Suggestions for keeping Tiga stable on hardwood

[Tiga's_mom]

I may have mentioned in my other post that we are moving to a second story apartment with hardwood floors. We currently are in a split level with carpet. When we move, we need to keep Tiga stable for a few months and the vet said that we should get rubber back carpets or mats or runners or something like that. I have called the carpet outlets to see if they have ends that they can't sell or anything, but nothing rubber back that is cheap. It's all about $5/foot! We can't afford that. Anyone go through this with hardwood that has any cheaper suggestions? I'm running out of time and need to figure this out.

[Sam'smom]

When my old boy Toby tore his cruciate ligement I bought a bunch of rubber backed mats at walmart... they were ugly but they stopped him from slipping. No sense in spending a pile of $$ on something you'll only use for a short time.

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

Go to your local thrift store and buy some rubber backed bath mats. No point in spending a ton of money on a temporary item. Later you can use them for crate liners if you want.

[Lewis Moon]

I would also check into a local Ross, Marshalls or other such outlet type store. What about rubber runners you buy by the yard off a roll....or even just carpet padding, since it's temporary.

[scomona]

We have hardwood too.... We have a few area rugs that shiloh prefers to hang out on... and then he just learned not to run on hardwood since it was slippery. We try keep it calm at home so once he was used to it, he was ok. We also taught him the command slow....which really helped.

[urge to herd]

You can also get heavy duty foam mats at Office Depot, the kind grocery store clerks stand on. They used to be about 3 ft by 4ft, you can cut them in half easily.

 

The other thing is to go to your local FreeCycle and ask for those foam pads that make mats for kids to put together. Several of those on top of the inexpensive rubber netting that keeps rugs in place and you'd be good to go.

 

Good luck.

 

Ruth

[2 Devils]

We bought cheap area rugs, not rubbered back. Since the dogs aren't running around there should not be a ton of movement of the rug and if there is movement well it is still better than straight hardwood.

 

You can also make sure to but edges of the carpet under furniture to minimize the movement.

 

We ended up keeping area rugs and replace them probably every 2 years or so in the kitchen/family room. Like I said we buy cheaper ones normally.

[Debbie Meier]

We have big oval braided wool rug that is under the dining room table, they don't bunch up like the small kitchen rugs we have that I place by the sink and stove. If I was in your situation I would get a second oversized braided rug to place under the kitchen table and then use rubber backed runners to make a path between the kitchen and dining room (we have hard wood in the dining room and laminent in the kitchen). I love my oval run, they are not cheap but they protect the hardwood and make the room look warmer (IMO), and they seem to last forever. In regards to the runners, the last ones we purchased came from Menards (kinda a home lumber/hardware store), they were not real expensive.

 

Here's a picture of the one that I now have in the dining room, this was our old house, hardwood in the livingroom.

 

[Lewie'sMom]

Keeping the toe nails trimmed so he doesn't "click" when he walks helps, too.

[ejano]

I may have mentioned in my other post that we are moving to a second story apartment with hardwood floors. We currently are in a split level with carpet. When we move, we need to keep Tiga stable for a few months and the vet said that we should get rubber back carpets or mats or runners or something like that. I have called the carpet outlets to see if they have ends that they can't sell or anything, but nothing rubber back that is cheap. It's all about $5/foot! We can't afford that. Anyone go through this with hardwood that has any cheaper suggestions? I'm running out of time and need to figure this out.

 

 

Indoor outdoor carpet at Lowe's is inexpensive as well - it is rubber backed but I don't know how well it will stay in place.

 

Liz

[Tiga's_mom]

Wow! Thank you all very much for the suggestions. I have tomorrow off so between coats of paint I will go find something.

[Journey]

You might try "Tacky Paw" for a few weeks as well to allow him to get comfortable on the HW flooring.

[Tiga's_mom]

We found someone that has some yoga mats we can borrow. I've been using one in the hallway that doesn't have carpet and it's working well, so we'll have 5 of those all together so I think if I get just a couple of runners with that it should be enough. I'll have to look into the "Tacky Paws". He has a lot of allergies and digs at his paws alot. Sounds like a good idea though.

[Tommy Coyote]

One of the dogs I take care of has that same problem - both tendons in his back legs are torn and they have wood floors. His poor back legs just kind of do this windmill thing on those floors.

 

We put a leather bootie on one of his back feet. That gives him traction on those floors. Actually, two would be better but he takes them off so we are kind of down to one at a time. But it works.