Pulling up the carpet

[Chloe]

Would love some advice, our cat is almost 3 years old and we've had her about 4 months. She loves attention and always wants to be around people. She's very well behaved in general, however about a month ago she started pulling up the carpet by my bedroom door at night.

At first I tried leaving my bedroom door open slightly so she could come in and out as she pleased. however this didn't stop it. I then tried bringing her scratching post upstairs before bed and putting it outside the bedroom where she pulled up carpet, she used it but would then find another areas of carpet to scratch after! I then tried putting pepper on the areas I knew she was scratching at but that doesn't seem to prevent it either.

She only ever does it at night or in the morning just before I get up. I read that it might help to get a horizontal scratching pad, however she has also recently started very occasionally trying to scratch up door frames around the house so unsure whether that would help.

Please help!! Thanks

[Ruth B]

Most of the general scratching posts are no good for a full grown cat, they are just too small and lightweight. So far i have found two scratching boards that do get used, one is a cardboard one about 50cm x 23cm, large enough for a cat to stand on and pull at. They only last a few months but are relatively cheap. The other was a board which is screwed to the wall and slightly longer about 70cm and covered with something that seems more like rough carpet than the normal sisal rope coverings.

Unfortunately while my lot do use them, it still doesn't stop them clawing at the carpet when they decide they want to.

[Kay]

you might find she will transfer her attentions to an old-fashioned coir doormat placed where she scratches, or you could try collecting some carpet samples and laying them down where she is currently scratching

both very cheap options