Cats: Microfiber vs. fabric couch

9 years ago

I have two long haired, 15 year old cats. They produce hairballs pretty frequently. I'm trying to decide between two types of couch.

Microfiber: If dark, it would conceal the hairball stains. I have an attachment for my carpet steamer. But it will be a spring shedding fur nightmare. Also, microfiber seems to be only semi-permeable, so any hairball gunk would be easier to clean up.

Fabric: I can get a new cover from Ikea. The fur won't stick to the couch like a magnet. But hairballs may stain, or even soak into the furniture.

Advice? Thanks!

Featured Answer

Porter Edun

9 years ago

I have British short hair cats... the hair is very, very dense and chinchilla like soft... I have linen slipcovers that are washable. However, as much as I HATE to admit.... my couch, love seat and over sized single chair are covered with off white pet covers that are water resistant... I have them not due to hairballs, but due to fur. They wash up beautifully these slip covers. Yet, a complete pain to get them dry and without wrinkles and given they are linen not a good idea to wash them constantly. I remove all the hair from the pet covers which match the furniture semi in color :( and wash them one time a week after getting the fur off of their favorite spots to hang out.

Microfiber seems like a magnet to me for the fur, but it's very cleaning friendly.

Naturally, I remove them when we have company and everything under is clean and without fur. However..... I do love the linen so I take the measures.

Not sure how much you want to put in to this and or your lifestyle as if pet covers close to matching your couch would be an option you might consider. To me, it was the only option for fur and fur balls... seems almost necessary in your case??

not a close match, but the best I could do and they do have their own blankets!

LOL, nuts what we do for these creatures... My furniture is more important to me than looking at them covered and safe unless company is coming!

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Comments (8)

hbfn
9 years ago
Beautiful cat!!!
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Porter Edun
9 years ago
Thanks hbfn... she's as witchy as she looks with a, "b" that is.... she is very pretty and appreciate the compliment. I'll tell Sofie you said so :)
hbfn
9 years ago
When you're that good looking you can get away with a lot!
KK Johnson
9 years ago
I had dark brown microfiber sofas and stains were very easy to remove with just some water and then towel dry.

Rule of thumb with pets is closed fabric verses open so then the pet hairs can't intertwine with the fibers. I also vacuumed my on a regular basis which helped a lot.
apple_pie_order
9 years ago
Washable, patterned slipcovers. And vacuum a lot during shedding season. If the cats eat food that has color dyes added to make it look pretty, the dyes may stain the fabric when they throw up the hairball. Switching to an undyed food reduces stains a lot.
PRO
Design Directives, LLC
9 years ago
A good quality microfiber cleans really well, and because the fabric is very dense it is hard for cats to claw through it.
User
9 years ago
The cat will win.