cats

We have a basketwork chair as sacrificial chair. It seems pretty good for it. The cats apparently love it, and the thing does not look that bad* after ~20 years of cats using it.

You can train them to use scratch posts, but it's going to depend on the stubbornness of the individual cat. Also, they like tall, sturdy scratch posts, so those tiny ones at the grocery store usually won't cut it (same reason they go for the couch, it's tall and won't fall over)

Although, if you have or are planning on having cats, i suggest never buying anything leather. All of my stuff is cloth, which is more resistant to claws

I'm not sure if you're asking this from a perspective of not owning a cat, but in case you are:

Cats are willful little things with knives for hands, and a proclivity to use them. You can train them out of it somewhat, but they likely will at some point do it again every now and then.

Sure, you can replace the chair, but it'll just end up in a similar state real soon. I admit this chair is a rough one, and I buy different PC chairs the cats can't destroy, but my couch has more than a few loose threads and at this point buying a new one won't really help things much.

You start with a cat and an intact furniture.

Then the cat decides to destroy certain furniture.

You now have a few options.

First: admit defeat and offer the sacrifice to the cat.

Second: provide enough scratch alternatives nearby and make sure to get the cat everytime they start scratching the wrong thing to the scratch tree.

Thrid: throw the cat out of the room as soon it destroys furniture. (scratch tree outside of the room.)

Fourth: be an asshole and cut their claws like a monster that would cut fingers of children.

Of course. That chair is a masterpiece.

That is 100% the cat's chair, and also a warning as to what will happen if it is ever disposed of.