Hardwood and area rugs

tamgirl99

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I wasn't sure where to post this so feel free to move it, but it is about cat behavior. I'm getting ready to have most of my carpet ripped out and hardwood flooring installed. I plan to get a couple of very large area rugs for the living/dining areas and wondered if there are any kind of materials I should avoid because of cat's wanting to destroy it (clawing). I'm sure it doesn't really matter but thought I'd better be safe and check as large rugs are NOT cheap.

Feel free to mention any tips regarding the hardwoods as well. I'm planning to go with 1/2" engineered, handscraped flooring as it should be the most durable for pets (I have a labrador as well). Thanks in advance!
 

mschauer

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Most area rugs are essentially just small pieces of carpet so whatever problems if any you have had with carpet you'll have with rugs. In general avoid rugs (and carpet) that has "loops" that their claws can catch and pull out.

I replaced much of my carpet with hardwood about a year ago and love it! Kitty claws don't harm them a bit! I think the aluminum oxide coating they use these days helps a lot in preventing scratches.
 

greeneyes86

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Room-sized rugs ARE ridiculously expensive...we have had the most success finding used rugs on Craigslist (we have two 8x10 area rugs that are used and cost us $40 each, as opposed to $400) because of the kitty claws...One of them is very low pile and is some kind of synthetic material (not sure which kind) and my big Maine Coon can rip at it all day and it barely does anything. The other is an olefin rug with bigger pile that she tears at but it seems to be holding up pretty well. For another room we bought a new (cheap..$70) 8x10 "rug-in-a-bag" from Walmart, and it's awful...the kitten has ripped chunks of it up already because I think the pile is just glued on to the backing. Definitely avoid that kind.

If you can find a type of rug that cats don't want to claw on, I would be very interested to know...but I have seen some pretty nice rugs on Craigslist that are much cheaper than brand new rugs, and if you aren't bothered by them being slightly used, I would suggest checking out that route.
 

mews2much

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We have hardwood floors in the living room and hall.
Some times when the cats are playing chase they will slide across the floor.
I need to get area rugs still.
I just have 2 small rugs right now.
 

fastnoc

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I had an area rug in my condo. it was expensive. well to me it was I think i paid 500 and it was small.

But the problem i had was the cats used it for sharpening their claws, AND they played with it, cramming their claws under it like there was a mouse in it.

that was over carpet. it might be different in a hardwood scenario. Plus all cats are different.

You can see the corner of mine here. See all those red dots? those are fibers from them scratching it like a post. I vacuumed every day. so that's one day of fibers
 

ut0pia

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Jake likes to sharpen his claws on the rugs as well....he also slides when he is running on the hardwood floor...
I guess it's just like with carpet- try to get them to do it on the scratching post instead....
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by tamgirl99

I wasn't sure where to post this so feel free to move it, but it is about cat behavior. I'm getting ready to have most of my carpet ripped out and hardwood flooring installed. I plan to get a couple of very large area rugs for the living/dining areas and wondered if there are any kind of materials I should avoid because of cat's wanting to destroy it (clawing). I'm sure it doesn't really matter but thought I'd better be safe and check as large rugs are NOT cheap.

Feel free to mention any tips regarding the hardwoods as well. I'm planning to go with 1/2" engineered, handscraped flooring as it should be the most durable for pets (I have a labrador as well). Thanks in advance!
Why have any area rugs at all? We love our new hand chipped wooden floors and stairs. And we paid a lot of money for those floors so we wanted to show them off, not hide them.
 

carla1183

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We have a mixture of carpet and hardwoods in our house, and both are so fun for the kitties in different ways.
If you've never had hardwood before, I can tell you they will love sliding their toys around on it. Our little girl loves hair ties (I know they could potentially be dangerous, but we keep an eye on her if she let her have one so she doesn't try to eat it). And she could stay busy for hours tapping it and watching it slide across the wood floor so she can pounce it. The lack of traction can be very fun, but it also definitely sends them sliding if they're after something!
 

fastnoc

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When I had my last two cats in San Diego we had hardwood floors. My kitties likes to be spun around on them. then i'd push charlie way away and slide him on the floor. he'd jump up and run back so I'd do it again.

Hardwood floors and cats are a great combo!
 
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tamgirl99

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Originally Posted by Persi & Alley

Why have any area rugs at all? We love our new hand chipped wooden floors and stairs. And we paid a lot of money for those floors so we wanted to show them off, not hide them.
There are a couple of reasons I want area rugs. First of all, my floors are going to be pretty dark (see pic below) so I want to break it up with some lighter colored rugs. I also have a dark brown leather couch and ottoman so it's a bit too much dark brown in one space for my liking.

The other reason is solely comfort on my part. Although I don't mind walking barefoot on hardwoods at all, there's just nothing like a nice plush carpet under my feet.

Well, you've all confirmed my concerns with the scratching issue. Luckily I don't have any problems at all with my cats and the carpet currently, so hopefully it won't be an issue with the rugs either. My little one tends to prefer the tall vertical scratchers or the ramp kind over a flat surface anyways. And the other only uses cardboard scratchers.

Thanks greeneyes86 for the tip on Craigslist. I'll check it out!

 

happilyretired

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I have had hardwood and area rugs with both of my cats and neither clawed the rugs at all. Of course, I have scratching posts for them in every room, and they don't scratch anything else in the house.
 

motoko9

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I have a few area rugs in my house. My cats do scratch them occasionally, but never enough to cause noticeable damage. Maybe I'm just lucky (?). They do have plenty of other surfaces to scratch, so perhaps they decided the rugs weren't worth a concerted effort.

Anyway, Tamgirl, if your cats aren't damaging the wall-to-wall carpet, they probably won't hurt the area rugs much. I suspect keeping their claws trimmed would probably help.
 
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