I’m the proud mom of five cats and one fox terrier dog. To be honest, I don’t think people are bringing their cats. I think it’s dogs. Some small breeds of dogs do have short hair. My fox terrier loves to scratch on rugs, furniture, beds. etc. His nails are thicker than a cat and does more damage. Cats don’t travel well. If I took one of my cats on vacation, he/she would hide under the bed because he/she would be fearful of the new surroundings. However, my dog would love it and would explore. Based on my personal experiences, I would bet my bottom dollar that your guests are bringing small dogs.
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Not sure–haven’t looked for it for about 30 years, ha ha!
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I feel like more people are beginning to think of declawing as cruel here in the US. My parents had our cat declawed 14 years ago but have said they probably wouldn’t do it again in this day and age. There are better ways to stop cats from scratching everything.
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You know it’s strange … I have a cat and a dog. There’s much more fur to vacuum from my grey shorthaired than my spaniel! I prefer the dog toileting because she goes in a set place and I can bag it, whereas the cat stops me from growing veg, poos in the neighbours’ etc… Also my cat makes more noise because he wants attention and food. The dog needs more walks of course …
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A number of cities in the US now ban cat declawing, and many vets will no longer perform the procedure even if it is legal. I declawed one of my kitties in 2000 before I understood fully what I was doing to him. None of our three kitties (15, 10, and 1 years old) are declawed. They are trained to use a corrugated cardboard scratchy that we hang on a doorknob. They know if they scratch it in front of us, they get a treat. Between that and clipping their nails, we don’t have any scratching issues. We work closely with them when they are kittens to develop good habits and provide scratching alternatives.
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That’s great. That’s what I’ll do when I get another cat someday. Ours is still going strong at 15 years old. 
They love the scratchers and you can train them first by using catnip inside the cardboard. They love it and naturally scratch. Then, you can move to using treats to train them to do it. We buy them on Amazon, and they have little beds and door hangers. We too have a 15-year-old, and he has been so great in helping us to train the kitten. She wants to be just like her big brother!
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Beat you both! My two were 20 in April and both going strong, apart from a hiccough with familial, under active thyroid glands a year or so ago; eating like rabbits but losing weight. All sorted, apart from the twice daily nightmare of getting meds down them. It was a guest, a vet nurse, who suggested we had Sophie tested after George succumbed, telling us it was familial.
I confess that I so dread the inevitable. I had a twelve year old staying the other day and took her outside to meet them both. George was peacefully kipping in sunshine and she said " oh, I hope he’s not dead". I now check that he’s breathing still.
15-20 years and they become so much part of your history, be it kids, different homes, moving house, wondering what happened, how did it go so quickly!
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Scratchy posts are definitely great for deterring the scratching everywhere else. There are also those plastic caps you can put over their nails…I have heard they work wonders and cat’s get used to them quickly. I have my doubts though!
We got ours when I was ten and she has moved across the country with my family. I still remember the car ride home when we first got her and have so many memories with her. Now she lives with me and my boyfriend in our first house and I hope we have a few more years to enjoy her. They really do become such a big part of our lives.
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Not with my cat you can’t, he’d be off!
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One can imagine that any animal being de-clawed would be like a human having their toe nails or fingernails ripped out.
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Yeah, I can’t imagine my roomy’s cat would be a fan of that either. But since this cat has ruined lots of furniture, window screens, etc. with the clawing and climbing, I’m not above trying. She is an outdoor cat and a big time hunter. (No mice here!) I honestly don’t have high hopes for these plastic things, but might try none the less.
Indeed, our pets become are a part of the family. My husband and I got two kittens when we got married, a brother and sister pair. They were with us through two apartments and then into our house when we bought it. We lost them both in their 18th year about 4 months apart. I honestly think Chloe (yes, my screen name here is my lost girl’s name) was heartbroken when her bro Casey died, so she just followed after him.
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As another poster mentioned, I think, it’s kind of even worse. It would be akin to having each of your fingers chopped off at the first knuckle.
A lot of people say that with cats it’s more similar to the tips of your fingers being cut off.
My cat always scratches outside on a gatepost. Apparently if citrus oils are sprayed on a piece of furniture it discourages, if catnip is used on a scratching post it encourages the 
. A friend had a thing called a Purrfect Arch from JML, and her cat liked scratching it.
Personally I think it’s cruel to remove a cat’s claws, and questionable to keep a cat indoors all the time.
If I traveled with my cat, which I would never do, because as others have noted, it stresses the hell out of most of them, then I would for sure attempt to keep my animal from doing any damage to a host’s property. So yes, if it were me, and I found my cat drawn to a particular area of your carpet, and I could move furniture to solve the problem, I would definitely do that.
That being said, there are far too many guests out there who just don’t seem to care, so as much as I’d like to speak for all cat owners, I can’t.
You mentioned that she’s stayed in the area several times with other hosts? Is it possible that you can reach out to them to ask if they suspect she travels with an undisclosed animal?
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I would say 'yes, we’d be happy to welcome you back! We will put in place some measures for your cat so s/he has somewhere to scratch next time. Look forward to seeing you again".
If they say ‘what cat?’ you can reply, ‘oh sorry, I meant dog’.
And then take it from there…!
That’s good to hear. Declawing was made illegal in 2006 in the UK. It really is a cruel and horrible practice.
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