Rhino wrote:
"John Ross Mc Master" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 27 Nov 2010 13:15:10 -0500, "Rhino"
wrote:

I have a conventional box spring and mattress that I am looking to
replace because it is just too hard.

I'd like to know if anyone knows any ways that I can reliably
cat-proof the
new mattress so that my two cats, both of which have their claws,
don't sharpen their claws on it the way they did with the current
mattress. (I say
"did" because they don't scratch it a lot any more but I suspect
that is because they are out of places that they can scratch on the
mattress that aren't already shredded.)

While the mattress still works fine, it looks *awful*. They have
shredded it
so badly that they can literally stick the top half of their bodies
into the
holes they have made - I saw Bebop, the larger of the two cats, do
it once!

I will not consider declawing them so please don't even suggest it.
I do not
want to banish them from my bedroom or bed either. I'm looking for
some way
to deter them from sharpening their claws on the wood frame of the
mattress.
In case it makes a difference, they are both 10 years old, one is
male and one is female, and they are both neutered.

Does anyone have any reliable techniques for protecting the bed
from their claw-sharpening? If so, I'd love to hear from you!

Are you still reading this thread.

The short answer is that I read the first batch of responses, took
action, and then went away. But I came back today to report on my
results.
Its simple.
I mbought a $15 vinyl matress cove, that zips over the entire
mattress top and bottom, enclosing the whole mattress. and on top of
that I have a mattress liner and fitted sheets. The claws can't get
throgh the mattress liner and nothing can get through the vinyl.
The liner makes it comfortable so I can't tell the vinyl is there.

My solution was pretty similar to yours. My initial solution, to put
long L-shaped bendable plastic strips over the box spring, protected
the box spring but turned out to be problematic in other ways: 1. the
cats constantly attacked the package tape that I used to secure the
L-shaped strips to the box spring, causing me to have to retape it
fairly frequently 2. The L-shaped strips made it harder to make the bed.

So I went to Plan B and bought an 8 foot by 10 foot plastic tarp for
$10. I centered the tarp on the box spring in all directions and had
the excess plastic dangling over the edge of the box spring. I tied
the top two corners together underneath the bed, then tied the bottom
corners together, also underneath the bed. This resulted in
everything but the underside of the box spring being completely
covered in plastic. Now, the cats don't even try to scratch at the
box spring. I also have a "scratching board" on the floor beside the
bed which they can use - and do - use when they want to scratch.
There is no "maintenance" involved in this solution - nothing to
retape or readjust - and it is just as easy to make the bed as it was
when I had nothing to protect the box spring. The only down sides to
this solution a it is less attractive to have the box spring
covered than to leave it alone; there is a bit of a rustling sound if
my legs contact the plastic when I'm getting out of bed. Neither of
these is remotely important to me.
Plan B was definitely the best solution for my needs!

Thanks to all who replied to my question.

You may have a problem this Summer because the vynal cover doesn't, Breathe"
like a bare mattress does. But you may be able to fix that with a pad over
the vynal.....