Great Big Scratch Pad

I’ve been really lucky because I have such good beasties that aren’t into clawing up carpeting and furniture. I create designated scratch areas for them and then gently communicate to them where they can find their scratch toys for optimum claw sharpening pleasure. Well, I should say I’ve been successful with Cirque--who is the smartest cat in the whole wide world. Boy, on the other hand, comes really close to getting it and claws right in front of the scratch toys, which is not good for the carpet. To help Boy, I put Berber carpet floor mats in front of the scratch toys in their special scratch areas, so that when Boy missed he would scratch the mat instead.

Did I mention to you that my new home has Berber carpeting? Now, Cirque has NEVER scratched where she shouldn’t. (Except for the time when the beasties decided to destroy Turtle’s office chair, but that’s another story.) A week or so after we moved in, I noticed Cirque was sharpening her claws willy-nilly and completely ignoring the designated clawing area. No matter how many times I took her too the special scratching area, she keeps scratching wherever she wants too!

Feeling very frustrated I mentioned this to Turtle and he says, “You know, the carpet probably feels the same to them as the Berber mats.” “Yeah,” I replied. Turtle pointed out to me that the Beasties are probably thinking, “Cool, mom and dad moved into a house with one great big scratch pad!” The beasties probably think I’m a pretty cool and smart mom to do that for them.

Hhhhmmm….back to the drawing board. I guess I can get different floor mats to put in front of the designated scratching area. Maybe then, they’ll get the idea again. Anyone got any ideas?

Today’s Happy Accident: Remembering the simplicity in life and great big scratch pads.