Calling all cat staff or anyone who works in a carpet shop. Really exciting thread - is there such a thing as a cat-proof carpet for the stairs?

[roseteathecatsandme]

Hi, we have 6 cats and two of them have wrecked the carpets on three flights of stairs. I’ve put wood floors through the house, but I don’t want wood steps on the stairs as it’s a very old house with steep stairs.

Any recommendations for a cat proof / resistant carpet please? I would be very grateful. Out current carpet has been down less than three years. Thankyou!

Something that's tough as old boots, doesn't cost a lot and can be fixed so securely, there's no lift whatsoever.

I've got sisal runners on mine (the stairs are so narrow that the runners fill the entire treads) and although the wee furry shites overlords quite fancied the idea of scratching post material on the stairs for the first five minutes, they soon worked out that it didn't give them the satisfaction of a nice doormat they could drag around the hall or the stretch of a sofa arm or wooden table leg they could slowly wear down over ten years. The Ancient One prefers to try and knacker the cheap shit normal carpet on the landing or the definitely not cheap shit pure wool rug in the bedroom and hasn't touched the sisal since the first testing stage.

They do like napping on it, though. Halfway up the stairs where they can peer through the bannisters and into the front garden. And give me an extra challenge when carrying an armful of dirty washing to the kitchen.

Thanks - yes this may be part of the problem in that the current carpet did have lift at the edges - so this is what they’ve been working on!

Someone suggested to avoid any loop carpet as they can get their claws into the loops to pull fibres out. So I had a tuft one, but it’s held up much worse than the sisal-type one I had in the other house. So maybe back to that.

If someone could invent a cat proof carpet they’d be into a winner!

Hi there OP, we've moved your thread to our very special Cat topic where you'll hopefully get some further ideas.

I very much doubt there is. Which is why I had mine sanded/painted.

And you can get special treads to put on the edges if you're worried about slipping.

I don't think that there is any truly cat proof carpet, we have wool pile carpet which has been left relatively unharmed with 8 cats. I tend to get good quality remnants that are a fraction of the price and replace as needed. The current carpet is around 4 years old and still looks fine.

thecatneuterer - I love the photo! That’s so funny. I also have a lilac Ragdoll very like yours. Also two chocolate point ones. Crazy cats.

The thing is, it’s curved staircases in this house, so very steep in parts.

Stickytreacle - there is no such thing, you’re right. Also some cats are more destructive than others.

@thecatneuterer
Brilliant photo .

We have the same issue re stair carpet - we've given up...

TCN - there were some steps without cats. Your standards are slipping.

This, by the way, at 9 minutes 15 Seconds, is how I imagine @thecatneuterer. "I work for Cats" (at 10secs).

www.dailymotion.com/video/x5rtx2u

@thecatneuterer

I very much doubt there is. Which is why I had mine sanded/painted.

You need to tidy away the bags and take the photo laying at the bottom of them. That'll easily be the cover of some new indie album, then.

Ultra irrelevant I know but how much faff is it to get stairs sanded? You could have a cat in each hand to polish

[quote Grumpyoldpersonwithcats]@thecatneuterer
Brilliant photo .

We have the same issue re stair carpet - we've given up...[/quote]
Bit late now but apparently double sided sellotape is good for this type of thing as cats dislike their paws touching stickiness.

That photo was taken so long ago I've forgotten who most of those cats are. I have no idea why half the cats in my house suddenly decided to sit on the stairs (and I wish they'd given me notice so I could tidy for the photo!) and it's never happened before or since.

OP that pedigree you mentioned, Ali was his name, was a persian. The rescue I'm with ended up with a load of persians from a breeder cruelty case and he had so many issues (and so little brain:) ) that I sort of got stuck with him. The breeder had brought a load of her persians to us for treatment as they were suffering from appalling neglect (and some had died) and she didn't want to pay a vet to treat them so brought them to us for treatment(as a charity vet clinic). After saving their lives and nursing them back to health we refused to give them back and so she took us to court. We won, but as we were legally on shaky ground a condition of keeping the cats was that we wouldn't publicise what had happened nor try to stop her breeding /keeping animals. It's heartbreaking. I have hundreds of stories about cruel breeders. And as I'm on a roll - we currently have a pedigree that was given to the rescue by a breeder as he was too old now for breeding and was on the brink of death - again from neglect - starvation and muscle wastage from having spent ten years of his life in a cage. Another recent one - a breeder had a cat which got a kitten stuck giving birth. She wouldn't pay for a private vet to help so brought the cat to us. We explained that, a condition of saving the cat was that we would spay her at the same time. She agreed but then tried to sue us for spaying without consent. So not only did she want to sue the charity that saved the life of her cat, she wanted to carry on putting the cat at the same risk - for money. Sorry for going off topic and on a bit of a rant - but I hate breeders! (and I'm sure they're not all like that - but plenty are - and all of them are bringing more cats into a world where there are already far too many).

Anyhoo - back on topic - OP, even if your stairs are steep, I don't think you're in any more danger of falling/slipping on sanded ones - particularly if you stick those rubber tread strips on the edges. The only time I ever fell down mine was when I was on crutches - but that would have happened even if they had been carpeted.

I have a flat weave carpet (ours is a herringbone pattern) and our dcat doesn’t go for it. I think the loops are too tight and smooth for her to get her claws in. She much prefers our coir front door mat thank goodness.

It is a slightly slippery carpet though, I have to say, probably because it’s smooth on top.

thecatneuterer - God that all sounds horrendous. I don’t know how people can be like that. When we got our first two Ragdolls, it was from a local lady who advertised on Pets For Homes. We visited them at 7 weeks old and took them at 14 weeks. Later we ended up taking the parents too as she had to relocate abroad. She had kept them as pets though and only had one litter. We also have two mega fluffy cats, but not true Persians, I don’t think, as they don’t have the flat faces and short noses. They shed a lot and the fur is like cotton wool. It gets everywhere . They need a lot of brushing. One is not the sharpest tool in the box, shall we say. I think he might have been the runt of the litter. We got them at 14 weeks too, but they wouldn’t let us see the mother. Very suspicious. Anyway, they have been healthy cats, but, in retrospect, I am worried the sellers may have been cage breeders (off the premises). Otherwise, why not let us see the mother? I was naive I think and in future I would take rescue cats.

minipie - yes someone recommended a very tight loop carpet. It’s durable and they can’t get the claws into it. Thanks.

I coaxed mine to mostly not destroy the stairs carpet.
There are Towels and sheets all on stairs near edges (they like edges) & scratch boards they prefer in suitable locations. I've even got a special 'stair' scratch board. I believe this reduced 75-92% of the damage, depending on the culprit.

DH thinks we're going to die by slipping on the towels -- years later, nobody ever tripped on one.