Cat Scratches On A Car – #1 Best Tips On How to Remove Them

Nothing is more annoying than cat scratches on a car.

There is a war going on out there in suburbia, a war between cats and cars. I am not talking of pets being run over or killed by cars, just the toll it is taking on car paint by scratchy paws, mainly cats.

I have owned a number of cars and many pet cats over the years. With the exception of two cats who both had a phobia about cars, all our pet tabbies enjoyed lounging on the car roof on a warm summer’s day or the warm hood on a cold winter’s day.

The one exception was a Ford Focus we owned that was black. For some strange reason, the cat we had at the time did not like black.

As some people regard their pet cats as their babies, so do many car owners regard their cars as their babies. More so if their car is a vintage or a veteran. Woe betides any cat that dares to make his or her mark on a car fanatic’s baby.

How to remove cat scratches on a car

To remove cat scratches on a car use a soft cloth and a cut polish. An alternative option is to use whitening toothpaste and a damp microfiber cloth. To remove the cat scratches clean and wash your car first. After this, dry it with a soft cloth. Then make circular motions and polish the scratches. Remove any excess toothpaste. Rinse the surface and let it dry with a chammy or chamois. If scratches are deeper than the mere surface visit an auto detailing shop.

Removing Cat Scratches On a Car – Step By Step

As long as the scratches are surface scratches, they can be removed by buffing using a soft cloth and a suitable cut polish or one of the following solutions.

Through the grapevine, I heard a solution for removing or diminishing cat scratches is to use toothpaste and a damp microfiber cloth.

Looking this up on the internet, I see it is recommended to use whitening toothpaste, I assume due to the mild grit embedded in it.

Before starting, give your vehicle a good wash using a recommended auto car wash product.

After a good wash, dry the car down with a soft cloth.

Apply the toothpaste to a damp microfiber cloth and polish the scratch using a steady circular motion. Don’t rub too hard on one spot.

After buffing, rinse off and remove any excess toothpaste. Rinse again and dry with a chammy or chamois.

It’s made from the hides of domestic sheep or goats and is very soft and paint-friendly.

Being non-abrasive and having great absorbent properties, it’s an excellent product for cleaning and polishing car paint.

Generally speaking, cat scratches can be more annoying than damaging. If the scratches the kitty has made on your car exterior are more than superficial, you may have to take your car to an auto detailing shop where they have the expertise and the tools to carry out a professional job.

I hesitate to recommend car owners buy an electric buffer. They may look simple to use, but if used incorrectly, can make a scratch problem worse by buffing through the top coat.

Deep scratches do take away from the appearance of your car and, if not attended to, can worsen.

If you have attempted buffing out the kitties’ handiwork using toothpaste or a mild cut/polish, you might have to end up repainting the area if the scratches are deeper than first thought.

Cat Scratches on the Car

You visited a friend and when you came out, you discovered a tabby asleep on your hood. Now you have tiny, but annoying scratches in the paint. How do you get rid of them?

Generally speaking, cat scratches on car paint can be superficial. To determine how serious a scratch is, run a fingernail over it to determine how deep it is.

If a scratch is shallow and is not down through to the paint primer, the most obvious solution is a good brand of cut polish. There are many on the market, some better than others.

Ask the advice of your local auto shop detailer. Most of the time, they will suggest a good product if they do not sell it to you themselves.

How to Prevent cat scratches on your car

So, that being said, how does one prevent cat scratches on car paint? Any cat owner knows how persistent a cat can be and keeping a cat off your favorite car can be maddingly difficult.

Even if you are not a car lover, it can be very annoying to come out to use your shiny new Tesla or Mercedes and find the next-door neighbor’s pet muffin sprawled on the hood.

An obvious solution is a car cover. However, I find this can be an annoying solution to the problem of eliminating kitty scratches just by having to remove and reinstall the cover every time you want to use the car.

Some people resort to clipping their pet cats’ claws, but this can be a very onerous task and that action is doing the cat no favor if it is an outdoor cat. Also, this is not a solution if the cat using your car as its favorite recliner is not your cat.

Keeping the car in the garage solves the problem if you have a garage. Many homes these days have carports and if you live in a condo or an apartment, then locking the car up is not a solution.

So a review of the preventive measures offers the following solutions:

• Keep the car in the garage with the door closed while not in use
• Keep the car covered up with a car cover
• Use a deterrent like a water sprinkler. ( I have a friend who used this system successfully)
• Cats aren’t fans of mothballs apparently, so placing some around the car has been suggested by one online cat avoider. This could be an annoying solution as you would have to pick them up and scatter them again each time you park your car.
• A large rubber snake on the hood of the car has been found to work.

Frequently Asked Questions On How to Prevent cat scratches on your car