Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Cat Scratchers

So, new house = new cat problems. Almost right away, my youngest cat took to scratching the posts of the upstairs stairwell. Eek!! A renter's nightmare is their pets ruining the place, especially so soon after moving in!

So, I decided to buy an upright scratching post so she'd fill her need of scratching upright, but not on the house. Luckily, Petco was having a sale of buy one get one FREE! This lovely post was $17.99 and was made of sisal and seagrass. How eco-friendly!!

However, it was not liked. The base was so small that it'd tip over every time she'd start scratching. The last thing I needed was for her to become scared of her scratching post!! I researched online for some solutions and found NOTHING!! Luckily, I then stumbled across a link on how to make your own cardboard scratching posts. Both kitties LOVE their cardboard scratchers and then I had a genius idea. I'd make the bottom larger by making a cardboard scratching post on bottom! I knew it would help the post seem more familiar. So, I got out my hot glue gun and scavenged some boxes from the discarded moving box pile!



It was definitely a labor of love. This took me several days, several dozen glue sticks and the development of a bruise on my thumb pad due to cutting boxes with scissors. But, it was a success!! The base is much wider, and heavier now. My deviant kitty is now scratching this post all the time and I haven't heard any scratching on the stairs!!!! Now, do I go ahead and give the other post the same treatment?

3 comments:

  1. That looks awesome!!! Great idea! How many strips of cardboard did you have to cut??? That really was a labor of love - lucky kitties! :). Meg

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  2. I didn't count the strips, but I'd say close to 50. I used box flaps, too, which are shorter strips. It took quite a bit of work and LOTS of glue. :)

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  3. You're so clever. If you could figure out how to do it easier and quicker, you could probably sell them at craft fairs. :-)

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