Cat "digging" carpet

Hello all -

For the past month my cat has gotten into a bad (and soon to be expensive!) habit... Sometimes when she sees a closed door, she proceeds to "dig" at the carpet right where the bottom of the door meets the door frame. It's in the spot right where the carpet meets the door frame, so shes able to literally tear out the carpet and get her little claws down in there. The carpet is only 2 years old and is starting to come up in those spots.

Doesnt seem to be a "scratching" thing... shes been really great in using her post and generally speaking she isnt all that into scratching yet. She only scratches when she wakes up.

Seems to be more of a "let me in there" type of deal. Problem is, I can never catch her doing it. She usually does it when Im sleeping, at work, cooking, etc etc. I only saw her do it once, and it looked like she literally was digging the way the dog digs for a bone.

I dont know if bitter apple would work for something like that? How can I teach her that those spots in the carpet are not fair game for digging tunnels?! Is this normal?

(On a side note: I know the obvious answer is "open the doors", but there are reasons for us to have the doors shut.. one room is the laundry room, another is a storage room with chemicals, etc, the other door is the door to the outside, etc etc.)

Any suggestions?

Thanks!!

use some pet friendly citrus smelling spray, and spray the areas that are being dug.

i dont think bitter apple would help cause she is not eating/biting it is she?

... Thank you. Im not sure if shes also chewing the carpet cause I can never catch her doing it. I thought maybe the smell would repel her from the area completely.

On that note: a friend let me borrow a product called "Bitter Yuck". So I sprayed it on a couple plants that my cat somehow always gets to and chews, as well as some wires. Well the cat seems to actually LIKE Bitter Yuck. Draws her right over and I had to just throw out the plants.

I hope Bitter Apple is different than bitter yuck. Looks like Bitter Yuck is just Sodium Bicarbonate.

?

the bitter apple thing NEVER worked for me, for the cats or the dog. i think they actually liked it!!!!!

i used a citrus smelling oil defusser for my lamp in the room where my plants are ( to keep the cats out), and i use a all natural citrus smelling oil on the doorway tothe room, and it seems to keep them away.

Thanks both of you! Looks like I should give the citrus a try. I havent tried that yet.

Is this natural citrus oil/spray something I should buy at a pet store? Or is it available at a regular store? Also, any suggestions of brands and/or where in the store do I find something like that?

Im running out later today, Id like to pick some up.

Thanks!

I was JUST going to post the same thing!

Harley has started doing this @ our front door - we rent so this is something I want to fix very soon - I was also wondering if there was anything to spray or put on the door - right now when I'm @ home - I keep a coat by the door where he's been "digging" but obviously I can't do that when I'm gone all day at work for 8 hours

HELP!

They used to make these plastic runners, very thick and heavy duty. You might try putting this down. Not sure it would work, but it's worth a try! Would a sisal rug in that spot help, or would s/he just move it and try to get the carpet?

Stephanie

MIne have done that I buy a cheap throw rug and put it down in front of the door they are digging at.

you should be able to find the citrus sprays at a pet store, or a natural food store will carry it too, and will make sure its all nautral.

Originally Posted by gardenandcats

MIne have done that I buy a cheap throw rug and put it down in front of the door they are digging at.

Click to expand...

Thats a great idea - I think I might do that!

Lets hope that it works!

i have tried that too, and just a FYI, it became a expensive clawed toy,lol.

I have several inexpensive plastic mats from WalMart and place them on either side of the doors where my cats like to scratch. It works, it is cheap to replace and after a while, they stop doing it.

It doesn't sound like your cat is doing it to actually scratch at the carpet, it's more like a hey let me in. Our cats do this to our bedroom door. It sounds like your cat is just putting its claws into the carpet under the door. Our cats do that and they also turn their paws up and claw the door on the inside. A couple slabs of two sided tape might work. You might want to put it on both sides at the bottom of the doors. That didn't work for our "paws up" cat so we ended up putting some crisco across where the tape was at. If they get it on their paw, they won't like it and will stop putting their paws there. This worked wonders for us!!