When you have a pet, you most likely share the same bed, sofa, and a ton of other furniture. While it may seem adorable to find your pet sleeping beside you, cleaning and vacuuming after can be a hassle. Sure, you can get them their own calming pet bed from stores like PetSwag, but we all know that you can find them back in bed or resting on other furniture throughout the day.
And fur isn’t the only problem! You’ll need to deal with scratch marks from claws or bites. While this can’t be eradicated completely, you can opt for pet-friendly fabrics that can help make cleaning easier. Unfortunately, there are other fabrics that are an absolute nightmare for pet owners.
Here are the worst fabrics pet owners need to avoid, for both human furniture and pet equipment like dog car seat covers!
- Chenille
Chenille is a durable and soft fabric, making it an appealing choice for many homeowners. The fabric also has a nubby pile (this is made of tiny loops), which makes it great for hiding any dirt or debris.
However, this is the same pile that is easily destroyed by any animal claws, particularly those of cats. When those loops are pooled, even just by a little bit, they can’t be fixed.
- Velvet
Velvet is such a luxurious fabric and something that pets love curling up with. While it’s fairly easy to get the hair off it using a lint brush (this should be done every day though), it will be hard getting stains off. They are known as high-maintenance fabrics for a reason!
Velvet would crush easily, so cleaning up stains would most likely cause permanent damage, unless you have them professionally cleaned, which is an expensive choice. Plus, your pet may end up roughhousing on it, causing even more damage and chances of stains.
- Silk
This may be obvious, but for those who don’t know yet: Silk is NOT a pet-friendly or child-friendly fabric. It would stain, rip, be tough to clean, and won’t hold up well to moisture.
Worst of all, silk is pretty expensive, so you might as well save your money than waste it on pets that can easily ruin the fabric. However, we can’t deny it’s beauty, so if you really want to invest in silk, use it as window treatments rather than on your furniture.
- Tweed
Tweed can be cleaned easily, though it’s one of the worst when it comes to removing your pet’s hair or fur! The hair would get caught in the fabric’s uneven surface, making it tough to remove. Besides this, it would also suffer from the similar cat claw problems that chenille experiences.
With all that in mind, it’s best to get fabrics that have really tight weaves, as claws would be less likely to cause damage while hair is easier to remove. Make sure to find pet-friendly fabrics so it will make your life easier, and you can save the fabrics I mentioned above for areas they can’t reach!
