I’m considering getting a cat but I have just one concern.
I live in a studio apartment with hardwood floors. I don’t have much furniture, and what I do have is either cheap or I found on the side of the road so I’m not concerned about that at all.
But I have a rather sizable deposit on this place and if the floors got damaged I would be very 
Should I be concerned? (and I really don’t want to have to do any of this declawing stuff either)
We have cats, and hardwood floors, and in my opinion it’s better than carpet. Unlike dogs, cats claws retract when they are not in use, so they don’t scratch the floor just by walking. I’ve also never seen a cat deliberatly scratch wood floors, as they are very smooth and not an appealing surface for the kitties.
The only thing is-- do you have a non-hardwood place to put the little box (like in the bathroom)? Cat pee can damage wood floors pretty bad, and even the best mannered cat can occasionlly miss the box. If the box is on the wood, make sure you put something under it.
Yes, the bathroom is tile.
Well, that makes me feel better. I even know a girl in my building who works for a cat rescue shelter. Looks like I just need to get this job I’ve been going for (she won’t help me get a cat until I do :)) and I’ll be all set.
Over the years I’ve had lots of cats, and lots of floors, and I’ve never once had a hardwood floor that was damaged by a cat’s claws. Although cats do like to scratch some kinds of wood, they prefer a softer surface with some texture to it. A pine log, for instance, might attract a cat. The smooth, dense wood of your floor isn’t likely to be appealing.
I second the litter concern. I would use wood pellets or something other than clumping clay. The clay gets pasty and gets into any open grain or crack. I didn’t get part of a deposit back because of clay litter damage. I use generic Feline Pine from Petsmart/Petco (whichever in next to Menard’s…I forget which)
xbuckeye - I go to the local farm store and get 40 lbs of the pine pellets for $5, much cheaper than the Feline Pine. It works just as well.
StG
There are claw covers you can get for your cat if you’re really concerned but don’t want to declaw.
I’ve never used them, so I can’t reccomend them either way, but I believe are some Dopers here who swear by them.
We have cats with claws. We have hardwood floors. We don’t have cat claw marks on the floors. We do, however, get much amusement from watching the cats run on the floors and tile. They WILL extend their claws, but they don’t get any traction, so it’s like watching cartoons where the characters will be spinning their legs but not going anywhere. The cats, once in motion on one of the slick floors, cannot change direction easily. When they run down the kitchen and into the den, they tend to run head first into the dryer.
Oh. You might check the local Humane Society or other animal shelter for cats that have already been declawed. I know that declawed cats show up regularly at my local HS.
But it’s clear on the other side of town…by the other Menard’s! Serously, though, I have one cat and the storage vs. cost analysis tips towards the stuff at the petstore which is $7 for 20#. 20# lasts me (well, my cat, anyway) months.
My babies scratched my oak floors when they were little. They’re also scratched the hell out of my bannisters. I still have to be careful if I drop any food on the floor since they’ll try to bury it. They don’t seem to understand that hardwood is not kittie litter (then, again, they may be trying to make sawdust).
On the upside, hardwood floors are great toys for cats- we had a cat that used to spend hours batting conkers (horse chestnuts) up and down a hardwood hallway. Which was fine when he did it during the day- very annoying at 3am.
My folks have a dog, and my mother has to re-sand (she’s handy like that) their oak floor in the kitchen every year because the dog’s claws mark it- cat claws never did. Our cats preferred the woodchip wallpaper and their scratching posts.
Hardwood floors are terrific for playing “spin the cat” and for playing tag. Hardwood floors are also a lot easier to clean up from hairballs and other nasty little gifts than are carpets or rugs.
Although floors are usually safe, take care that your kitty does not use a doorframe as a scratching post.
This thread needs some kitty pics.
Kitty .mpgs, more like.
Just make sure it has something TO scratch! We have a new kitty that we just adopted from a rescue group. Her previous owners failed in many ways to give her the right environment, but one thing they did right was train her not to claw the furniture – she’s never once even looked at it funny, let alone attempted to scratch at it. And what we found that she absolutely loves is her Double Wide Scratching Box (although we got ours at Trader Joe’s for half the price – if you have one in your area, check it out). That thing is like her “home base.” She not only loves to scratch and claw at it, but she sits on it, lays on it and carries her toys over to it and drops them on it to play with them. Sometimes she uses it like a toy box and actually stores her toys on it!
When our 22 year old kitty with renal failure started having trouble squatting fully within the box (she’d be standing in it, but would still have her butt partially over the edge, even with a covered box), we used those puppy training pads under the box to catch the overflow. They worked like a charm, as they not only absorbed all the urine, but they kept the smell away and were easy to just fold up, put in a bag and toss.
I have some! 
Our dearly departed kitty, Mew. Our new kitty, Emma. ^…^
Good job on the pics!
Oh Shayna, those are some BEAUTIFUL kitties you have there!
