Our stuff seems cat resistant and their standard mechanism is to dig in their claws. If only the oak worktops in the kitchen were so resistant... Cat vomit stains it temporarily, but once cleaned up and allowed to dry, doesn't leave any long-lasting marks. Same for any liquid left in long-contact.
I'd put felt on everything, it's cheap and easy and saves having to repolish the floor at some point (can you do that with laminate, who knows, it's apparently an option with our engineered stuff). And like I say, there's some benefits to buying 'distressed-look.' We have a chestnut floor in the old place and that showed up scratches and dinks, especially, if for instance, you're juggling a box of screwdrivers and every single one of them hits the floor pointy-end first. Statistically unfeasible, I'm sure, which demonstrates there is a malign force in the universe.