Does anyone know how to make Cat trees or scratching posts?
Basically my boyfriend and I have started saving change in an old apple juice can (not easy to access, it makes it easier). Just before Christmas we’re going to roll all the coin and go shopping for our local animal shelter (btw it was voted Americas #1 shelter 
). They have a wishlist on their site and while I am a dog person or even a little critter person I want to make sure we’re fair to the cats too. on their wish list they have trees and scratching posts, both of which are WAAAAY over priced. So I thought maybe I could stretch a buck further if I made some. I am both Crafty and Handy, just not overly knowledgeable of what should or should not go into one of these things, as I have never had a cat. Anyone with instructions or links, they’re greatly appreciated
Filed under: Cat Scratching Post
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I love this idea! Different cats like to scratch on different things, so a lot of the time you’ll find scratching posts with both carpet and twine-y material, which i found out from my pet store is called sisal. (My cat likes scratching leather, too, but I don’t know if that’s just a personal preference or if they’ll actually just scratch anything that’s close by)
As far as HOW to do this, I guess getting some wood or anything sturdy and covering it with these substances, I would suggest using both and maybe adding a little fuzzy ball on a spring or string hanging down.. they like those.
Hope this helped, I’m not very handy, but I do know what my kitty loves to scratch!
wrap some rope around a post? just make sure you put catnip on it– that’s what attracts the cats to it. or, they do sell these scratch boxes for cats… they are basically cardboard that has catnip in it and my cats love it! they ripped the thing to shreds, and they even rubbed their faces on it and cuddled up and slept on it. i bought one at wal-mart for about $6. and with three cats, we still have the one we bought about three months ago (they still love it even though there’s almost nothing left of it!)
Most posts used for scratching is simply rope wrapped tightly around a piece of wood, sometimes they have a bit of catnip in them to attract the cats.
Though ours actually ignored the post we got for them and use a tree in our garden.
Roughly a 6 inch diameter, 2 foot high branch would do that has thin bark or a piece of wood of similar dimensions, or just try making one like you see in the shops. Nothing to it.
I will try to look into this for you, because its a fantastic idea!! Just remember for scratching posts they need to be tall, cats like to stretch all the way up when they scratch, so the taller the post the better. I will see what I can find tho. Awesome idea!!
I bought a scratching post for my cat, he just looked at it and thought
"nuh uh"
and went back over to the lounge and started clawing at that instead.
What a great and wonderful idea!!!
http://www.catsinternational.org/articles/scratching_and_declawing/build_a_scratchingpost.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Cat-Scratching-Post
http://cats.about.com/od/diycattrees/DIY_Cat_Trees_and_Scratching_Posts.htm
With your idea i’m gonna give hubby something to work on!!! Thanks
get some low pile carpet, wrap it tightly around a 4×4 post about 1 metre in length (1 metre is about 39"). Screw the carpet onto the post and then mount the post onto a square piece of plywood so it will stand upright.
Presto.
Cat scratching post.
And you will be able to encourage your cat to use the post by balancing a few cat treats on top.
Either get a thick wooden dowel, or two rectangular pieces of wood that are nailed together to make it square in circumference. Then get a 1 inch thick piece of wood to serve as the base. Go to your local carpet place and ask if they have any extra sample pieces of carpet that they’d be willing to give you for a good price. (Cheap indoor/outdoor carpet works really well). Mark on the back of the wood for the base where you want to nail the round or square block of wood, and then nail it in. On the base, either super/hot glue or staple-gun the carpet right side up. On the part that sticks up, do the same to the carpet, but reverse it so that the backing is showing (cats like the texture). It is so nice that you want to do something for your local shelter!