Scratching Post 2.0
In May 2009 I bought Puddy a brand spankin’ new scratching post for her birthday and hoped she’d use it, since she’s so unpredictable when it comes to cat toys. Luckily she did use it – in fact, she used it to death! Within a matter of months, it looked like this:
She’d completely ripped the top bit to shreds, revealing the cardboard underneath. She still seemed content with it for a while, so I didn’t buy her a new one, but recently she’s begun scratching at the lounge suite – something she’s never done before – so I took that as a sign that she’s given up on the scratching post and that means it’s time for a) a new one or b) me to fix the old one.
I figured, why not, let’s try to DIY fix this thing, since a new one will cost upwards of $50. I took it outside and put it on the table so I was at eye level. For the first real time, I took in the complete damage and geez, she’d gone to town on the post! The cardboard was even scratched up a little and I felt a twinge of guilt for not fixing it earlier.
First things first – I grabbed a pair of scissors and chopped off all the ripped material and rope. The top half of the post had actually been covered mostly with fur (the fur you can see up the top) and I think Puddy prefers the rope because it’s easier to scratch, but the rope bit was too far down for her to get a good grip. I decided for this reason, to wrap some rope around the top half instead of replacing the material.
Much better. Pulling off all the ripped material and rope revealed just how scratched up the cardboard was. For some reason, this picture makes me giggle when I look at it – it sort of looks like the post has a bowl-haircut.
I wrapped rope (fluro green, unfortunately that’s all I could find, but I don’t think cats care about colour) around the post, tightly winding it so it would be secure when she scratched. I glued both ends but didn’t glue the middle as I figured the tension would keep the rope on and if I found better rope later it would be easier to remove. And whola – the finished product:
But wait – there’s a cat in the picture! That would be because, the instant I turned away to grab the camera, Puddy jumped up on the table and grabbed the post, claws out. I’d tied a spare bit of rope around the top of the post to keep it in place while the glue dried – this will be removed later (so she won’t actually be able to chew on the rope), but as you can see, the bit sticking out proved to be a lot of fun for Puddy. I love the ears back – she was concentrating very hard!
I guess even though it’s a fugly colour of green, Puddy is pleased with her new and improved scratching post … and hopefully this means the furniture will be saved from her claws!
Phill and I are actually thinking about going out this weekend and buying some wood to make some cat furniture! We’ve been looking online at some simple plans and there’s a few really nice designs that don’t look too hard to make. Have you made your cat furniture? Heaven knows it’ll be cheaper than buying it!
You’ve got a winner!
It IS a shame about the fugly green, but as long as Puddy’s happy to scratch away at this and not the lounge suite, it’s all good!
She loves it!
Oscar isn’t interested in his scratch post – but we’re lucky that he’s never scratched the furniture before. Thank goodness.
We did invest in a scratchy cheap throw rug a few months ago… and he’ll sometimes stretch and scratch on that, which is fine by us!
….alyndabear´s last post ..My Precious.
Very clever! Yes, shame about the fugly colour. We made a cat tree before with old carpet cos we couldn’t afford the sisal rope from Bunnings. Here’s a pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/salihan/4411358183/
The cats used it quite a bit to stare out into the backyard. But we had to get rid of it when we moved as it was too big! But we bought an awesome, second-hand cat scratching post from a market for only $10. It had a concrete weight inside the post so it doesn’t tip over! The cats use that all the time now.
I hope you share lots of links and pictures with the cat furniture you’re making! Can’t wait to see it!
….Salihan´s last post ..Fresh off the hook
Kelly – Yup, that’s how I figure it too. I’ll just have to keep my eyes open for a nicer colour.
Alynda – You’re so lucky, but maybe he’s just biding time… Hopefully not though! Puddy didn’t like scratching posts for ages, then suddenly loved them, so it might be a grow-into thing for cats?
Salihan – $10 is an awesome price for a scratcher – nice job! I’m going to check out your tree – maybe I can get some ideas!
I did a post on cat towers a while back. I like the ones from Deals Direct because they come in all shapes and sizes and my kitties love them. These are certainly the cheapest way to get cat furniture, even cheaper than building it – the first cat tower we ever bought came from a pet store and was over $400, the DD ones we got are like $89 or so. They are very well built and our cats have not managed to rip them to shreds yet, we’ve had them about 3 years. The parts which cats scratch are covered in a similar thing to what you have done there, which is probably why they last so well.
We also built a tall shelf out of aluminium thingies which you get from Bunnings, it is kind of modular stuff, cost us around $100 by the time we put carpet on the shelf, so the kitties could sit up high and see over the fence.
Something like this –
http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/multi-level-cat-tree-room-scratch-poles-swinging-ball/
is an awesome thing because it has so many ways to amuse the kitties and they love sleeping in the cave thingy. In total I think we have 4 cave thingys in all our various towers and I often have to go around and check all the caves to see where the kitties are hiding out. We put one of the towers in the front window so they can sit on it and see everything going on outside from their position of awesome power.
Cheers!
Snos
Nice job on the scratching post! Keep you eye open for a deal on different color rope – you’ll probably need it! Kitty furniture – keep us posted. Might be something there a bunny might like.
Guard the Bean! We just heard that a little grandson was doing a school project to sprout beans in three different types of soils and report on progress. Once they all sprouted, the cat jumped up and ate them all! “Mam – erm – Jasmine ate my project?”
….Rabbits’ Guy´s last post ..RG IS SICK – FEELS LIKE THE FLU …
I think the green looks cool!
I wish my Mommeh was smart enough to build our furniture. We had to buy our Lotus Cat Tree, but we love it!
….Daisy´s last post ..Clothes for the Working Mancat!
Snoskred – Thanks for the info! I’ll check out Deals Direct, and I’d love to see photos of your cats using their furniture!
Rabbits’ Guy – Haha now that’s probably one the teacher hasn’t heard before, I wonder if she believed it?
Daisy – Thanks Daisy – the green is certainly different! It’s very hard to build cat furniture, and you’ve got to have a lot of equipment – I might not be smart enough either!
I did a post about the kitty towers with pics –
http://www.snoskred.org/2007/09/aussie-cat-lovers-youll-love-this-post.html
Daisy I think your Mommeh could easily build not just a cat house but a cat mansion, you just have to train her with treats and stuff, I think..
Snoskred – I love the leopard print one, it looks very jungle-y! Thanks for the link.
[...] you remember my attempt at improving Puddy’s scratching post a couple weeks ago, with the fluro green rope? Well today Phill and I decided to re-do it… again. We thought it [...]