"Cats & Clean Rugs"

It inevitably happens in those middle of the night, pre-dawn hours, when I am trying to eke out the last couple hours of sleep before the alarm sounds off. Somehow, it wakes me up every time, no matter how deep a dream state I may be in. It starts with the strange and lowly yowling, followed by the heaving notes of my cat working up the next hair-ball, or the sudden sickness brought on by him either gobbling his kibbles too quickly or having found some remote dust bunny on which to snack mere moments prior.
This, in and of itself, doesn't really faze me - he's a cat, these things happen. What DOES stump me is how this manages to happen almost immediately following my having cleaned up after his LAST incident. Because, my cat has a preference for performing such tasks on the most elevated plane to be found on ground level...could be a piece of paper on the floor, and that would be the EXACT spot to which he'd maneuver to deposit the cause of his not-so-happy innards. Only, it so happens, I don't decorate my floors with scraps of paper. Like most people, I'm more likely to put down a stylish (or at least functional) throw-rug. As you've likely guessed, this is precisely where, then, my cat has decided is the proper place to head when he feels some unpleasantness coming on, thereby making my floor decor more appropriately named a throw-up rug than a throw-rug!
What gets me about this every time, is how, after having cleaned it, and waiting to ensure he seems to be relatively incident-free before I dare lay it down again, I find myself awakened to those tell-tale audible signs, only to slowly pry my eyelids opens to the fuzzy form of said cat propped squarely atop said rug, heaving out yet another mess.
There could be weeks inbetween his getting sick, but the day that rug goes down, inevitably, something bad comes up.
Perhaps I should consider switching detergents...something scentless - "no, i'm not clean, not clean at all, no need to throw up here!" It's either that, or my decorative tastes take on a whole new direction....like "throw-paper towels"....could be a whole new trend with the feline-fond set!