It does seem like it’d be pretty cool, though much rather them than me lol. I think shoving an rpi inside though would really betray the implicit spirit of the project. That would just be “can a raspberry pi run linux when I put in a plastic case shaped like a children’s toy?” The answer would pretty obviously be yes. People are saying the processor in it means it probably couldn’t run Linux which would make it a bit of a non-starter but there apparently other OSs that could be made to run on that kind of processor and that’d be cool to see.
You might want to try soft claws. They’re little plastic caps in the shape of a cat’s nail (except soft not pointed) that you fill with a non-toxic adhesive that comes with the pack and attach to the cat’s nails. Over time the cat naturally sheds their nails and the nail caps come off with them and you just replace them again when that happens. They say it doesn’t bother the cats and they don’t even notice but I think they’re exaggerating a bit there because my cats hate the process of having the nail put on which makes me feel bad but once it is actually on they quickly forget about it and it doesn’t bug them.
It’s not a perfect solution the claws are finicky to work with, the applicator for the adhesive gets clogged with dry glue, the cats don’t really like having the nails applied, the caps themselves are really quite expensive and some items like wooden furniture, still get damaged even with the soft claws but the damage in such cases is still greatly reduced and for soft items like a couch it pretty much stops them doing any damage.
One thing to keep in mind though, don’t buy cheap ones off eBay, they’re not worth a cent, the cats hate them for some reason, they don’t seem as well manufactured and they don’t come with little cleats inside to help lock it in place. Because the cats absolutely hate them so much and are definitely bothered by them they immediately pull them off straight after you’ve applied them and they’re just a waste of your time and an unnecessary source of stress for your poor kitty. I’ve found 2 brands that seem to actually be good and they’re both a lot more expensive then I’d like but at least you can buy a supply of several months and save your possessions from destruction. The two that worked for me are Soft Claws and Soft Paws. Claws seems slightly cheaper. I think they might actually be the same product since they have the exact same artwork and typeface for their packaging and logos and the caps themselves seem to be identical, one of them just says claws and the other paws. Weirdly enough they’ve both chosen to use Garfield on their packaging and somehow I’m fairly sure neither has paid for the privilege.