Cat digging the carpet - how to stop?

on_my_oe

Foxy arrives in our bedroom usually about 4.30am every morning. We already leave most of the blinds throughout the house up 50cm so she can see out (we joke she's patrolling the perimeter), and we end up raising ours when she arrives so she can out our two windows.

over the last two weeks Foxy has taken to clawing the carpet in our bedroom, around the edges (skirting/ fitted wardrobe) in the early morning - 4.30am/6am. It's screwing with our sleep and damaging the carpet - she doesn't do it any other time, and everything in the room predates her arrival. Well apart from her scratching pole (one of four in the house).

We can't lock her out as she spends the whole night calling to us.

How do we stop this?

Nody

Put down a flat scratchpad for her to use instead; our cats make the biscuits on our pillows instead (nothing like your pillow having waves at 4am...); that's to try to deal with the symptom rather then the reason which is most likely wanting to be fed or simply play

Alun

on_my_oe wrote: »

How do we stop this?

Let her out?

Fionne

She might be just doing it to wake you up. My cats make noise outside my bedroom door every morning around 5am (scratching the door, marching so I can hear their feet on the floor, etc) and don't stop until I get up. They usually don't even want breakfast or anything, it's just like "We're up, why are you not up too?" kind of thing.

If she's really damaging the carpet you could try spraying her with water when she starts it, that's usually enough to train a cat out of a particular bad behaviour without harming them.

Good luck!

Pumpkinseeds

^^^^^Ours often did the same thing. We got a variety of cheap horizontal cardboard scratching posts that they love to use instead of the carpet. Didn't stop the clawing but at least it's the cardboard not the carpet and chest of drawers.

on_my_oe

Alun wrote: »

Let her out?

She's an inside cat

the beer revolu

on_my_oe wrote: »

We can't lock her out as she spends the whole night calling to us.

You can. You'll just have a few sleep disturbed nights until she gets used to the change.

We had to start excluding our cats from the bedroom after years of room sharing.
There was a few nights of persistent calling and scratching at the door but it stopped after a few days.

Qualitymark

Letting out a cat at night is *not* a good thing for local bird life. Scratch pad is the way to go.