Carpet clawing!

[pantsjustpants]

We have brand new carpet, and our cat keeps kneading/clawing it! Driving us nuts, and she's refusing point blank to stop. Any ideas please?

Ours have always done this and is didn't actually damage the carpet. Is it definitely a problem? I think it depends on how your carpet is made, whether it's loops or fluffy raw ends.

Have you thought of getting some carpet 'samples' for her use, pants? They're usually readily available from carpet shops (who often have books of the older ones outside at the back waiting to be thrown away) and generally completely free.

All you need to do is either tack them down loosely in a favoured scratching place (which shouldn't harm the underlying carpet) or anchor them by putting one side under a piece of furniture - just so that they provide some resistance. I've used them in the past with great success.

Sounds mean, but we resorted to a water spray bottle after our cat dug a hole in our stair carpet and wrecked our living room rug. Telling him no and chasing him made no impact. When we replaced the rug he started on that, so every time he had a go at it, we skooshed some water at him. Didn't hurt him but seems (so far) to have trained him not to scratch it. We also got a horizontal, rather than vertical, scratching post as he seems to prefer it, but after a promising start he's gone off that, so we're adding it to the long list of cat beds, cat toys and other accessories we've wasted money on!

One of ours does this every day straight after breakfast. No idea how to break the habit. The other never does it.

I have exactly the same issue and I am seriously sick and tired of it now. I have tried so many things, including a mat that can be propped up or flat but frankly the carpet and rug are far more superior scratching posts. Oh, and when that bores her she likes to rip up the carpet from the corners of the door frame. In every single room. Just for the sake of it.

Just keep her in the kitchen!!! No free range around the house. One of mine is tightly controlled due to pulling threads on settees. He is not allowed where there are settees unless supervised!

Spray bottle of water. Use regularly until they get the message. Sounds harsh but it works. Also, my kitties have a scratching post upon which I regularly rub catnip so they'll be interested in ripping it up. We keep it in a room with hardwood floors so they don't get confused between the carpeted scratching post and the carpet on the bedroom floor (we have hardwood on the ground floor, and carpet on the first floor).

My mind is boggling at the thought of tightly controlled cats!!! HOW?!?!

Portia is a swine for rug trashing and our bedroom carpet looks moth eaten, but she does that lie down kick the edges to bits thing which while annoying is kind of cute , as she's 14 so not going to grow out of it so we have accepted that one day we will just replace them!

I've never had a real problem bar having to decide what exactly I'm going to allow them to scratch - they have to have something which is authorized or they go bananas and try to scratch anything and everything.

The Siamese have always been very easy to train but tend to go for a single piece of upholstered furniture if one is available. (Seniorboy has an old and now thoroughly disreputable armchair which sits in pride of place in the sitting room. He likes to savage its arms.) Thank Goodness for throws.

We gave ours one of those cardboard things to scratch and clap when she scratches the carpet. She does stop when I clap but I think only because it distracts her momentarily. Can only assume she's merrily clawing at the forbidden rug all night when we're asleep.

Doesn't seem to do much damage - maybe because we clip her claws? Luckily she never ever does vertical scratching at all except at closed doors.

We had new carpet when we moved into our house 4.5 years ago, and our cats who we got 6 months later made it look utter shite so quickly :-( Not berber or anything, plain wool/poly shortish pile. They pulled up so much fluff from it (I guess I should have hoovered it more frequently when it was new?!!). They also have pulled it off the gripper rods almost all the way around the downstairs carpets, although I think that is partly due to the thick underlay we have. We shut them inside at night which gives them more opportunity to scratch. One in particular will scratch at anything on the floor- table leg, piece of paper, her own litter tray. I gave up most trying to get them to stop when it was clear they just do it all day when we are out at work and all night when we're asleep. I just clap at them and they stop for about 5 minutes. They have a scratching post which is very well used as well.

Now we are moving and the buyers saw it 'as is' so I just don't care any more... Our new house has wood and tile downstairs, hooray. They'll probably move to destroy the sofas now...

Do any of you see the carpet scratching/clawing as boredom? I don't believe this at all, my cat has done it from the beginning when she was played with and carried and held constantly. She wakes up, stretches and digs the claws in, she does it at random times etc, she even does it when I have just been playing with her! I have mentioned this to the person I got her from a few times who has told me that firstly its because she is so clever (hmm) also, because she is so independent (hmm) and lastly because she is bored and if I had another cat they would play together and not do it anymore.

I think that's a load of rubbish but tell me otherwise if I am wrong please!

It may be true that bored cats will scratch more, or more obsessively, cats will still scratch a lot even when completely 100% happy, if they like doing it.
My cats have each other to attack play with; we play with them (probably could do this more though), scratching posts galore, a big garden and woods behind that they have full access too in daylight hours. They are full grown cats now (5 and 6), normal weight, and in every respect they seem to be very happy and content animals and give us plenty of affection. They aren't clingy at all, don't show any other signs of anxiety (eg excessive grooming, hiding a lot, etc). But they scratch the carpet during the day, at night, while I'm stroking them, etc.
Cats do need to do the scratch type action to keep their joints working and it's a natural action for them. I wouldn't worry about it at all unless there are other signs of a problem.

My main worry is the carpets!

You could threaten her with these:
caninefeline.co.uk/just-claws-colourful-soft-vinyl-claw-caps-for-kittens-and-cats-2612-p.asp

I have a www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/scratch-and-hide-slide for mine, it's in their room* and they don't scratch the carpet in there. They still scratch the side of the sofa sometimes but they get a really long stretch and scratch on this (they are still only kittens though)

• I say their room, it's the utility room.