[stomachmonkey]

I have two Tuxedo's. They are pretty mellow. The Orange ones are almost dog like.

Have had 4 Calico's, they are "fiesty", tend to play rough which may be a turn off. Personally I like them a lot.

Length of hair is more of a maintenance issue. Long hair you need to groom regularly. Even short hairs can get matted. In terms of shedding, they are cats, long hair/short hair they all shed.

Scratching stuff. Kittens will do more often than adults. If you are looking at shelter cats, which I recommend, you may find one already declawed. The floors are not an issue, the couch may be depending on the material. Cat's will usually only claw stuff that they can dig into. They won't claw things like leather. They may claw the carpet depending on the pile, something like a berber will be attractive, plush or shag they will ignore. Get some scratching posts and place them around.

Cats bond with people at a young age. So an older cat that was raised by humans from a kitten will still be friendly. But like people they do have distinct personalities so there is no guarantee.