Check This Out…I DIYed a Cat Scratching Post By Combining TWO!
If you’ve been following me for awhile, you may know that I really dote on my cats 🐱🐱🐱 .
After all, I went to a lot of trouble to build them an outdoor enclosure so they could have the best of both worlds – a little outdoor freedom, and not worrying that one of them would get run over or God forbid, kidnapped by coyotes or roaming gangs, or cat sacrificing weirdos😲 .
As a childless widow, I like to think of them as “my kids”…Cats have playful, quirky natures about them, and sometimes they do stuff you don’t approve of, but either by instinct, or sheer perversity – they keep on doing it. Like scratching stuff that belongs to you.
Case in point…two of them looove wicker and always want to sink their claws into it. I don’t get it….wicker is like, this woven weaved material….it doesn’t have a lot of “pull” How and why do they claw on wicker to begin with???
Oh well, another six million dollar question. I sorta solved that problem by giving the possession of an old clothes hamper with which to do their rounds on (They do)
As for their scratching posts….Well, they do claw up the posts that support their tree/perch…However, they do have their moods, where they’ll faithfully use those but other times, not one bit.
A few years ago I received an offer to test out a new scratching post from this company, Art of Paws. Yep, I got it on the house, free, and this wasn’t a piece of junk. Very solid, and my little guys love the hell out of it. It’s a tall post, as you can see they’ve done quite a number on it.
Anyway I was trying to get my oldest cat to scratch his short post, and he could only get a few good swipes in before it tipped over. What? Buddy likes to stretch, for one thing.
So it gave me an idea. I’ve got this and one other short height post….I thought, any chance I could put them together and make a nice, taller post?
I put on my gloves first (I hate touching that sisal, it is really rough on your hands) and collected some tools…a screwdriver, drill, computer duster, some e6000 glue.
I had to look at an examine the metal threads used to connect the posts to their platforms (they’re secured with a washer and a hexagonal shaped nut)
The first idea didn’t exactly work (meaning one posts’ metal thread wouldn’t fit the wood platform)..The second post is a little less thick so I thought it should go on the top. I had to also remove the little springy pom pom toy on that top of the thicker post. using wire cutters.
After that I got my drill and attached the largest bit I had and pierced the opening where the pom pom was…It was still a hair off from being able to accommodate the metal thread. I wish I had an awl for this purpose, but I made do by getting my good scissors and snipping the hole a little. The metal thread, amazingly went in easily and I just twisted it into place. All right, that went better than I expected!
I did secure the seams where the two posts meet with some e6000. Next thing to do was trim away some of that frayed edge (from previous scratching) You can buy replacement sisal rope form your local home improvement store, to replace what your cats wear out.
All you pretty much has to remove the old frayed rope from the cylinder base and replace it with some new rope. I did use a little more glue to attach the rope ends to the base so it would look neater.
Last thing to do was glue the pom pom back…I managed to center it into one of the wingnuts and then glued it to the top. Ta-da!
Now just going to take a step back.
Cats can always sense when you want them to do something, and they pull back. You have to be kind of nonchalant and act like you don’t care; and that is when they might surprise you.
I saw Buddy make a move for it, unfortunately I was grabbing for my phone camera and i may have made him nervous so he jutted off …but I have got high hopes they are going to love this post much better!
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