# Cat-proof carpet?



## Tregenza (Sep 10, 2016)

Help! I'm a new member and I need to find carpet for my sitting room, stairs and landing that won't be used as a giant scratching post. My Bengal female, Tara, has access to the garden during the day so has plenty of opportunity to scratch but no, she comes in, demolishes the three cardboard scratchers and massacres the extremely sturdy sisal and carpet scratching posts. (She also rips apart any boxes, gnaws the edges of my pine furniture, demolishes toilet rolls etc. This is usually when mummy has said no to something she wants.) The carpet that's being assaulted is cord (same as the scratching post - big mistake) and I wondered if anyone has managed to find one that isn't so desirable for those claws. One person has said that she found that polypropyline worked well but I want a presentable carpet (I'm not remotely house proud but I'd like one I'm not ashamed of!) Unfortunately the tufts she's lifted were gobbled up by my Dyson and so I now have big lines across the carpet where whole threads have been removed. I'd much rather have an interesting and amusing cat than a smart house but it's getting a touch dangerous in places (the top of the stairs, for example). 

Any ideas?


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## Gwen9244 (Nov 10, 2012)

Welcome to the forum. Tara looks gorgeous from your profile pic (I also have a Tara!). Sorry to say that I can't really help with this as we have wooden/tiled floors throughout downstairs and, although they do like to scratch the carpet on the stairs and upstairs, they don't go that mad on it.


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## bluecordelia (Jan 5, 2014)

I have put a rug on one part of the room Blue scratches on (my bedroom) and will get a sisal type runner also. She has at least 3 floor scratches and a barrel to go at but still likes a go at my new carpet!


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## urbantigers (Apr 13, 2014)

A carpet with a short pile is probably best. I couldn't tell you what sort I have as I didn't choose it but it is a hard wearing short pile (fairly flat) carpet. I don't think it is loop. It's been scratched a fair bit by my boys over the past few years but is showing no sign of damage due to that. 

Oh, I also chose the colour to blend in with scattered cat litter but everyone does that, right?


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Hi @Tregenza and welcome 

The only kind of carpet pile I have ever found that is pretty resistant to cats scratching it is Twist Pile. (Loop pile is one of the worst as the cat gets a claw into one of the loops and pulls and a whole line unravels.)

I am lucky that none of the cats I have had over the years has ever scratched the sitting room carpet or the bedroom carpets. My current sitting room carpet (an 80 % wool Twist Pile) is now 25 years old and is about to be replaced but not because of any damage done by my cats. 

However I have had some problems with one of my cats scratching the stair carpet (also Twist Pile). She tends to go for the upright parts of the stairs, and the edges. However to be fair the stair carpet is about 20 years old and only just this last year starting to look worn, so I can't really complain.


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## Tregenza (Sep 10, 2016)

chillminx said:


> Hi @Tregenza and welcome
> 
> The only kind of carpet pile I have ever found that is pretty resistant to cats scratching it is Twist Pile. (Loop pile is one of the worst as the cat gets a claw into one of the loops and pulls and a whole line unravels.)
> 
> ...


Thank you for this, I'll look into it. I used to breed Abyssinians and never had this problem. I wonder if it's a Bengal thing. For the last 15 years or so I've had unrehomable cats (one at a time) - 2 oldies, one Bengal cross and Tara, a full Bengal. It's only these last 2 that have caused this problem. The carpet now resembles a rather scruffy hedgehog so it's time to act!


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## huckybuck (Jan 17, 2014)

No it's Maine Coon thing too lol!!

We've just changed ours as when we moved in the house had a loop pile and it got completely wrecked!!

We've gone for a twist this time but not too short (like velvet) as this can show the scratches but a mid way one so that you can cut off the part they pull up or pull the tufts out. 

Thankfully it seems to only be the stairs (like CM) that is getting attention and an off cut we had whipped for a rug in the kitchen. 

I did have a piece spare and have had that whipped for a replacement stair runner if ever we move (and it's in the loft) the kitchen one we would just throw. I would do that again if I ever replace the carpets and still have cats as the stairs seem to suffer the worst.

I have bought a couple of horizontal scratchers which the boys will use (from [email protected]) but it does seem once a cat favours a certain patch that's it!!


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## FlorayG (May 4, 2016)

Carpet is pretty unhygienic stuff anyway and harbours all sorts of nasties even in households that don't have cats, dogs or toddlers. With them it's a bacterial heaven.
I'd take this opportunity to just get rid of it if I was you and have some solid flooring instead


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

If I lived on my own I might be willing to do away with having carpet on the stairs....otherwise no!


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## clairescats (Feb 13, 2014)

Just had to replace my living room carpet after only 3 years and next week im on to the stairs. Oh the joys of kittens lol, im hoping they might have grown out of it a bit now. If not ill end up with shares in carpetright


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## Vanessa131 (Nov 16, 2014)

FlorayG said:


> Carpet is pretty unhygienic stuff anyway and harbours all sorts of nasties even in households that don't have cats, dogs or toddlers. With them it's a bacterial heaven.
> I'd take this opportunity to just get rid of it if I was you and have some solid flooring instead


Only if you don't bother cleaning it, so if someone doesn't clean their carpets, they're unlikely to clean a hardfloor either.


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## Tregenza (Sep 10, 2016)

I'd thought about vinyl flooring (the house is rented so don't want to do anything more structural like wood or laminate) but I prefer nice warm carpet underfoot. After all, I've just invested in a Gtech Air Ram vacuum cleaner so got to give it something to go at. The Dyson had to go - too much of a liability.


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## Global33 (Sep 18, 2016)

Industrial carpet tiles. Very tight weave, hard-wearing and if a section does get trashed you can replace it. That's my plan when we move any way.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Carpet tiles don't really work on stairs though.....which is where my problem is.


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## FlorayG (May 4, 2016)

Vanessa131 said:


> Only if you don't bother cleaning it, so if someone doesn't clean their carpets, they're unlikely to clean a hardfloor either.


In order to keep carpet clean you need to vacuum AT LEAST every day and preferably twice a day. I have a life and I don't want to spend it vacuuming .
Hard floors, even if you don't clean them at all, are cleaner because all the cat hair and fluff collects in the corners instead of all over the place


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## LizzieandLoca (Jun 30, 2014)

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but I too am on the lookout for a new carpet. 

We've never had a problem with any of them scratching it... until McNulty came along and now I am forever hoovering up bits of fluff that he's ripped up! And I have scratch mats covering most of the floor space!

My main question is, what do people do with their cat(s) when the carpet is being fitted? Our plan is to have the whole house done at once. I really don't like the idea of putting them in a Cattery, but am also thinking of logistics with fitters coming and going through the front door! Is it a case of put them in one room, then move them on to the next when it's finished? 

Thanks in advance for any tips!


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## bluecordelia (Jan 5, 2014)

Have a safe room that is done last. Put a big notice on the door asking them not to go in until you are there. They might do upstairs first if you talk with them . Make it a cat haven ie toys


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

It is worth being aware if you have every room fitted with new carpet at the same time your cats are going to be overwhelmed by scents of new carpet everywhere in the home and a loss of the old familiar scents. In cat terms, being a strongly scent-motivated species, it will amount to a major change. This could cause them stress and may result in stress-related behaviours such as scent marking by scratching the carpet or urinating on it to try and re-establish their ownership of the territory. 

For this reason I only have one room re-carpeted at a time, and the cats are only allowed in afterwards under close supervision until I am sure they are OK with it.


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## bluecordelia (Jan 5, 2014)

I hadn't thought about that aspect as we had a mass carpet job after the extension. Blue still only claws in my room when I am there. Iv uses the floor scratchers like the gent he is. I have resigned myself to put up with it and kept bits incase we need to ever patch an area.


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## LizzieandLoca (Jun 30, 2014)

Thanks @bluecordelia

That's a really good point @chillminx - hadn't thought of it. Logistically it would make sense to do the whole house, but my lot are pretty sensitive to change and we've had litter tray issues with Novi before... so perhaps a different approach is best.

How long have you left it between rooms?


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@LizzieandLoca - I am quite cautious about these things and would probably leave it several months between re-carpeting each room. But if that is impractical for your circumstances I suggest leaving it 3 or preferably 4 weeks between having each room done.


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## Tregenza (Sep 10, 2016)

How about keeping some of the old "scented" carpet and laying this on top of your new one in their favourite room until they have settled down again. Don't forget loads of Feliway sprayed about too. I've found this really helps with anxiety - the 20-year-old that I adopted plucked almost all the fur off her back end and tail when she first came even though my house is quiet and she was an only one. She looked like a trimmed poodle! Her mum had died and after living in the one house all her life from a small kitten, the move and change of routine was too much for her. The Feliway definitely helped - your vet can explain the details of hormones, etc - but it helped her to cope. Dear old Polly spent three years or so with me before succumbing to tumours on her spleen but apart from those early days, her time was very happy.


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## Lilypops (Sep 23, 2016)

I think the twist pile quite short is a good idea my carpet is like this and mine like to scratch the stairs , it seems okay so far , except one of them pulls up the carpet from the grippers if you close a door on her so I have to have all my doors open:Cat


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