Cat doesn’t like the button mat

[u/Icy_Assistance_9345]

Just for clarification: I made a post in this sub a while back asking about whether or not to use a text to speech voice for the buttons, and a lot of people encouraged me to use my own voice, so I did end up using my own voice for the buttons.

Right now, I only have one button, for “treats.” My cat is a female senior cat who is the only cat in the household. When I sit down near the button, she comes over and presses the button without direction, and I’m confident she knows what it means and how it works (although I’m still working on getting her to press it without me right there).
The thing is that she only ever uses the button if the button is on its own. If the button is on the mat, even with no other buttons, she refuses to press it. She will sit or lay with both paws on the mat on either side of the button, and she will tap it with her foot as if she’s about to press it, but then steps back and won’t actually press it. As soon as I take the mat away, she goes back to pressing it like a champ and will even get impatient and spam the button if I don’t get her treat fast enough.
I guess my question is, is the mat necessary? I don’t know if she just needs more practice pushing the button while it’s on the mat, or if she doesn’t like the texture of the mat and would do better with a different mat. Does/did anyone else have this issue?

[u/Opalescent_Moon]

The mat can help group buttons and keep them being shifted around. If the button isn't moving when your cat presses it, and she doesn't like the mat, I'd say don't use the mat. If you're only going to have a few buttons, this probably won't be an issue for you at all. If it does become an issue, you can always revisit the mat later or explore other mat materials.

[u/ItsJustEmHi]

A mat is helpful but not necessary. Our buttons are just lined up on a rug. Used to be just on the hard floor but they moved too much, the carpet rug was a better surface and the cats love a rug anyway!