Ok, I broke down and bought a new sofa yesterday!!
I'm very excited as this is the second sofa I've ever purchased in my life (the old one is 27 years old and I bought it from Macy's and had it shipped to where I now live from San Francisco in 1991 and it has seen the likes of probably close to 15 cats during its lifespan)! It is really nice and just what I was hoping to find at a reasonable price considering how nice it is! 
They are going to haul away my old sofa for free and deliver the new one for free as well perhaps today or later this week.
However, this new sofa is NOT treated with Scotchgard (or the like). It is made out of a fabric material and then man that sold it to me said that Scotchgard could change the color of it. It is a paisley sort of design and a mixture of browns/blacks/dark greens/grays (absolutely stunning IMO!).
Do I need to do something to the new sofa that is coming perhaps today to protect it?
I do have three cats but fortunately I have trained them to not claw the furniture, only their cat furniture made out of sisal. Its like a mini-cat gymnasium in the living room I must admit but eh, who cares? The cat furniture has saved my house and my cats just love it and work out on it constantly throughout the day. I recently bought two new beds and they have not clawed them at all as they are far more interested in their "cat furniture" instead.
Any advice re: my new sofa is greatly appreciated and yes, I'm excited as can be! Will post a picture of my new sofa when I get it. It is quite unique and made right here in California! 
Thanks for your help kind friends on the DU!
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Actually my late mother did this when they bought new carpets for their house (covered the hallway with plastic!). 
I'll try the swatch idea first and I found out that there are places that do this (but are there any of them where I live?). The old one I still have was treated with something and they charged me $75.00 to do this to it and this was in 1988! I cannot recall the name of what they did but it was to protect the fabric and also to extend the life of the sofa (seems to have worked I'd say!).
As for the cats, they are well-behaved luckily and I've had but one "cat accident" (that was really my fault!) in all the years I've had cats. However, not this sort of luck w/dogs I've owned. 
Thanks for the advice and they called yesterday and told me they'll be bringing it on Tuesday hopefully!
Will attempt to take a picture of the new sofa. I've never seen anything quite like it I must admit (unique yes!)! It is always exciting to get something new, especially when you really do need it and never buy anything new because you cannot afford it!
Lets hope my orbs producing digital camera will give me a decent picture of it, you never know!
I recently bought two new beds as mentioned when they came to deliver it I had ready to put on a plastic encasement ready for the box spring. This is where kitty Jules USED to love to claw. However, the plastic does nothing for her and she has opted to not claw the other bed I bought and prefers sitting on her sisal perch watching the 24/7 wrestling match go on between the two brothers which are now 19 mos. old and still racing around madly!
Plastic is an option if you can figure out how to cleverly use it!
I can totally appreciate where you are at Curmudgeoness. I've been in this same place myself most of my life. There was a brief period where things were better for me when I lived in San Francisco as I had a decent job w/benefits and no DX of MS at the time yet. *sigh*
Oh well ... we go on best we can and hope for the best I suppose eh?
I also got a small coffee table to go with it and it is very cool, has different types of wooden inlays on the top if it. He sold it to me for $100.00 + free delivery with the new sofa.
So, the new sofa has arrived and it is ... Beautiful!
I suspect it is stain-resistant already as pointed out and the colors in it would disguise just about anything that could get on it.
It matches the cats too! Same colors!
As for the cats, the gave the old one a good claw before it was hauled away and they seem rather disinterested in this new one. I have not put any of their cat beds, etc. on it as to not encourage them to get on it. So far, so good -- not a single clawing has been done too it but, I did find Ms. Jules hiding between two stuffed animals that I put on the top of it. 
Anyway, I like it a lot and I am glad that old (possibly moth infested?) thing is GONE! 
Will try to take a picture of it, but not so sure how it would come out as it is a full size sofa!!
Nice?
I think so!!
Love the pattern...looks like it would hide a lot.
It is such a huge improvement over what I had that I am indeed thrilled with it.
Your are right! It would take something major to show up on this. Still today, the cats are not interested in this at all. Their cat furniture sits in the same room to the right of the sofa and they are still clawing it when they have the desire.
I should have gotten rid of that other one a long time ago but I couldn't afford anything I saw that I liked until this came along. So far, so good!
Thanks for the compliment and yes, it is unique (and comfortable too!).
Big ticket items come with such anxiety, don't they? I'd read somewhere that cats will only scratch on upright things if they don't move, so your cat tree must be really stable. Our cat uses a 2x4 that's part of a heavy shelf. 
These weigh about 25 lbs. each and they are quite large. While they are big and take up a lot of room, it is fine with me being they claw only this stuff!
So glad I found an option for them rather than the sofa to claw. As for stains, I don't see how anything could show up on this. *whew*
I hope it lasts me for the rest of my life (another 10 years or so perhaps).
I hear ya about wanting it to last. Only new sofa I've had, about 13 years now, and hope I get at least 5 more out of it. One of them is pushing 25 lbs. already. He is now 20 mos. old. I wonder how much bigger he will get? Luckily, he is a mild mannered cat and spends most of his day asleep. When not asleep, he plays with his brother while my old girl Ms. Jules looks on (and sometimes gets in on the "act"
.
My little geriatric cat has rediscovered her toys, so we're asked to play with her at about 2am every night.
