We had a black tabby who looked very similar to yours when I was growing up, we used to rent a house the local hospital owned back when my mom was still working as a nurse (retired), and the cat scratched his way half-way through a pair of 2x4 supports on the stairs on the back deck, I walk by there sometimes and the scratched up posts are still there, I almost want to just offer to buy them new lumber for the stairs just to get the old scratched up posts, not sure what I would do with them, but I know I would be really bummed if I walked past there one day and they had replaced them. he was a good cat, lived to be 19 as an outdoor cat.