Expert Testimonials

Martha Stewart
QUESTION: I have two cats who love to play on our dining-room table. I have tried everything to keep them off. Do you have any suggestions?

ANSWER: If there's a piece of furniture we'd rather not see our pets on, they will invariably make it their favorite place. While you could keep a close eye on your pets and correct the behavior each time it occurs, that approach requires a good deal of vigilance.

Pet expert Marc Morrone has a simpler trick to help break your pet of the habit: Use a Scat Mat. Scat Mats are small plastic mats that come in shapes such as strips for windowsills, semicircles for garbage cans, and rectangles for areas like your table or a couch. The mats contain a small electrical grid. When your pet steps on one of the mats, it delivers an unpleasant but perfectly safe static-electricity-like effect, and the pet moves right off.

Each time your cats jump on the table, they will most likely do it from the same position and aim for the same spot, so you can simply leave the mat at a fixed point. After your pets have a few run-ins with the mat, they will develop an aversion to the table. After a while, you'll be able to leave the mat unplugged (the association with it will still modify your pets' behavior). Eventually, you'll be able to remove it altogether.

The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies
"...if positive conditioners cannot be applied, [the Scat Mat] would be preferred to other negative procedures which have a greater opportunity for pain and suffering to the animals involved."
James H. Bandow, Executive Director

Canadian Council on Animal Care
"... I see it's greatest value in saving the lives of many cats whose owners are unwilling to accept unacceptable behavior, e.g. spraying or scratching, and therefore turn to the shelter, pound or veterinarian to destroy the animal.
Harry C. Rowsell, OC, DVM, Ph.D., Executive Director

Animal Behavior Consultants Inc.
"I have used the Scat Mat for many cases in which the goal was to keep the pet dog or cat away from an area. These cases have involved a variety of behaviors including: urinating or defecating on particular spots, scratching certain pieces of furniture, jumping onto counters, tables, sofas, etc. spraying or urine marking on particular spots, resting or sleeping in certain areas, barking, whining or meowing/howling - by keeping pet away from doors or windows.

The Scat Mat is effective because it is based on well researched principles of avoidance learning. The electrical stimulation can be adjusted to be startling enough to make the animal reflexively jump off of the Mat, and thus very quickly learn to avoid that spot in the future. The "spot", rather than the Mat itself, usually becomes the salient cue for avoidance. Since the level of electrical stimulation never becomes very high, and the animal learns within a few trials, there is no issue of 'cruelty'. I recommend the Scat Mat frequently and find that most owners are delighted with the results.
Peter L. Borchelt, Ph.D.

Canadian Veterinary Medical Association
"In our view it would be acceptable "negative reinforcement" if positive reinforcement doesn't work in a particular situation.
Ernest D. Olfert, Chairman, Humane Practices Committee

American Veterinary Society for Animal Behavior
"...The only time that punishment is either appropriate or effective is while the pet is 'in the act"

Mark Twain
"A cat that has sat on a hot stove lid will never again sit on a hot stove lid, or a cold stove lid."
Mark Twain

ScatMat Training MatFor Cats & Dogs!

Consumer Testimonials

"Thank you for a good nights sleep."

S.M., Ellicott City, MD

"We love it! Our cat had been coming to our bedroom door for 8 years at 6am and waking us up. She wouldn't quit till someone got up. Now after just 2 times she won't come near the door and we slept till 7:30 this am. Thanks so much, you solved a big problem for us."

B.B.
Dayton, OH

"I ordered a Scat Mat about a month ago to cure our poodle of the habit of using the carpet for a bathroom. It worked like a charm! It only took two nights before she came into contact with it and she has never done it since. We have put up with this habit for a year... In just two days my headaches are over. I can't say enough good things about the Scat Mat!! It sure worked in our situation and my only regret is that I never found out about it sooner. Thank you!"

H.K.
Acme, AB

"The mat works so beautifully--both as a barrier and a disciplinary device...without any harm to any of our animals."

A.S.B.
East Chester, NY

"Thank you for the peace of mind we have when we leave the house."

W.M.
Hilton Head, SC

"I had tried everything I could think of [to keep a cat off a car] and had no positive results. This is an excellent product. I've had no adverse affects and would highly recommend it."

J.W.
Knoxville, TN

"It's the only answer to a bad problem. You have an excellent and wonderfully effective product. This worked where sprays failed."

P.G.
Akron, OH

"We are delighted that our living room no longer smells of cat urine."

A.H.
Lawrence, KS

"Great! Keeps my dog from thinking our leather couch is a large rawhide chewy!"

D.V., Rancho
Santa Fe, CA

"This product makes the animal discipline itself without me coming across as the 'Bad Guy'. Thanks."

E.R.R.
Woodinville, WA

"I've never found a more effective method for training the "Troops" (all 35 of them)?"

P.M.
Auburn, PA

"You wouldn't believe how great the mat worked!"

B. & S. S.
Tacoma, WA

"You saved my tree!"

L.S.
N. Merrick, NY

"I have been telling all my friends about the Scat Mat. It has made me enjoy my cat again."

A.L.
White Plains, NY

"The Scat Mat really helps train the dogs from going where I don't want them. I love it."

H.F.
Broad Channel, NY