Most of my cats stretch & scratch the carpet. I've been very lucky - even though I don't currently have a post, my current cats only occasionally and lightly scratch the furniture - only very minor damage that you have to get up close to see, on the "away" side of the couch. I heard long ago that standard floor carpet is hard to damage by cat scratching unless they're scratching a seam, and it must be true because I have yet to have a cat ruin the carpet from scratching it. Now, peeing is another problem! But fortunately, not a current one!