gain their interest. They even use some Amazon envelope type packaging as skateboards to ski all over the tiled floor. We also take them for rides in their own go-cart - an empty Amazon box with string attached which we pull along when they want to go for a ‘ride’. We sometimes have to go round the front room three times before they bet bored and jump out! We’re waiting for the warmer weather because we’re in the process of building them an outside catio that will have their own ‘catwalk’ between that and the cat flap in the French door. We think they’ll be too interested in the large tree branches to scratch the furniture. We’re hoping, anyway …

What about buying a pair of really thick large curtains and sewing them together? I have done that before now when changing a set and they were too good to throw out plus the material was nice thick cotton.

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@Shiba - That is a good idea. I’ve got some quite big curtains in storage (somewhere) so I’ll have to search them out and get sewing. And, of course, there’s no cost involved !!!
@Adam1 - we like the look of the Indira couvre-lit from Ikea. A couple of those wouldn’t break the bank either.

Am I looking at a wirehaired terrier in your photo?

Yes, you certainly are! Annie came to France with us in 2006 and passed away in December 2020. She was the perfect working dog and produced some wonderful pups in 3 litters in 2008, 2009 and 2010. She is buried with Rosie, an LOF wire haired terrier, who joined her in February 2023. The photo of Annie, Rosie and Ruby, a griffon we adopted from Orfee in 2014 is in the forum thread ‘Dog photos only’.
Is that a wirehaired terrier in your avatar?

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