Scratching Post

Photos on Flickr: Fritz Attacking the Scratching Post

I made the cats a couple pieces of scratching furniture a couple months ago. One is a simple "L" shaped peice (like a couch with no arms or legs) that protects the carpet that they'd been scratching on the step up to the office. They don't use it that often, but they've stopped scratching the carpet; mission accomplished. The other is this upright post that I built because I was on a roll. It's a piece of scrap 4x6 wrapped in carpet, the seems protected with extra-thick leather. It's all held together with sheetrock screws.

For about a month the cats wouldn't touch the thing. I'd clearly put too much effort into it, and they wanted to see me suffer. Recently we decided to push the TV hutch all the way against the wall where it belongs (original furniture floorplan) freeing up more space between the living room and cat dining room. It also let us open up the left "wing" of the hutch and put the scratching post under it. The cats love it now. The Fritz has become very territorial, attacking the Milton whenever he goes to use it. Very entertaining.