Mouse pads slide over modern laminated desks like ice.  Using a mouse directly on a laminated desk is impossible.  It's so slippery, the mouse slides erratically & it's impossible to aim.  The mouse plastic  & the laminate plastic wear down.

There was a reusable adhesive mouse pad long ago, no longer manufactured.  The adhesive wore out eventually.  It wouldn't survive the daily repositioning that lions require.  It was only 7x8.5"  There was no evidence it had the right fabric upper.

1 idea was to attach the mouse pad to the relatively stable keyboard but it's not big enough, so a backing sheet is necessary.  What seems to resist movement are narrow ridges of silicone rubber on the underside & enough weight to press it down.  The narrow ridges don't trap junk the way a flat surface does.  

Cardboard has been tried twice.  It warps & causes the mouse pad to warp.  A large EVA sheet is an intriguing material.  It conforms to the desk flatness.  It sticks to a normal mouse pad & seems to grab the laminate with the weight of the keyboard.  It's large enough to go under the keyboard.  It might suffice as a mouse pad by itself.  

If the mouse pad is under the keyboard, the cable becomes a problem.  The lion kingdom is debating a side firing cable.