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I live in an apartment complex with some stray cats. I have multiple sets of scratch marks on the side doors of my car. I am unsure if these are from cats or from someone keying my car. Is it possible for cats to scratch car paint?

Here are some of the pictures.

Image 1

Image close-up

I have more pictures but stackexchange will only let me post two links.

Zaid
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developer01
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  • You could post pictures of the paint damage, but realistically I don't think we could give you a definitive answer to your question. Can they leave scratch marks? Most definitely they could. Are your scratches from the cats? Would be hard pressed to say conclusively they are. – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Oct 16 '16 at 19:43
  • Hi @Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2, I posted the pictures as requested. Okay, thank you for your insight. – developer01 Oct 16 '16 at 20:19
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    @earlyriser01 Nice flip-flops :) – tlhIngan Oct 16 '16 at 20:22
  • The mysterious scratches on my mother’s car’s driver’s door turned out to be from her diamond wedding ring as she locked/unlocked the door and wrestled with a purse & kids etc. Consider other sources such as someone hoisting a backpack or carry-all bag, or parking by bush branches blowing in the wind. – Basil Bourque Oct 16 '16 at 21:03
  • Note that human fingernails are from the same material as cat's. Try your fingernail vs your car's paint. But frankly, if cat claws can leave marks on your paint, then I think you need new paint. It will get scratched by virtually anything apart from cloth if cats caused the marks I see. – Tomáš Zato Oct 17 '16 at 06:01
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    The first picture looks like a cat's failed jump -- basically they didn't go up as high as they'd hoped, and were scrambling to stay up. Not all the claws will dig in hard enough to scratch the paint, which is why you only see maybe two lines per hind foot. What looks like a third line in the middle is probably a front paw. The second picture looks more like accidental scratching from (backpack, purse, whatever) as others have suggested. – Doktor J Oct 17 '16 at 06:48
  • @BasilBourque unlocking with a dangling bunch of keys is less common now we have remote central locking, but still happens. – Chris H Oct 17 '16 at 08:46
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    I wanted to write this as an answer but apparently I don't have enough Internet Points. The answer is Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness. Calcite can scratch Talc but Talc cannot scratch Calcite. Diamond can scratch everything and nothing can scratch diamond. According to Google, cat claws have a hardness of between 2.5 and 3 whereas most of the car paintings have a hardness over 6. But... The carbon black pigment has a hardness of 2 so, if your car has this kind of pigment, you are out of luck because it can be scratched by cats. – Daniel Oct 17 '16 at 13:51
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    How can I find out the hardness of the paint? @Daniel – developer01 Oct 17 '16 at 14:35
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    I guess that this will involve some research. With the model of the car, the year and the color, you may be able to know the exact kind of painting. And knowing the painting, you may find the hardness. In any case, all my knowledge about car paint comes from this search https://www.google.com/search?q=car+paint+hardness+mohs ;) – Daniel Oct 17 '16 at 14:42
  • Reopened as Daniel has shown there is an objective answer, so it's not just opinion-based – Nick C Oct 19 '16 at 08:56
  • Nope ....unlikely those are scratches from cats – Xue Ling Jun 04 '17 at 18:19

5 Answers5

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It's hard to be sure, but that looks like single-stage paint (without a hard-wearing clearcoat).

If so, it is relatively soft paint that could easily be scratched. Judging by the angle of attack (and prior knowledge of feline behaviour), I would say that those are scratches made by cats that went into hill-descent-control mode.

tlhIngan
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Zaid
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My experience with cats is that they do enjoy sticking their claws into something soft to sharpen them. Cats will completely destroy furniture this way. The scratches you are showing are on hard metal surfaces, so not likely to be cats sharpening their claws.

Also, the pattern of the scratches makes it unlikely that they were left behind by a cat climbing on the car and using their claws for grip. The scratches are too long, the wrong number and too far apart.

Finally, in my experience, someone keying your car would usually make the scratch mark horizontally on the door, and they would press enough to dig into the paint. These look like surface scratches that are on the paint, not all the way through to the metal.

My conclusion is that these are scratch marks from someone or something rubbing against the car. It is probably unintentional.

tlhIngan
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  • I have both side ways scratches and scratches up and down all around my car. I checked the other cars at my apartment complex and none seem to have similar scratches. I rarely drive my car and if I do it's early in the morning (like 6 am) and often don't park next to other cars. I do have an ex that could've done it in retaliation but I have no way of proving it. Thank you for your insight. – developer01 Oct 16 '16 at 20:42
  • Those certainly aren't scratches from a climbing cat or a scratching cat but look at Zaid's answer--I could believe them from a cat that was falling. – Loren Pechtel Oct 17 '16 at 03:32
  • I'd agree, certainly the second set look like the sort of scratches you get from someone leaning on the car with something scratchy, like jean rivets, bag buckles, etc... – Nick C Oct 17 '16 at 08:01
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I saw my sisters cat attempt to jump up on my car and then slide down the side leaving scratch marks where there were non previously, so to answer your questions, yes, without a doubt cats can scratch car paint with their claws...unfortunately :(

Majickal
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  • okay, Thank you. Is there any form of repellent for keeping the cats off? They're strays and very sweet cats but I am on a budget and don't have funds for a new paint job. – developer01 Oct 17 '16 at 12:53
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    @earlyriser01 Please see this question: http://mechanics.stackexchange.com/q/28503/675 – Zaid Oct 17 '16 at 13:24
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Yes, they technically can, but no, it's not the case in your pictures.

A cat does have sufficient power to scratch a car (given certain criteria are met), but it will not do that unless the cat lands from high up and tries to 'claw' the car to get a support point. In the presented case, the marks are inconsistent with any type of cat scratch, so that excludes any for being at fault in this case.

Overmind
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In India where I live there are many stray cats in the area and I have seen them scratching the roof and bonnet of our car, but like in the picture their scratch patterns are different and usually on our car it is generally 3 or 4 nail marks, and as many suggested that these seems like they might be fighting each other and they slipped or they are terrible in jumping or in falling

Nilabja
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