Your cat and your stair carpets are having a battle of their lives? But you don’t want any of it and want to stop it as soon as possible? You have come to the right place. So, how to stop cat from scratching carpet on stairs?
There are a few ways to do so. Using a substrate or protector tape works like a charm. Cats aren’t fond of all kinds of smells, especially certain kinds of smells. Try using those scents to keep them miles away from the carpets.
Or you could buy a carpet that your cat can never put a scratch on. Maybe you could block the way to the stair carpet. There are a lot of ways to secure our ultimate goal here.
Table of Contents
How To Stop Cat From Scratching Carpet On Stairs?
Even if we love our cats, scratching our carpets is never something we can turn a blind eye to. Then what should we do to stop it? Let’s figure it out together, shall we?
Use A Layer Or Cover Or Substrate
Probably it’s the most useful and efficient method of all. Adding a cover or substrate is always beneficial, somewhat affordable, and easy to find in stores. A substrate or protector tape is all you need to protect your carpet from cat scratches.
According to JFMS, over 4,331 cat parents have chosen substrate as their first choice when it comes to protect their carpets from cat scratches. Although, you could be sacrificing a little amount of beauty while using a substrate. But it’s all for the greater good.
But if you still think you don’t want to compromise your carpet’s beauty, move onto the next one right below.
Use Of Repellent Or Scent
The most affordable way is to use a repellent that would keep the cats away from the carpet. Although things might not always get in our way. What would get in our way is that the cats are unlikely to go near a smell they don’t like. Here are a few of those smells:
- Eucalyptus
- Rosemary
- Lemon
- Citrus
- Orange
- Thyme
- Lavender
- Thyme
- Lime juice
There are handfuls of products in various stores and markets that work as a repellent for cats. But if you choose a product that produces a strong smell, then not only your cat but also you will stay away from the carpet making this method useless and here’s’a way to get cat pee smell out of carpet.
Use Carpets That Cats Don’t Scratch
We know that most of you won’t agree with us on this method. It’s because not everybody wants to change their taste according to circumstances. You may not buy a carpet that you don’t like but your cat likes or doesn’t scratch it. But here we are, not having many options left for us.
Here is a chart showing which carpets cats don’t scratch and other valuable information about them:
| Wool Carpets | Nylon Fiber Carpets | Polyester Fiber Carpets | Berber Carpets | Frieze Carpets | |
| Price | $$$ | $$$ | $$ | $ | $ |
| Reason for not scratching | Wool is greatly hardwearing, also cats don’t get a grip to blow a scratch | It’s almost impossible to destroy and very tough material | Polyester fiber will be able to take a beating | The loops are tremendously tight and requires a great amount of power to unravel the loops | The fibers are being twisted which makes this carpet nearly indestructible |
| Other unique features | Doesn’t trap cat hair | Recyclable | Recyclable, environmentally friendly, water repellent | Easy to clean, stain resistant | Very durable |
Deny Access To Stairs
If nothing that has been mentioned above works for you, then just don’t let your cat go toward the stairs. Your cat not going to the stairs is equal to your stair carpet not being scratched.
But there is a downside to it. It is that if the stairs are the only way in your house to navigate through floors, then certainly you cannot deny its access to your cat. How is your cat supposed to go down or climb up between floors?
In some cases, people have multiple staircases and they don’t put carpet on all staircases. But how do you block a cat’s access to the staircases? Place a baby gate in front of your stair carpet. Although cats are great climbers, if they want to get to the carpets badly, there’s nothing you can do.
Why Do Cats Scratch Carpets?
It’s interesting that why would cats scratch your carpets? What good may come from scratching them? They don’t have any bad blood with carpets, right? Then why do they do that? Here are some reasons why:
- Communication medium
- Sharpening nails (Grooming)
- Exercising
- Creating a territory
Communication isn’t something only humans need to do to pass on their daily lives. Pet cats communicate with outdoor cats through marking and guess how they create those marks. Through scratching. They literally choose your stair carpets or any carpets as their board or paper to write on.
Cats love grooming themselves. You might groom your cat and take good care of it, but maybe it’s not enough for them. They scratch your stair carpets, sharpen their nails, and make them more beautiful.
Cats want to keep their body ready for hunting. Thus, they turn to exercise the muscles of their forelimbs, and the muscles around the spine. You’ve already guessed how they exercise their body. They find surfaces like carpets, rugs, etc. to stretch. While stretching, they scratch your carpets.
You may have heard that dogs pee on carpets just to make it their territory. Well, cats do something like that instead they don’t resort to peeing. They choose to scratch. By scratching, you renounce your carpet as their favorite spot, or it’s what they think how it works.
Conclusion
Now, we’ve come to the very end. Before we leave you to yourself, a few aspects you should consider if you are new to this. Try consulting a vet, they can inspect your cats and guide you better from up close than we ever could do.
Otherwise, here we have included everything you will ever need. Your vet may repeat the exact same things we told you earlier. Still, best of luck with your cat and if you run into any other problem, don’t be shy to contact us.
Before you go, here is the ultimate guide you’ll ever need to protect your carpet from cats.
