Cat Chat Feline Forum

I have two indoor cats, both are 7 years old. I have laminate flooring in the living room and kitchen and carpet in the bedroom and hall. Yesterday I bought a big fluffy rug for my living room. It is massive and takes up most of the floor space.

Anyway, one cat absolutely loves it. My other cat will not go near it and is getting around the living room by jumping from one couch to the other. She seems to hate stepping on it.

Do you think she'll come around or will I end up binning this rug? As she is an indoor cat I am loathe to do anything which makes her environment smaller, if you know what I mean.

Don't panic just yet. Cats are odd creatures, and take offence at the strangest things. Hopefully your nervy cat will see your other cat rolling around on it and get the message after a while. But changing from carpet to laminate and rug is a big change for a cat, particularly as they sense so much through their paws, and their sense of smell. It might be worth getting a feliway diffuser and plugging it in near the rug (don't leave it on when you're out/in bed though), which will help them chill out a bit more. Just be calm and relaxed around them, don't force her to walk on it, just let her figure it out for herself.

Have you tried stretching out on the rug yourself for awhile, half-hour or more, reading a book, maybe doing a few stretches? Might help the cat to see that it isn't a threatening animal you've introduced into the house!

Even if the cat tippy-toes around it on cat feet forever, why throw the rug away? Better than the alternative (which I've lived through) -- a cat clawing the loops out of a new area rug in the first five minutes of my owning it, permanetly damaging it!

If the cat doesn't want to walk on the rug, so be it. Maybe she was hoping for sisal.

Funnily enough, she is the bolder out of the two of them! She's never reacted to anything like this before. I sat in the middle of the rug and enticed her over with dreamies and she stayed for a wee bit while I petted her but she's off again now.

My other cat is having a whale of a time chasing her tail and rolling around in it

If she continues to avoid the rug I'm going to end up throwing it out. I don't have a big flat and feel guilty that there is a huge floor space that she won't set foot on!

loobs wrote:
If she continues to avoid the rug I'm going to end up throwing it out. I don't have a big flat and feel guilty that there is a huge floor space that she won't set foot on!

I am a tremendous spoiler of cats but even I think this is extreme -- if you like the rug! I think the cat is just being hinky. Maybe since the other cat has taken a such different attitude, this cat wants to show she has her own opinions and standards (hey, I'm not a dog who flops and rolls for anything!) When she really needs to get across that rug she won't think twice about it.

If the cat won't budge and you still can't have a good conscience about it, then before you bin the rug entirely, try rolling it up out of the way and into another room for a few days to see if she now avoids the floor entirely. It may be your cat is angling for a bigger house, and won't be satisfied with anything less until she guilts you into that. If that's the case, you might as well enjoy the rug.

Also, as it gets colder, you both might come to appreciate that rug.

I know, I am being ridiculous!

lilynmitz wrote: their sense of smell. It might be worth getting a feliway diffuser and plugging it in near the rug (don't leave it on when you're out/in bed though), which will help them chill out a bit more.

Is it possible the backing of the rug has a chemical or synthetic gassy smell and your cat is hypersensitive? If you live where weather and space permits hanging it outdoors to air out, that might be another option. But if the cat is not avoiding the room, but just the rug, more likely she just doesn't like big abrupt changes.

You could always put one of her blankets on it, see if she sits on that? The rug will pick up some of her scent that way too.

A while back I bought a new duvet, a duck feather one, and my youngest cat, Molly, was horrified. It was CRUNCHY, she said, and would only skirt it cautiously via the bedfoot to the windowsill, wincing each time she had to put a paw on the offending CRUNCHY object.

There were a few miserable nights with me Molly-less on the bed and Moll either roosting scowling on the floor or sleeping downstairs.

Then she got used to it

They do - the awkward little blighters!

I'd persevere. Cats will generally get used to just about anything eventually. We put tinfoil down by the front door when our 2 were babies because one of them took to pooping on the carpet. It was only a deterrent for a short time, after theat they took to jumping on it and clawing it up..... one even peed on it!

If you like the rug I'd keep it. As mentioned, cats can be truly fussy things. I recently bought mine a new food bowl because she'd bashed hers to bits from wanting food when I was out and I was worried her was going to cut herself (it was ceramic, an enormously stupid thing to buy on my part but it looked cute at the time, I'd had it engraved with her name and was sooooo sure it was going to last. It didn't.)
So now she has a green plastic one. And for a week she yowled and cried and kicked the bowl about the hallway and spilled food everywhere. Now she's fine. She eats out of it no problem. Perseverance is the key.
Sometimes change is too much for cats and they'll let you know it by a long stand off (I'm talking a month here, perhaps more) but most of the time you just need to let them know "this is the new norm, get used to it."

I agree with the others, it's not the rug she hates it's the NEW rug and she will get used to it in time.

Mrs Kane, if it makes you feel better I use ceramic bowls for all my gang - mostly heavy pottery with bright glazes. I do get the odd chip, but mostly they last very well and are healthier (I once had a cat prone to feline acne, where they recommend not to use plastic bowls, and I've never changed back). It helps that they're also pretty and give me pleasure.

I mainly use ceramic, or stainless steel bowls which are just as good and don't chip as I am terrible for breaking cat's dishes.

I agree with the others, I am sure your cat will get used the rug in time, it's just the newness

Mrs Kane, if it makes you feel better I use ceramic bowls for all my gang - mostly heavy pottery with bright glazes. I do get the odd chip, but mostly they last very well and are healthier (I once had a cat prone to feline acne, where they recommend not to use plastic bowls, and I've never changed back). It helps that they're also pretty and give me pleasure.

I only changed it because I cut myself on it about a month ago while cleaning it. I thought that if I was able to do it, so was she, and to be honest it was looking pretty awful by the time I threw it away. The paint had worn through completely on the underside and it couldn't have been hygienic.
Originally she had matching water and food bowls but the water bowl had a crack and leaked (that should've been my first hint that the make wasn't that good) and there was a huge stain on her carpet pad. I threw that away and bought a cat fountain that she LOVES! It keeps her entertained for ages and her drinking got much better after I bought it.
I didn't realise that plastic bowls cause feline acne though! I thought I was making a smart choice Perhaps I'll do some research and order a proper bowl from her. I've discovered our local pet store buys low and sells high.

I think it's not so much that plastic bowls cause feline acne, more that they can make things worse when a cat already has it. The problem with plastic is that, as it wears, the originally smooth hygienic surface gets broken down into thousands of tiny fissures and scratches, and bacteria can catch hold in there and be difficult to shift. Most cats are absolutely fine with plastic bowls.

Ah okay, thanks for that Crewella. I wasn't looking for a new bowl at all *closes 5 million tabs*

if only my cat would stop throwing things about. She's like a little kid. She's always moveing stuff about. I'm not sure how she managed it but one night managed to push her fountain (which is about 2KG) about 30 cm down the hall. And in the morning our dining room chairs are always a foot from where they were.

Hi all.

Could it be the texture of the rug that's causing the issues? Dora will not walk, step, sleep on anything soft and fluffy! I struggle with cat trees because most of them have fleecy shelves/bottoms.

Have you noticed any sort of issues regarding texture before?