My husband and I wanted to buy a scratching post for our two kitties. We looked at prices of stuff at the pet store and online and it was too much. Then, I thought about it and said, "They are charging $40-$50 for wood and some rope or pieces of carpet. What a ripoff! We could do that ourselves."
So, we went to Home Depot where they have a discount wood bin. We found one piece of wood that was about 2x4x36 inches. We had it cut in half. We glued those two pieces together parallel to each other. We took a length of rope about 50 feet long and wrapped it around the glued together pieces. We also bought a piece of particle board about 48x12 inches. We had it cut into two pieces so each piece was about 24x12 inches. Then, we glued those two pieces, one on top of the other to give it a stable base. We then glued the long part onto the particle board.
Mind you the measurements were not exact. We felt they did not really need to be exact for this purpose. We bought odd size pieces, because we were buying from the discount bin and that was what was available. The glue is still drying, so we don't have a picture of the cats playing with it yet. Altogether, I think we spent about $7.00 to make this toy for our cats.
Source: Myself. I just looked at pictures online and decided I could do it.
most people just expect their cat to know what a scratching post is for, but many have to be taught how to use it. catnip helps and dangling interactive toys like a peacock feather or a fishing pole toy helps. i also found that my cats liked their post laying down better than standing up. the base makes the angle perfect and i hide surprise toys under it too. we made ours out of sisal rope and left a 12 inch tail for them to play with. hope your kitties have fun with their new toy!
The glue finally dried, but it still felt a little wobbly for our rambunctious kitties, so my husband got out the drill and drilled the bottom to the top. It's now solid. The glue is still pretty smelly and my kitties won't touch the scratching post. I would the smell of the glue and the wood are why. The seem to be just fine with trying to scratch up the woodwork in the house.
We did the same thing with our cat. My husband is a do it yourself so he always has his own "spare " wood bin. He just cut the piece of wood for the post,cut the base nailed it together and slapped some remnant carpeting we had lying around onto it. The cat loved it fine! I mean really, if you know how to do it yourself why give the money out to the big chain stores for one that's going to cost you at least double what you built it for!
Great idea! I have been thinking about doing the same thing but have only bought the sisal rope. I think with your instructions, I might have a weekend project ahead!
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