Sonia is our regular go-to girl over at Unplggd for coverage about a variety of home technology related topics. But her other (true) passion revolves around anything and everything related to pets and animals, so it wasn't a surprise when she told us about her budget DIY solution for her pet cats, all made to protect the investment made with the purchase of a new house since moving cross country from NYC to the Central California coast.
When Sonia isn't writing for Unplggd or her pet blog, Pawesome, she's contributing great solutions like this one she shared over at Readymade. Home Hack month is over, but feline lovers on a budget and with some DIY gumption might find inspiration to follow Sonia and Bruce's footsteps via their thorough and concise instructions detailing how to build a customizable sisal rope cat scratcher:
After my husband and I threw down 600 bucks on a new couch we knew we had to do something about the cats. Since kitten pie was out of the question, we thought to invest in a scratching post that was so enticing, even the couch would no longer appeal. Unfortunately, when I went to the pet store, the sisal cat scratcher I’ve always wanted was priced at $70. Um, no. Sorry. Luckily, a few days later my husband came home with all the ingredients to make the ultimate sisal and carpet cat scratcher. Here’s how we did it...
Check out more photos and the complete instructions over at Readymade's Inside Out blog.
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Comments (10)
You know what cats like better than sisal? Old climbing rope! My husband made one of these with old climbing rope a couple of years ago, and it's great. Although he had packed the coils pretty tightly together, the cats were able to compact the coils more with their scratching, 8 coils worth. Time for us to re-nail the top coil and trim the 2x4.
If you do this, make sure to make the base heavy enough so it doesn't tip over. I bought an inexpensive post for my cats once--one try, they discovered it was likely to fall over on them, and they never touched it again.
I have a 6 ft 2x2 tower wrapped with sisal rope mounted on a wall. Other than the shredded mess from the sisal it's great!
BTW, that grey cat looks EXACTLY like mine!
If rabbits always look disapproving, cats always look disdainful to the point of loathing: "I detest you. Feed me."
I wouldn't have it any other way, of course.
I always have the intentions of doing something like this, maybe this will get me moving..... looks great. STH has a good point about the base, having experienced a cheap one also.
my cat was in love with a raw 4x4 wood beam on my old patio. she tore that thing up! seriously. wood shards all over the place and deep gouges in the post. thank god the management didnt notice it when i moved out.
now she just likes my couch.
@antimatt -- Buy a french memo board. My cat used my couch until I accidentally left an old memo board on the floor for a couple days. Turns out she LOVES it and uses it to scratch all the time.
....and this is one of the many reasons I will never, ever own a cat.
http://mylittleapartment.blogspot.com/
my dad's been doing this for twenty years. we bought a scratcher once and simply rewrap it with new rope periodically. the key is to really wrap it as tightly as possible.
I always recommend that people use 3/8" Brazilian sisal rope, and don't get it from a hardware store or home center because it's likely to be old or heavily oiled. Old rope can be brittle, and heavily oiled rope just plain stinks. I have other tips online if anyone is interested. Just do a search on my user name. You can also try a search on "flerper ebay".