I am not familiar with what is available for us to use to protect the surface of the wood. My first thought was "varnish", but we really would rather not drastically affect the appearance of the floor. Plus, I'm not even sure if something like that exists here. On the other hand, a floor full of scratches would be pretty depressing
Does anyone have any suggestions? Additionally, can anyone recommend a good flooring company in Basel that I could talk with?
Do this now, because if you don't have insurance and are renting, the landlord can be super picky and make you pay for ANY damage which isn't considered normal wear and tear. Extensive damage by pets sometimes is not considered normal wear and tear, so be careful. Also, make sure your landlord knows that you have the cats so that you don't run into problems with him in future.
If renting, don't do anything to the parket without approval in writing from your landlord. That would be a very expensive mistake.
Yep.
I regret having put wood parket in the bedrooms, one of which is used as a library, one an office, so fairly high traffic. Even though we bought what was supposedly the most durable parket with the thickest top layer available, it can't stand up to the clickety-clack of canine claws.
I've had hardwood floors in every other house, love the 'warm' look. We couldn't put hardwood in this house due to underfloor heating, so parket was suggested. A very poor substitute IMO, even the best can't hold a candle to solid hardwood. Thank goodness the high traffic areas are tiled.
The long term solution will be as FMF suggests - sand once we sell the house. The parket is sandable IIRC 3 or 4 times, but that will be such a messy job I can't see doing it in the interim.
Until then, the solution is area rugs.
Signed, OP's cats
CHF 500 a pop to clean them.
Now it's durable cleanable wool rugs, but even these are pulled up and temporarily replaced with cheap Ikea as each of the dogs approaches his dotage.
The things we do for love, eh?
To the OP - if you are renting, go cheap and cheerful - and disposable.
You can rent a carpet cleaning machine to clean rugs yourself. The only rugs which I have which fit in the washing machine are the small door mats. Anything larger is a no go in the machine.
There is a shop in Germany (Lauchringen) with a good selection of carpet suited to runners which you can buy by the metre.
I should have been clear that we bought the apartment, so there's no worry about anyone coming after us for damages. This is just an aesthetics thing
The cats have - and use - their scratching posts; the scratches just come from when they chase each other around, or have to catch that toy mouse they batted across the room
I have a couple of area rugs but perhaps I'll invest in a couple more. I do hate to cover up the wood though ...
Otherwise keeping their claws well trimmed should help too. These are available for dogs as well.
And yes, I keep the claws trimmed - all four paws. I'm glad I have patient kitties!
I would not do claw covers but rather protect the floors/my wallet with rugs/insurance. After all, scratching and usage of claws to move around etc. is one of the cat's basic needs.
The claw caps don't impede a cats actions at all ( I can imagine inside on slippery floors they would actually be a help for better grip), tho if they are outdoor cats, it may hinder their hunting prowess, don't know, haven't looked into them in great depth.
It is just one option and the floors are indeed very lovely and if it were me, I would rather not have lots of throw rugs around as they will leave the floor with uneven patches of light and dark patches after the years.
It's the same with having small children in the house, there will inevitably be stains and scratches/gouges. I think one has to be resigned to the fact that a lovely floor won't stay lovely for long and learn to accept it and look at these living scars as the price we pay for having them.
IMO cats should be able to defend themselves. They do this using their claws - and if they can't, they'll use their teeth.
Sorry, but if a cat can't scratch (making the scratching motion isn't the same as scratching in itself) I'd call that hindering basic needs.
Anyway, I don't think we'll find a common denominator on this subject.
You can hardly get the cats to take out liabity insurance in case they damage the floors can you? ( although maybe in Switzerland where you can insure anything maybe you can )
100% to pay for it, 10% for insurance company profit