Rustic place mat (Jolly Moggy Wild Catnip Seagrass Scratch Mat)

Member Name: Tracy_1127

Product:	Jolly Moggy Wild Catnip Seagrass Scratch Mat
Date:	01/11/09 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: see review

Disadvantages: see review

A while ago when I was browsing on www.petplanet.co.uk I came across this scratching mat. My boys (cats) rather like scratching areas that lay on the floor and they already have one mat that's similar, but not the same, as the Jolly Moggy one so I thought a second mat somewhere else would be quite useful. At the time I purchased it it cost £4.99 but I notice it is now £7.99.

The mat arrived a few days later and I thought it looked rather rustic! It's actually in a zipped up plastic bag that can be reused but there are lots of loose twigs and leaves floating around the bag too! This is the seagrass and catnip allegedly. I opened it up and had a sniff inside which revealed nothing but a slightly mustly smell. The actual scratching section of the mat is coiled rope like material and the base is a wooden board covered by material on the bottom and of course the scratching surface on the top. It is about the size of a place mat and oval.

Onto the floor with it then. Firstly I noticed the twigs and leaves were getting everywhere, there are lots of loose bits on the rope like area so be prepared to be cleaning these bits up for a while if you buy one of these mats. Secondly I noticed my boys didn't seem very interested in it and since this is supposed to have "extremely high quality" catnip in it they should have gone wild for it like they do all catnip objects. Bear in mind too that this was packaged in a zip up plastic bag and the scent of catnip should have been very strong when it was first opened.

After a few days one of my boys decided it might make quite a nice place to rest and took to laying his front paws and head on it but my other lad has shown zero interest in what should be irresistable to them because of the catnip. I'm not convinced there is any catnip on this at all. Undeterred I tried spraying the mat with catnip spray which induced a small amount of temporary interest but no scratching whatsoever.

The manufacturers say they have made this to be destroyed but recently they have improved the quality and therefore the longevity of the product. In our house this isn't an issue as my boys have still never scratched this even though it's been on the floor for the last 8 weeks or so. I'm fairly sure they never will use it now but I leave it on the floor because one of my boys still likes to lay his paws and head on it sometimes.

So overall it's messy with all the bits of twig falling off it, doesn't appear to smell of catnip at all, isn't something my boys want to scratch and has also gone up in price recently! Not a runaway success but as far as the actual product goes it does seem to be made quite sturdy so that's a plus. I don't really recommend this scratching mat but if your cats like to use floor based objects for scratching it might be worth a try. It would get more use in our house if I actually used it as a place mat!

A pitiful 2 stars from me for something that ought to have been great but wasn't.

Summary: Not recommended