The softness of the foam pads is actually an intentional feature, not a drawback—the cat’s claws need to be able to tear easily through the foam, or else they might get caught while the wheel is in motion. If a cat gets trapped on the wheel when it is in motion, they could potentially end up injured. For that reason, we do not recommend making your own carpet-textured pads to use on the wheel. If your cat is tearing up the foam excessively and it’s causing a mess, you can simply remove the pads and use the wheel without them (you can cover the thin gaps between the track pieces with tape or construction paper).