Totter & Tumble mats with cats

[malinT]

Hi!
I'm considering getting a Totter & Tumble playmat for my 6 month old. Obviously, at that price point it's a real investment and something that you want to last for years.

However, problem is we've got 3 cats. Has anyone used T&T mats with cats or other pets? Do they hold up? Our cats occasionally scratch the more textured rugs around the house, as it reminds them of the scratching post material, and I'm not sure how the playmat would hold up against such accidents in the long run. Or am I better off getting something cheaper (and less nice looking!) and more temporary?

Thanks!

I have used cheap foam tile mat from Home Bargains (‘My Little Home’) actually FOR the cats, and there are only very few scratches and they do not affect functionality. However, now that I need something like this for the baby, I am considering either getting more of the same stuff and not worrying about cat damage (plus them being tiles, the ones affected can be replaced), or getting something more pricey and rolling it away when not in use (extra effort).
Also might be a good idea to plop some extra kitty enrichment around, like extra cardboard scratchers to entice fluffies to use their own stuff, but you know how they are - always more interested in things not meant for them!

Sorry, not the best input advise wise - just thinking out loud as am in the same predicament, albeit have a few months to debate still with little one being 3 months now 😊

I have one that I bought because we have a dog (3 year old Beagle) who is usually into everything. It was a great investment to be honest. The matt is really thick so I felt comfortable sitting on it for long periods of time throughout the day. Its wipe clean so you can change the baby on it as well as any spillages etc. to be honest the reason i really liked it was that I could brush off dog hair easily. Dog has quite short hair that sticks in things and was driving me crazy with normal rug. I didnt want to put baby on it. With these I brushed once or twice a day and baby loved it. I even used to bring up and down to our caravan because it was so useful for creeping.

I have one and to be honest the two cats aren’t interested in it, they damaged the wool rug we had previously though. We don’t have carpets. I’ve never seen them scratch it and bar a couple of tiny scratches that I think I caused, can’t remember how, it looks great. I’ve only had mine about 8 months but I think it’s worth the investment.

My cats prefer the sofa and so I bought a couple of scratchy corner protectors from Amazon which they took to immediately.

I didn't take the risk and I'm glad I didn't because my cats love clawing at anything foam like. You could get 2 of the IKEA gym mats, think they are on offer at the moment

Thanks all, these are some really great views and advice 😊

The mats are great and no issue with my 2 cats. The hoover however….. 🙄 I ruined mine by vacuuming it with a rotating brush hoover, so don’t make the same mistake as me!

We have two scratchy cats who wreck all the wool carpets, but they leave our T&T rugs alone.

My advice would be to get a darker coloured one. We have one that is pale green and grey and it's nice but shows up dirt. You can wash it but it doesn't take off everything the kids throw at it.

We also have the William Morris dark coloured one. It's utterly, utterly beautiful and doesn't show up anything.

I have two cats and neither has ever scratched our mat as far as I can tell. One isn't really a scratcher and spends all his time outside, the other prefers the feel of the sofa or our clothes!

Thank you all so much for the input, you've convinced me! I've now gone ahead and ordered one - eek! Fingers crossed my cats are all as well-behaved as yours are 😆I also found that there was a working code for £10 off if anyone else is looking to buy - LETSPLAY

Good choice. My naughty cats have left the one we bought alone. The foam squares by skiphop get scratched I hear.