Texas squirrels just like most people in Dallas have excellent taste in Design! And I mean taste!
They seem to love the taste of the outdoor fabrics used to cover the beautiful patio furniture used for cabanas and outdoor living areas, tearing into them with a vengeance to extract the soft stuffing apparently to cushion their nests!
After recovering damaged cushions over and again for our clients, the clients have asked us to see if there is some solution to discourage squirrel abuse.
Online suggestions range from putting a basket of stuffing on the patio so the squirrels will go for that instead of the cushions, which incidentally has not proven to work on my patio...To keeping furniture covers over the furniture when not in use...To all sorts of spray, tonics and lotions as well as dryer sheets that apparently some squirrels are repulsed by due to the smell.
The main suggestion from manufacturers of outdoor furniture like McKinnon and Harris is to use a foam fill instead of soft fill for cushions. They say they have not had problems with squirrels on their outdoor furnishings using foam rather than soft dacron fill.
At this point in time, the only sure fire solution is to take up your cushions and only place them on your furniture when the furniture is in use! Otherwise, get ready to recover cushions once again. This time consider replacing the soft fill with foam!