Could you just leave finished post on the floor? Seems the cats started using it immediately. I’m in an apartment and my cat is scratching (and ruining) the rug in bedroom. My cat hasn’t used any bought scratching pads yet. Thanks
Nice video and your cats are beautiful! A couple things to help: Catnip pressed into the rope will get most cats to scratch the post, often insanely. Use a straight edge to draw a line from corner to corner and where the lines intersect is the center.😉
A sisal rope is just fancy for the human eyes, use the same materials of the nice couch they like to scratch... there you will be talking their language 🤣 sew a robust fabric cover for the 4x4, and you can sew varied covers and change them. I have (handle) 13 feral cats, 7 black cats, 6 varieties, 7 know how to go through their cat door to get inside to eat, snooze, hide, mess around, zoom, and only two use a litter box inside. And do not use piece of carpet or you would invite fleas and other unwanted insects for a lodging.
Thank you so much for posting this, first video I have seen for making a cat scratcher that doesn't involve anything more than a drill and some screws. Now I feel like I can actually make one!
I've made and restored more of these than I can count. A few tips: Attach the post to the base before wrapping, then use a hammer to compress the rope as you wrap it every few turns. This will allow you to really compress the rope. If it's not tightly compresed, the cats will pull down while scratching on it, and separate the rope, leaving big gaps between the turns. A 1/4" narrow crown staple gun does wonders for holding the rope to the post, although the hot glue works well, too. Make sure to whip, or tape the ends of the rope so it doesn't fray after being affixed to the post. I use twine to whip the ends. You can also wrap the base of the post, and make a cross-shaped carpet piece to cover the top of the post prior to wrapping. It makes it look nice, and can be hot-glued in place to hide the seams. If you want to save a little money, you can screw a pair of 2x4s together instead of using a 4x4. If you want to more securely attach the base to the post, use a Forstner bit to countersink your bolt locations into the undersidee of the base, then use washers and lag bolts instead of screws. To get the cats using the post, just give it a squirt or two of Kong cat nip oil.
My only concern about using staples would be for the cats claws, they may get stuck on them or break, however, if you used them sparingly at key locations on the post, in addition to the glue gun use, it may work. Thank you for the tips, I recently got a kitty and I am going to make her a post asap, the furniture is getting it, as am I....lol
Great video! Thank you for showing how it REALLY is and not pretending it was super easy. NGL my favorite is the reaction to the scratching behind you in beginning. Thank you for being so real. Made a post using your directions and it worked out great.
It looks as though you applied hot glue here and there but not on every row. My post is round, do you think I should apply the hot glue on each row? TIA
lmao I know all too well how much it sucks to wrap those in a really tight manner! My first time wrapping it was with heavy duty sesil , on an 8 foot pole! I was trying to make one that my cats could climb. I realize you just got to get into the rhythm, Bend, twist pole, stable, are used to staple gun, Bend, twist, staple bend twist staple and repeat LOL! they ended up not even using it. 😂 I think the sisal that I bought was way too rough for their paws. Live in learn!
What we would not do for our lovely babies? So much work and everything looks absolutely amazing and babies love it! Great work! Just a tip; always wear gloves woke working with wood to avoid splinter.
Great job 👍 👍 I wish I had all those tools and the room for them! I still think that I can tackle this job though:) thanks for the tips and you got a new sub! Just curious, how much did this cost you in total for supplies? Or besides the rope did you already have everything needed for the job?
I'm going to make one of these for my time thank you for the idea I looked up homemade cat holes and found you you do a really nice job I'd like your cats are cool
Staple gun to attach rope. . Also worried about weight of wood scratcher versus base for tipping risk.... The store bought ones I had were hollow cardboard.
Love the idea. But buying all of those materials you're better to go buy one. But thats my opinion. Rhanks for showing us . i might do this. But will cut corners
I’m so glad I saw this! My cat recently had kittens and I’ve been in need for a new post and I could never think of a good way to build one that wouldn’t cost me much but I saw this and had some spare scrap wood and got right to work. They LOVEEE it!
Love the post i have 7 cat that i have rescue as hurt kittens. I use hemp. The Shredded it use work much better thanks for taking the time to make the pod cast Sammy Potts
