In a word, no. We have a leather couch and a loveseat, they look like crap. We had our cat declawed in the front, I hated to do it because he was already an adult and we still have a ton of scratches. He doesn't do it on purpose, just jumping on and off will leave little scratches or if he's on the couch and gets spooked from something, he'll tear off leaving scratches/ Our couches are a deep burgandy color, so it shows pretty bad.

Yes, your kitty will leave tracks in the leather when he/she takes off from the chair...particularly if he/she is startled and digs in for a fast start!

Our cat doesn't sit on our leather furniture. She just doesn't like the feel of them, unless I leave a throw on one of the seats. She prefers the fabric furniture or better yet a basket of clean, folded laundry. All this to say that no, she hasn't done any damage to the leather.

I have launch marks too. And 'Oh crap - I'm sliding off' marks. My chairs weren't really an investment at $80 for the pair at a Going Out of Business sale but I did panic at 1st. Then I re-grouped and realized that in about 25yrs they'll have the patina of an antique that I've always wanted in a leather chair. Kitty oopses and all.

See the link for a few more comments on this topic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to another leather & cats thread

Actually I'll play devils advocate LOL (I know the devil well...it's ok with him). We have leather and love it with the cats, but we had to learn a valuable leather lesson before it made sense. Cats, dogs, etc., scratch anything they leap up and down from, it's just a degree of how much you see it issue. With less expensive leather, and any leather with a shiny plastic coating (don't get your knickers all bunched up here...that's what it's made of when your leather is somewhat hard or smooth and shiny) which is actually the bulk of the leather you see out there. Those will be scratched and you can't remove the scratches.

But if you buy natural leather (it can be dyed but not coated over the finish) the scratches can be polished off in seconds. I have two leather sofa's in the library and the scratches are invisible when it's cleaned up (which I don't do terribly often....even not polished they look great despite being all of my animals favorite sleep spot. And we have two gray sofa's again natural, in our family room that have scratches but look great with a cleaning and polish. They're actually the ideal furnishings in my opinion. No hair sticks :) The down side is they cost probably three or more times what a treated leather sofa will cost (or chair) because hide differences can't be hidden in the final coat in the finish so the dying has to be done very carefully and only the best quality hides can be used. But because of the quality of the leather, they feel like butter :)
Now the downside is that natural leather and small children don't mix as well. Not having the coating means that liquids can soak into the furnishings if left untreated (3 year olds don't always tell you they're sprinkling the couch with their grape juice). But we have spilled wine and if you wipe it right up there are no stains...

So what's good for pets isn't good for kids, and what's good for kids isn't the best for pets. That's easy huh? :oP

Igloo....can you tell me how to polish out the scratches? Do you mean you just buff them out with a cloth, or a special polish? We have two expensive leather couches, and they are covered with scratch marks on the arms where the cats leap off. The scratches are quite deep in some places, due to my pair of cats being lunatics.

I'll second that. I've had plenty of experience with cats and leather.

My observations:
1) Cheaper leather will get scratched up like crazy. In six months you'll wonder why you bothered to shell out for leather. (On the other hand, there's the benefit of the fur not sticking to the leather, so it comes down to picking your foe: scratches or imbedded fur!)

2) More expensive leather holds up very well, and as igloo said, most scratches can be polished out, unless they're very deep. I just use a leather polish product and a rag.

3) My cats don't like to sit on leather furniture much anyway, so they'll go find somewhere softer to perch. :)

I use a leather polish that was sold in the same store as we purchased the sofa's from. Ours are actually quite soft (which is why one is occupied by me now and the other by two cats and a dog). Most scratches are still there...you just don't see them because of the polish. I just do a rub down with the polish and a soft rag. It's kind of the same concept as when you have your shoes shined. The surface dirt is removed and the scratches softened and buffed back down.

I love leather sofa's myself. Especially with the animals :)