I woke up to the sound of my wife screaming. Four days earlier we had received our brand new leather couch. A real work of art. Firm, thick natural leather, in a contemporary design, oversized. It had to be delivered twice because the first time they couldn't fit it through the door. It was specially treated with a ten year anti-stain treatment, we didn't want anything to happen to it. This couch cost us over fourteen hundred dollars. Four days after we had it, i woke up to the sound of my wife screaming. Walking out of the bedroom blurry eyed and confused, I inquired to the nature of my wife's dismay. Before she could answer me I saw the couch. One third full of blistered little punctures, even some tears were the under-fabric had been pulled through. You see I have a cat. I also have a few kids. When we bought the couch we thought of the kids (with the ten year anti-stain) but never thought of the cat. When I saw the holes and tears in the couch I almost lost it. After a few hours I decided to find out what I could, and try to repair the couch myself (The dealer started laughing when I told him what happened). Here is what I found out, and what I did. And let me just say, that now no one can even notices the damage when they are looking for it. So it worked out well.

What they told me:
Liquid Leather - Liquid vinyl that is supposed to match the color and texture of your leather. You work it in then apply a piece of textured plastic which you remove after a little while leaving a small textured patch of vinyl, hopefully the same color of your couch. I remember these vinyl patch kits from the 80's they didn't work good then, I don't think they're any better now.
Leather Conditioner - To soften the leather, so that the little blisters that go with cat punctures disappear (come flat). I did buy this, and in my opinion it is very neccesary for the blisters.
Various Other Products - Including meltonian, and polishes, fillers.

(But in the end everyone said the same thing, that it was unrepairable)


What I did:
I went to see a tailor/shoe repair guy. Someone I know from my neighborhood. He told me that liquid leather was a waste of time, and to try melting meltonian into the tear/puncture then polish over the damage. Hmmm, didn't sound good to me, but I tried on an old leather shoe. It didn't work at all. Stuck at a loss, a loss of ideas and a loss of a fourteen hundred dollar couch. Being very handy myself I spent some time thinking about my predictament. I decided to get myself a super huge magnifying glass with a light, some high-grade contact cement and see what i could do.

First I set the magnifying glass up over the couch, turned on the light. This was the key, now I could see the smallest detail like it was bigger then my plasma. Then with four needles (yeah needles!) I went to work. Using one needle to lift one side of the tear, I applied contact cement inside the tear. Then gently pushing the two sides together, wiping off any excess contact cement. This process took about three hours to complete maybe 100-150 little blistered punctures, and maybe 10-15 small tears. I took my time and tried to do as good a job as possible. One hour later (leaving a little time for the cement to dry) I applied leather condition to the couch. Then we decided we wouldn't sit on it until morning (leaving more time for everything to set).

Imagine my surprise when i woke up the next morning, came out ot look at my couch and i couldn't see any damage. All the blisters had disappeared, and were barely (I mean BARELY) visible. It was like it had all been a nightmare, and i had just awoken. The damage is so well repaired that visitors don't believe me when I tell them the tale of The Cat & The Couch. It has been nearly a month since then, the damage has not become visible, or opened again. The repair seems to be more then effective, and nearly invisible.

I hope if your couch is damaged this information will help you to return it to its original state, as it did for me.

Good Luck, Knowledge is Power!