Polished wooden floors and cats live together successfully in a great many homes, and the failures almost always trace back to the same two causes: litter tracked and ground underfoot along the routes the cat walks daily, and liquid left standing long enough to soak into the joints between boards. Both causes are preventable with layout rather than vigilance. The work happens before she arrives, in an afternoon, and after that the floor mostly looks after itself because the protection sits exactly where her paws, her tray and her water bowl actually are.
Runners on the Traffic Routes, Mats Where Liquid Lives
Walk the home and map her likely traffic routes: from the door she will use to her tray, from her tray to her feeding spot, from her feeding spot to her preferred windowsill or sleeping place. Those routes are where grit and litter will travel, ground in by every paw that passes, so lay washable runners along them. Washable matters more than thickness or colour, because a runner that can go through the wash monthly stays part of the system, while a delicate one becomes a source of resentment and gets rolled up and forgotten within a season.
Under every tray and feeding spot, put a mat wider than the tray itself, with a border of bare mat visible on all sides. Cats step out of trays carrying litter on their paws and shake and scatter around food and water bowls, and a generous mat catches that scatter on a surface designed to be shaken outside and washed. Water bowls deserve a generous mat, since a cat who dips a paw or drinks messily will wet the same patch of floor several times a day, every day.
Felt Pads, Claws and the Furniture Factor
Fit felt pads on furniture feet throughout the rooms she will use: chair legs, table legs, the feet of storage units and anything else that gets dragged rather than lifted when people clean or rearrange a room. Dragged furniture is a quieter and more constant threat to polished floors than claws ever are, and pads are cheap, quick to fit and easy to replace when they wear thin. Check them whenever you clean, because a pad that has fallen off leaves one naked foot doing damage unnoticed.
For claws, provide scratching posts she actually uses, placed near where she sleeps, since cats stretch and scratch on waking, and keep her claws trimmed as part of ordinary care. A cat with a satisfying post beside her bed has little reason to test the sofa or the door frames, and the floor benefits indirectly from every good habit she forms.
Spills Wiped Immediately, and a Tray That Tracks Less
Adopt one unbreakable household rule: spills are wiped immediately, whether the spill is water beside her bowl, an accident outside the tray, or a knocked-over plant pot. Liquid wiped within minutes sits on the polish and leaves; liquid left through a working day finds the joints between boards and marks them in a way no later cleaning fully reverses. Keep a cloth and a dry mop within reach of her feeding spot so wiping is a ten-second act rather than a search through cupboards.
Finally, set the tray itself up to track as little as possible: a low-tracking tray and litter setup near the door the cat uses, standing on its mat, with litter depth kept moderate, since very deep litter gets kicked further. A partner who was out during setup can catch up quickly through Family Sharing, since KinsLe presents her details and care notes to each family member from a single shared profile.