Ever had this happen to you?

Or maybe at Christmas-time you’ve witnessed this?

Or maybe you know of someone it happened to???

Or maybe it hasn’t happened to you yet, but you’re just waiting for the inevitable???

Ha!  Well let me tell you, it can be an expensive and sometimes scary thing if your pet doesn’t have boundaries in certain areas of your house.

Yes, these are both actual disaster photos of my pets I’ve had happen.  Luckily ‘Chili-dog’ didn’t choke on any stuffing from eating the couch and ‘Ash’ didn’t start a fire by getting into the Christmas tree.

…and don’t forget the cats!!!!  The way they eyeball my leather couches as a nice scratching post makes me want to cringe.  Or how they love to swing from the branches of my Christmas tree during the holidays!

I didn’t have any ‘getting into mischief‘ pics of my cats for this post, so I tried to rein-act the scene with my kitty ‘Mina’ with some treats hidden under the tree…

But after she gobbled them up, it was clear she was not interested!

She was in fact, bored with the whole idea…

Obviously she has grown out of the ‘swinging from the Christmas tree stage‘ so I had to abandon ship on this plan!

SOOOOOO, lets jump on over to how I’ve kept my sanity over the years preventing sneaky naughtiness from my pets!

Take a good look at this pic.  Makes you think, “WOW, those dogs are SOOO well behaved and they are SOOO well trained to stay away from the Christmas tree!”

Right?

Wrong!

Here is a view facing the other direction…

What’s that thing on the floor in front of them, you ask?  It’s a wonderful thing called a Scat Mat and it’s saved me COUNTLESS hours of worry while my pets are left unsupervised in the house.

By the way, this is NOT a sponsored post, although I wouldn’t object doing one about these mats since they’re freaking awesome.

I own 6 Scat Mats and this is what one looks like.  When stepped on with a bare foot, it gives off a static shock, kind of like when you rub your feet on the carpet and touch someone.

As you can see, ‘Pootie the pug isn’t afraid of the mat, but she does RESPECT it.  Don’t let her sweet face fool you…this little angel stinker is notorious for getting into the garbage and spreading it ALL over the house when left alone, which is why I keep one of these mats in front of the garbage at all times!!

There’s a little switch on the side of the power box that lets you turn it on to low, med, and high.  Although I use a battery, you can also use a power cord to run it.

When you turn it on, a little light tells you when it’s ready for action

I can walk across the mat while it’s on and not get shocked, as long as I wear my slippers or shoes.  (Although there have been a few times when I forgot it was there and I walked across it barefoot…LOL)

There are tiny wires that run through the mat and it only gives off a static shock when two of the wires are touched simultaneously with bare skin.

I’ve owned 2 of these Scat Mats for about 15 years and they’re still going strong.  This past year I purchased a new leather couch set so I bought 4 more ScatMats to section off the living room, keeping my kitty and pups away from chewing or scratching that new leather (AND the Christmas tree)!

If you’re interested in purchasing a Scat Mat, you can order them exactly where I bought mine HERE.  Although mine are the large 48in x 20in, they come in other shapes and sizes to fit your needs.  Remember, mine have lasted for 15 years and are still going strong!