Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/29/good-deal-on-an-excellent-cat.html
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Mine is made of the same stuff. I think it was five bucks at Target.
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Bought this one in 2014 after thorough research. It’s mangled, but still usable, and gets used multiple times daily. Just had a friend over who noticed it and said they have one, too. It really is a nigh-indestructible kitty fave.
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I have two and they are awesome. I could not tell you how old the older one is, but I got the second one about a year ago after seeing how well the first has held up.
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Certainly don’t want to pay too much. It’s the nature of the cat to destroy her/his favorite toys.
(I have an old wooden stepladder standing open in one room. It’s too lightweight and rickety for humans, but it serves as an all-around feline activity center - especially with a layer of rope wrapped around one of its legs for scratching.)
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Yeah we have two of those. They do actually hold up pretty well, and the cats actually use them. I’m pretty sure we got ours at Petco.
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Hey kiddos with destructive cats:
With just a small amount of recycled wood, carpet, and cardboard, you can make your cat an awesome scratcher that is every bit as good as the ones you buy.
I made a frame from 2x4’s (imagine a box made of 2x4’s at about a 60 deg. angle). Plywood back and base. Cover everything except the front of the “box” with carpet. Nail on, construction glue on, doesn’t really matter. Fill box with disposable cardboard inserts made by stacking cardboard flats, gluing with school/white glue between the layers, then cutting so that you have an insert that’s side-on when fitted to the box. When the insert is destroyed, simply remove and replace with another.
Bonus points if you have a bandsaw. I make my insert material way way too wide, and cut several inserts out of a single piece. It takes months for my cat to destroy one, and each larger stack I make can be cut into 4 inserts. Bonus!
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Was it designed by the guy who was banned for life from Airbnb?
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Or you can just go to Petco. But when we got our kitties, they decided that one of the support posts on the kitchen island was a good scratching post, so just wrapped it sissel rope.
These posts are pretty good but the platform the goes on top is pretty flimsy and can be easily broken.
We’ve had one of these for a few years. The cats prefer to claw the furniture rather than it, the fucking savages.
Yeah you could. But by that logic, why make anything? you can just go to the local store…
Even if you’re not so craft inclined as to want to make the superstructure of the scratcher, making the cardboard inserts is easy and cheap. (and a hell of a lot better than paying $$ at Petco for what is essentially some recycled cardboard box material).
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We’ve tried those cardboard scratchers. They make an awful mess.
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I can also highly recommend this! Picked up several a couple years ago when they were on sale, they last substantially longer than the normal carpet wrapped around wood style scratching posts. Our cat was shredding one of those down to the wood per year, where this one still looks nearly new. The biggest plus is there’s no carpet fibers or cardboard pieces that end up everywhere.
Our cat does still claw at furniture, in addition to this. Because cats are assholes.
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I found that it helped a lot to put clear double sided tape or packing tape on the corners of furniture that my cats were attracted to, and catnip and treats on their condos. I was also able to position their furniture in places that they liked- between the couch and the window and next to my computer desk. Now I no longer need the tape and the cats leave my Stickley alone and gleefully shred their condos instead.
Everyone is happy!
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sure do. Something something vacuum cleaner or broom…
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Why bother? They like the sissel rope better anyway.
Man, I wish my cats liked the rope. They seem to prefer cardboard, then carpet, then bare wood, then the rope. I’ve got 3 things that include the rope, and the damned cat will preferentially try to use the staircase if he’s blocked from all rooms with a carpet/cardboard scratcher.
Cats are bastards…
