God dammit, cats

From Telkoth.net

I have this cheap blue rug, which is really just a big square of cheap blue carpet sold as a cheap blue rug, from when I lived in my old place. That place had a wooden floor which could get pretty chilly, so it was nice to have a less heat-conducting surface to stand on.

Now it mostly serves as coloring (or colouring, if you like) and protection vs. spills for the real carpet. It also recently serves as a scratching-surface for the cats.

On one hand, I'm very glad that they enjoy scratching the cheap blue carpet/rug/thing instead of, say, the futon, or maybe me, but on the other hand, I paid, like, $60 for that tall, round, hallow, carpeted cat-house-play-thing - why the hell can't they scratch that, instead of getting in the habit of scratching blue things on the floor? Every time I hear them scratching the cheap blue carpet/rug, I pick up whichever cat happens to be the offender this time, and put it on the $60 carpeted, multi-level house thing, at which point, inevitably, the cat looks up at me, most likely thinking to itself "um... thanks, I really wanted to be here," and then jumps off.

Today both Jordan and Chelsea, simultaneously, were abusing my cheap blue carpet/rug. The moment I get out there, they freeze, claws still rooted deeply in the carpet. "Fine," I say to myself, or maybe it was aloud, I can't remember, "if you won't come to [the carpeted scratching tower thing], then it will come to you." And took it from its place in the corner of the living room and placed it in the center (or at the centre, if you like) of the cheap blue carpet/rug, and left.

Not moments later the cats were tearing around the living room, up and over it, clinging to the side, swiping at each other, and everything else. And then it occurred to me: cats always insist on sitting in the middle of everything... perhaps that's the only space they can actually coneive?

Whatever the reason, I'm going to keep that thing there for as long as I can stand it (oh, right, I never use the livingroom - so "forever") and see if the cats use it more.