4 Fabrics for Pet Owners to Avoid (and 4 to Choose Instead)

If you're looking for a high-maintenance fabric, then velvet is what you want. Your soft velvet-upholstered sofa or chaise lounge will act like a magnet, attracting dog and cat hair, even if your pet is across the room. Yes, velvet does exude sophistication and class. It can make a bold statement. But, unless you plan to take a sticky lint roller to your velvet-covered furniture every day, opt for an alternative fabric. Worse, velvet furniture needs to be professionally cleaned to keep the color uniform across the piece.

Suede is smooth to the touch, which may make your suede couch a favorite nap spot for your pup. However, it's a real drag to clean when your doggo jumps up on the couch with dirty paws or drools on the cushions. It's not advised to use water to clean suede, so you'll need to clean up stains very carefully with white vinegar. A similar - and far more pet-friendly alternative fabric - is microsuede. It feels like genuine suede, but it's a snap to clean.

Open-weave fabrics, like tweed, knits and corduroy, are a terrible idea when you have pets. For one, the open-weave makes it a cinch for cats, in particular, to snag the fabric with their claws. Worse, the open-weave can trap pet hair. No matter how many times you go over a tweed sofa with a lint roller, you'll never remove all the pet hair (or even come close). If your pet is at all smelly, then guess what, that odor will get stuck in your sofa too.

A silk chaise lounge is luxurious, but your cat thinks so too. Even doggos can't resist a fine silk-upholstered sofa. Truly, it's only a matter of days (maybe hours) before a claw or toenail digs into the fabric and your perfect silk lounger is ruined. Silk has been described as a delicate and demanding fabric, making care for a silk-covered furniture piece a burden. No, thank you, unless of course you can hide away your chaise behind lock and key.