A well designed Cat LitterMat

A well designed cat LitterMat

Maybe you think that the reason why we never see articles reviewing litter tray mats is because the mats aren't really all that important, they're much of a muchness and don't impact on your cat's quality of life. But, you'd be wrong. During consultations into feline behavior in the home, our EduCATors have to advise adoptive cat parents to change their litter tray mats because they are directly responsible for issues with peeing and pooping outside of the tray.

For example, there is a well-known mat I like to call "the bed of nails mat" that has a top layer of little plastic spikes which most cats don't like. Studies have clearly shown that cats prefer soft comfortable surfaces both for urinating and defecating, and also for accessing their tray.

The LitterLocker litter tray mat seemed promising so I decided to test it out. Out of our 30 EduCATors, more than half tested it and many continued using it afterwards. We wanted not only to make sure that cats liked the mat but also that it didn't put cats off their litter trays, as is too often the case with mats that are only designed to appeal to the adopter but that don't take into consideration a cat's needs.

None of the 21 cats tested rejected the LitterLocker. Oddly enough, a number of cats even started using it as a cushion to sleep on. That shows just how comfortable the cats found the mat.

But what the team really liked about this mat is that you can fold it in half, collect any stray grains of litter in the middle and easily pour them back into the litter tray.

The only negative is actually the main quality of the mat. Making it comfortable for cats reduces how effectively it collects litter grains compared with other mats. That said, it does still retain the vast majority of the stray litter a cat will tread out of the tray. And as we always put the needs of the cat first to avoid any adverse litter tray behavior, this seems like a minor sacrifice to us.

As well as being very pretty and perfectly suited to the LitterLocker and other litter trays, the LitterLocker mat is an excellent product and will appeal to every member of the family, whether furry and four-legged or not!

© Cat Educator 2020

© Daniel Filion 2020