Cat scratching post/board?

[David WE Roberts]

The cats are getting old and reluctant to go out in the rain. [Me too :-( ] They still need to scratch stuff to exercise their claws and clear old sheaths off the claws.

I was looking at cat scratching posts online, but they seem to be mainly a lump of timber on a flat base covered by open mesh coarse cloth. [But see

:-) ]

Anyone made a cat scratching device?

I do have a lot of bits of timber left over from the build, plus a lot of jute (I think) cloth used to cover concrete or brickwork to protect it from extreme heat or cold whilst it is curing.

When they are outside the cats like to stretch to their full height before laying into something wooden so many of the posts may be a little short.

An alternative is

which seems to be a board which attaches to a corner - this looks much more like their natural scratching targets.

Cheers

Dave R

[ARW]

:-) ]

which seems to be a board which attaches to a corner - this looks

Good luck mate.

A cat does what it wants to do most of the time. I have to decide if one of mine will be soon be put down (the one that is ill, not the healthy one).

[ARW]

:-) ]

which seems to be a board which attaches to a corner - this looks

Good luck mate.

A cat does what it wants to do most of the time. I have to decide if one of mine will be soon be put down (the one that is ill, not the healthy one).

[mike]

Ours ignores anything bought for the purpose and prefers the coir door mat. Naturally he prefers to use it when the door is open rather than closed in order to cause maximum heat loss.

[Lobster]

:-) ]

Agreed. Here's one I made earlier :

easy - it's just an off-cut of so-called (I think?) 'mop-handle' - ie circular cross-section timber handrail (1.75" OD; mine is 27" high). I coated the whole thing in PVA glue and then wound a length of sisal rope tightly round it; it's really well stuck down. End of the rope at the tip goes into a small blind hole to keep it neat and stop it from unravelling. Base plate was a square of MDF with a hole in the middle; I covered it with a carpet offcut to camouflage it a bit!

Obviously you can make it as tall as you think your cats need - this one seems big enough for ours - they use it a lot, and you can see the region which they've clobbered most (over about 5 years or so).

[Jules Richardson]

Ours seem to prefer coarse rope wrapped around a 3"x3" post. Bit of scrap OSB or ply and scrap carpet as the base, couple of screws and a few nails to hold the rope, and that keeps them happy.

Whatever you get will end up looking a bit tatty after a while, so keeping it simple and making it yourself seems the best bet.

cheers

Jules

[Nick]

+1.

Dogs have owners, cats have staff. I sympathise with your plight and am in a similar boat. Tilly, our oldest cat, is about 22yo. Still has an appetite for life, esp. wildlife. Diagnosed with hyperthyroidism about 12 months ago, she has lost about 1/4 of bodyweight. Eats like a horse. A couple of nights ago she faced down and saw off a young vixen. I watched this quietly from about 10ft away. After a few moments fox got up, turned tail and scooted. Quality of life still good. All senses and faculties close to 100%. Which ain't bad in an old cat.

When her QoL diminishes, it will sadly be time to bite the bullet.

Best wishes for the new year, Nick.

[Dave Liquorice]

If your cat likes that you could make a fortune from the tracks produced...

You can get the height with that for sure, but on an outside corner I wonder if you can find somewhere that will be out of the way so you don't trip over a scratching cat.

We have a giant scratching post it's about 8" dia and 20" high the top is carpeted and cat does like to sit up there supervising her slaves.

The covering on all the scratching posts I have seen is rough sisal string rather than cloth. So a post tightly wrapped with string and screwed to a base covered in a scrap of carpet would do. Base covered so cat can get traction with hind paws.

[Dave Liquorice]

Scruffing it or growling and winning the ensuing staring match when it does something it's not supposed to works, eventually. But cats are very slow learners and you have to catch 'em at every time they do it.

[Bill Wright]

Take them both, you might get a discount.

Bill

[Owain]

That's not nice, Bill.

Owain

[rick.hughes6]