Your substrate needs to be FLAT for laminate, otherwise the different heights stresses the join and you get pops and snaps and the joins can fail. There are some waterproof laminates, but they are pretty darn pricy. The best product for incontinent animals is sheet vinyl flooring. It can be had also relatively inexpensively. None of these floors can be installed on top of tile without a great deal of prep work to make it flat. In the end, it will just be easier to take up the tile.

thanks live wire. I was thinking that same thing that it can't be done. I don't want to put vinyl in my living room/dining area; I wanted to go with laminate that looks like wood. Is it true that the laminate joints can be sealed? What brand of laminate is waterproof? If I decide to stay with carpet, I'll have the same issues with my senior cat that I have now. Carpeting is hard to get urine smell out of it when it comes to a cat's nose. We may not be able to smell it but they can and sometimes will go back to that area which made me think laminate would be a better choice.

I'm just so confused right now about what I should replace this old carpeting with. True, my senior cat won't be around for ever but I have a young cat too:) Anybody who has animals knows what I'm talking about. I will always have animals in my home and want to keep that in mind when purchasing flooring.

You have to have something like stone or tile Infront of your fireplace x amount of feet away. You can get 12mm grade laminate that will be as thick as the carpet with padding.