Okay we all have our own ideas and experience on what works for both cats/kitts and slaves so lets hear em folks
We have leather sofa's as our lot don't use them as scratch posts,but i know with really soft leather it leaves little marks)

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Dogs have owners, Cats have slaves

Burnthwaites Siamese

I have leather sofa's too which my cats don't bother using as scratch posts but they will still leave claw marks sometimes. Mine are tanalised leather which came complete with marks and scratches as being a characteristic of this leather so a few more made by the cats are not noticeable.

Well I have a rough fabric sofa that are particulary hard wearing, so marks don't really show, they can also be cleaned without worry about damage.

My cats are very good at using scratching posts, but they also use the carpet (my brand new one!!) and my v.expensive (£2k) wooden bedroom furniture. They get shouted at when they do this, but I don't seem to be able to teach them not to do it at all.

I feed my cats on mats in the kitchen, although we are laying down ceramic tiles (as we speak) h2b is in the kitchen now, I will still use the mats as they are easier to clean the bits of food off. There should be nothing that the cats will be able to do to damage the tiles though.

There was a discussion the other day where the fact the everyones carpets have been pulled from the metal thresholds by cats wanting to get into room, that has been done against my bedroom door. Somone said something about a bit of plastic runner will protect this, but I didn't know what was meant by plastic runner.