totally confused...

[Tamara]

Went furniture shopping today and was pretty determined on an H&M given all the good things I have learned here. We went to the store and told the salesperson our situation -- three cats including one that has "elimination issues" (i.e., pees on our current fabric sofa constantly) a five year old and hopefully a dog in our future. Her conclusion was that it may be a bit foolish to spend so much $ on an H&M only to be devastated potentially by a cat peeing on it. She steered us towards a Thomasville sectional which was a "special deal" at $3999. She said it would easily last us 10 years and hold up well against our environment. So, do I still pursue the H&M and risk being devastated by cats ruining it or do I go for the mid-range Thomasville that is made in China and obviously not as well made as the H&M or do I look at other brands (Leathercraft)?

[drcollie]

The answer to this is.....neither. if you have pets that urinate on the furniture on a regular basis and you want to keep the pet, the only solution is vinyl. Only medical-grade vinyl will resist saturation and penetration of the urine, and the big bonus is you can simply wipe everything off. You'll have to search for this kind of furniture as its out there - but mostly sold 'to the trade'. Cabot-Wren is the medical division of Hancock and Moore, for example:

http://www.cabotwrenncare.com/Healthcare.asp

There are some high end vinyls on the market that are so good - so leatherlike - that I would challenge most any customer to pick it out among leather swatches. It does come at a price though, and is every bit as costly as leather. We can make a H&M piece out of vinyls they use at Cabot Wren (i do a piece every few years for customers on request). But that's where you want to be. Leather is not a good choice for any kind of urine or saturation issues, and it matters not who the manufacturer is.