I think it depends on the leather. We have leather furniture and a Pug dog . His toe nails can get pretty long, but so far he has only slightly scratched the leather and it can be rubbed out. Some leather has flaws on it that are part of the skin, so scratches aren't an issue. I think the cat's claws would do more damage to fabric than leather. JMO

I have a leather sofa and 7 cats. Good leather is 4 times stronger than upholstery fabric. You want leather that is dyed all the way through, not just on the top surface. Also keep cats' nails trimmed. Cats tend to scratch rough surfaces like a nubby fabric or chenille rather than a smooth surface like leather or a cotton duck cloth.

I have a leather sofa, leather chair, leather bench, and six cats. Yes, their nails do scratch the leather, but the scratches don't seem to be very deep - just surface scratches. I did have one little brat who thought that the end of the leather sofa made a very good scratching post (in spite of the fact that his real scratching post was sitting less than a foot away - go figure!), and he added some, uh, "texture" to that part of the sofa. It does seem that the leather there has somewhat "healed" itself over time though.

Anyway, as I said, my leather pieces do have surface scratches, but they don't really bother me too much. I just consider it lived-in patina.

My two indoor cats don't like the one leather chair I have. Maybe once or twice in the summer I'll find the older one curled up in the chair, but they pretty much ignore it. Except to use the back of the chair as a landing spot when they are circumnavigating the living room without using the floor. There is one tiny scratch on the top of the back of the chair where someone slipped, but you have to know where to look to find it.

As threedgrad says, make sure you get a good quality leather and you should be fine.

Have a leather couch and 2 large leather chairs in our LR, and 2 inside cats who are both fully clawed. We've had no problems with scratches here either. There is one tiny visible-though probably only to me-scratch on one cushion of the couch, where a cat was startled and jumped down. That could easily be fixed with some dark furniture polish, I just haven't bothered with it yet.

But no problems at all with the cats deliberately scratching or bothering the leather. They don't even seem to like napping on it; prefer one of the dining room chair cushions.

What they do scratch are the area rugs. The one in my foyer has a lot of little pills now, but the sisal rugs don't seem to show any damage at all. Think I'll be replacing the foyer w/sisal eventually...

Ann

Oh, I wish my little toots didn't love my leather couch quite so much! I'm forever coming along after them and trying to re-plump the back cushions. Can you see how they'd be permanently dented with the impressions from little tabby bodies? ;-)