"I used to use the littermats that are like doormats, with the little plastic bristles. With those, I had to take them outside and shake them to clean out spilled litter, but these are flat enough to just go over with the vacuum. Also, one of the cats just jumped over the other mats, not liking to walk on the prickles, and thereby defeating its purpose of cleaning her little feeties. We have three fully clawed cats and they haven't made any holes in these, though I can see how a very overenthusiastic digger might. I have these on carpet and on linoleum, so the problems with wood floors mentioned by the other reviewer don't apply here. All in all, these are the best mats I've tried in the appx. 15 years my cats have owned me."