cat biting carpet

Question
hi Ali,
my cat Lucy Lu, Lu Lu for short, is 4 years old and i rescued her from a former friend who no longer wanted her and was going to "give her to the dogs". she is very loving and active and in fact acts more like a kitten than any adult cat I've ever seen. and actually is like no other cat that i have seen, she loves baths and water in general, will play with the vacuum cleaner (she likes to stalk it), knows multiple tricks, 'talks' to you about anything and everything, jumps up to 6 feet in the air to get toys, and load of other things. my brother is very attached to her and they will play for hours on end, Lu really is a sight to see. she is a unique and wonderful cat that we love dearly
but
she has this problem of biting the carpet. she still has all of her claws and she never bites people. she will literally stop what she is doing (however she usually bites the carpet when she is relaxed or tired) look at the floor and start biting it. all of the problem spots are either in door ways or next to the walls, rarely will she bite the carpet in the middle of the room however she has done it. she is pulling up the carpet in my rent house and it is very frustrating. i have heard of deaf cats doing this but she has no problem with her hearing.
I'm not sure how to stop this behavior and my veterinarian is stumped.
whenever she is caught in the act and she sees you coming she will run away, she is very bright and knows she is not supposed to be biting the carpet. for scolding (i don't believe in throwing objects at her or causing physical harm) we have tried making loud noises when she starts biting, banging on the floor, telling her no, picking her up and placing her someplace else. spraying her with the water bottle does not work since she will jump in the shower or bath tub with us. i have been told to place her in another room and ignore her. and also to spray the stuff that you use when a cat sprays on the carpet in the areas she bites along with various other strong odors to try and make her lose interest. however, the later two just make her start biting the carpet in other areas.
please, i will be forever thankful if you can give me any kind of answer as to why my seemingly normal playful cat has this neurotic behavior and/or how to stop it!
thanks,
Christine

Answer
Christine,

You could try using double sided tape to tape down tin foil where she normally bites the carpet. Cats usually don't like the sensation or sound of tin foil and they don't like to chew on it either. A shaker can (fill a pop can with a few pennies, once it is clean and dry of course, place tape over the opening) will deter her, cats don't like loud noises typically. I would also try getting her scratch posts that she can chew on and put catnip on them to attract her to those areas. Place treats and catnip on things that she is allowed to chew and she should get the hint between shaker cans and tin foil. The other thing that you can try is called a scat mat, it sends a mild static electric charge when touched...There are other things that can help as well, there are motion activated compressed air gizmos sold in pet stores that will send a blast of compressed air which sounds like a hiss. My advice on that one is unless there is nobody home much of the time, just stick with the cans of compressed air that you can purchase at any office supply store for fairly cheap. Cats are known for being repelled by citrus fruit, lemons, limes, grapefruit, etc...You could try placing extracts of those fruits or even peelings from them at various spots on the carpet and since the carpet will absorb the scent the cat should stop. Between deterring your cat from the carpet that you don't want her to chew and the scratch posts and chew toys that you do want her to chew with attractions like treats and catnip she will likely decide that chewing the carpet isn't worth the trouble. A large carpeted cat tree may also help alleviate boredom. There are some commercially available chew toys for kittens that may be a bit hard to find - I know they were hard to find when my youngest cat was in the chew everything stage. I know that you said that the vet is stumped, at risk of sounding silly - did the vet check your cat's teeth to make sure that nothing is amiss there? I hope that this answers your question. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me again. I will do my best to answer questions and address concerns promptly and accurately.