Wednesday, April 21, 2010

A Carpet Clawing Dilemma

Usually I devote my Wednesday blog to "Why does my cat....?" well today due to a HUGE issue I am having with my cat Cody I am reaching out to my loyal readers to help me with my current clawing dilemma, "How can I make my cat stop relentlessly scratching the carpet outside our bedroom door in an attempt to wake either me or my husband?" I need help with this issue and BAD. Rather than researching this on my own I am reaching out to YOU! HELP!!

To answer the question I know I am going to hear, noooooo Cody cannot sleep in the bedroom with us. Nope I am not some mean, uncaring, Kitty Mama....quite the contrary. There is nothing more that I love than a cat curled up peacefully snoring at the foot of our bed, or next to me on the bed as my peaceful first cat, Bobo used to do.

Cody is another story altogether. The bedroom door CANNOT be left open at night. If it is, Cody comes in and first starts to knead with an urgency of a farmer trying to get his cow to give up that very last drop of milk, he doesn't knead a pillow or blanket, his object of choice is my leg.....and it is annoying! After he finishes that tribal ritual he heads over to my printer where he proceeds to turn it on and off repeatedly (yes I have unplugged it), if he detects that it is unplugged he heads to the computer keyboard and pounds the keys, knocks papers, pens, anything he can find onto the floor. As a result of this nighttime exuberancy he has been banned from the bedroom.

Now, every morning he will scratch, rip, tear and claw the carpet outside the bedroom door in an attempt to wake my husband and I, as if he is digging a hole to China. I know that cats have an internal alarm clock and there are many times he has saved my husband from being late to work but even after my husband feeds him in the morning (he gets up first) and considerately shuts the bedroom door to keep our "boys" from disturbing me, Cody decides it is HIS mission to help me start my day.

 I had read that cats HATE the feel of aluminum foil under their paws (it used to work with Bobo to keep him and his fur off of our chairs) The past 2 nights I have lined the carpet with aluminum foil, brilliant solution....or so I thought. The first night it worked....this morning....he was at it again, happily prancing on top of the aluminum foil, pushing it aside with a demonic urgency and was scratching, ripping and tearing, AGAIN!

HEEELLLPPP!!! I love my cat, I love how fearless he is (most of the time) but I also would love to preserve our hallway carpet and I would LOVE not being woken up at 4am EVERY MORNING. So, I appeal to YOU my cherished readers to help me solve this problem, all suggestions welcome....except for some nasty ones that some random cat haters out there (who surf blogs just to spew their negativity and venom) are bound to leave thinking their cruel and abusive (but sadly pitiful) attempt at humor is funny and the suggestion of declawing, I do not believe in it!

My sleep deprived self looks forward to hearing from you!

4 comments:

  1. Poor dearest lady-of-the-cats, have had similar troubles myself, after trying foil, sprays etc, someone suggested tape which worked like a charm. cats doh't like the feel of tape on their paws, so the stickier the better, (maybe gorilla) -good luck!
    As always, Ms. Z.

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  2. Ms. Z thank you sooo much! Ok what in the world is "gorilla tape"??? Is it like duct tape? The only thing I am worried with about that is Cody has another obsession (eating plastic as in trying to eat plastic bags, etc.) Is it a plastic type of tape? Obviously it is 2-sided? I can find it at the hardware store right? I may go there tomorrow....thanks sooo much!

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  3. Our cat Kinki was destroying the carpet around the door jambs. The vet sold us plastic claw covers, which are glued on. They change the tactile sensation of clawing, and the cat gives it up. The claw covers wear off (and get chewed off) after about 6 weeks, but by that time the habit is broken. Kinki's claw covers were neon orange, which gave her a very dashing appearance. It worked!

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  4. Try Carpet Scratch Stoppers, I have 3 and they have really saved me from this exact same problem ... my 4 cats would make me crazy ... because 4am they are either tearing up the carpet to get in or out even when they were the ones that pushed the door closed to begin with! lol

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