Cat-proofing my mattress?

dgk wrote:
On Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:29:54 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

chaniarts wrote:
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!

soft claws

Put a sharpening post covered with carpet at the foot of the bed,
and keep the door to the bedroom closed, so the only time the cats
can get in there is when you are in there, too. Then, when they try
to sharpen their claws on anything except the sharpening post, throw
a small pillow at them and scream at them. After a bit, they will
start using the sharpening post, and only the sharpening post....

Instead of screaming at them, it's probably best to take them when
they scratch something else and bring them to the scratching post.
Actually, if you put catnip on the scratching post, they will train
themselves to use that.

I've always used blankets that overlay the mattress anyway so no part
of the mattress is accessible to their claws. In fact, I have one
comforter (being full scale winter here) that overlaps the entire bed
to the floor (Queen bed, King comforter). Because it's a platform bed,
it forms a "secret tunnnel" under the comforter that they love to stay
in that goes all around the bed. I like to play "there's a monster
under the bed", poking stuff under the comforter that get attacked by
the monsters.It is important that no bare feet come too close however.

Yeah, I do that too.....

But you know, they have found out that a certain amount of stress is
actually good for living things. You can spoil your kitties to death. Its
good for them to get screamed at once in a while. And "forget" to feed them
once or twice every month, too. They really need to learn that life isn't a
bowl of cherries.....