Foam Flooring Squares and Cats

I was going to order some foam tiles for the superyard, but DH looked at them and thought our cats would scratch them to pieces. I have to admit, one of our cats does like to scratch foamy things (like the foam on the stroller handlebars) and I suppose they could jump into the playard at night or when we are not around. I'm wondering if anyone with cats has successfully used the foam tiles?

We definitely need something to cover the floor, since we have hardwood floors. I'm hesitant to use a rug since the cats have dutifully ripped apart every area rug we have ever owned. I can train them to not scratch when we are around, but in our absence, all bets are off. :headbang: They have done very well adjusting to the fact that they cannot sleep in our bed at night anymore, and I am not willing to lock them in the basement when we are not around, so that's not an option either.

I do not want to spend a lot of money on the superyard flooring, but I also don't want the cats destroying whatever I buy either.

 

YES!!! I bought some of the foam tiles because we also have hardwood floors and my cat Felix has dutifully scratched the s**t out of them every chance he gets. I try to keep them covered with an old sheet when the girls aren't playing on them and he gets sprayed with the water bottle when I catch him doing it but that hasn't saved them completely. I don't really have lots of options though! The girls need a safe place to roll around and these foam tiles provide that. I bought almost 40 of them at a recent twins sale so I didn't pay too much for them so I am trying not to be too bothered about the cat scratching them.

 

We got some of those blue 2' foam squares to put on our hardwood floors, and later put a Summer Infant super playard on it. Initially when we put the foam squares on the floor our one cat with claws did start scratching on it. We would spray him with water but we just aren't consistent about that and weren't around at night to spray him if he did it. But I would say after a week or so, and especially after we put up the playard, he lost interest in it and doesn't much care about those foam mats now. We try to keep the gate closed figuring he is too lazy to jump over the wall. Once or twice I've caught him scratching on the outter edge of foam outside the playard wall, but that's been it, and so far our foam mat is mostly in tact. Good luck!

ETA: Because my husband was worried that the mats would absorb spit up we also bought a BIG vinyl tablecloth that we figured we could put over the mat and tuck under the edges, since we could easily wipe it off. We decided the foam mats weren't absorbent after all and could handle spit up so have yet to put the tablecloth over the mat, but that would probably help spare your mat if you have kitties that just can't help but scratch at foam! It would probably protect the mats pretty well.

 

We have three cats and when we first put down our foam mat, one kitty, in particular, showed a lot of interest and scratched at it. She didn't do too much damage to them though and has since lost interest. I think it was the "newness" of it.

 

The foam mats are great for the kids, we have them in our playroom, but I have no cats. Can you maybe just put them away somewhere at night & when you aren't around? They really take no time to pull apart & put back together.

 

I don't have any cats, but we have 4 gigantic squares (2ft x 2ft- so in total about 4ft x 4ft) that I picked up from Ross for $9.99. I do need to get a 2nd set though because these two always manage to find their ways off the mat

 

good luck... our cats started peeing on the area rug that the kids were rolling on... SO the cats have been relegated to another part of the house! hopefully you don't end up with bad cat issues.

 

My cats ruined out foam mats. They were smart enough to stop n the day (becasue I yelled) but at night they would get at it. I started to fold it in half at night so they couldn't get to it. That helped some.


ETA now in the family room we have a shag rug....which for some crazy reason neither cat wants to scratch.