People all over the world have animals of some sort whether they’re exotic animals or just cats and dogs. Some people choose to keep their animals inside of their house because they’re just plain old fashioned animal lovers that can live a day without their animal or animals right next to them or under the same roof as them. This is very common around the world. There are also some people that know that their pets must stay outside and do better in an outside environment as opposed to keeping them secluded from the outside world by keeping them indoors. In some cases there is no choice but to keep your animal or animals outside because of the size of the animal, dangers that the animal may pose on people inside of the home and with children especially or friends or relatives, fleas, ticks and all of the other stuff that goes with having an animal.
For those of you that are cat lovers and must have your cat indoors or just want to let that outdoor cat come in on occasion, this how to article is just right for you. This article is how to make your own cat scratch post to keep those pesky cat paws off of your furniture or to deter what could be a disastrous event from those nice sharp cat claws digging into your nice new or old furniture that you’re wanting to preserve. If you have leather furniture, then you’re definitely going to want to read on and be enlightened on how to make your very own cat scratch post from just a few materials that you could even have lying around your house somewhere whether it be in your house or just lying around in your yard somewhere.
Lets now talk about how to make your very own cat scratch post from scratch.
Materials that you will be needing:
You will first want to locate a cardboard tube. If you’re going to use a cardboard tube, you must be sure to have it to be a thick ply cardboard tube that can not be easily damaged. One way I can tell if the cardboard tube can withstand damage is to lay it down on the ground and stand on it. If it doesn’t give, then it is a good ply cardboard cylinder. It can be any length you desire. I would suggest making it the length of your cat when your cat scratches since this is how they usually scratch. They love to stretch as they scratch anything.
You will also need a piece of carpeting to extend around the cylinder and the height of the cardboard cylinder as to cover the entire cylinder and to leave no exposed portions of the cylinder. It doesn’t harm anything to leave some of it exposed but it just looks tacky if you do. You can easily pick up a piece of old carpet at a carpet outlet. They normally have scraps lying around all the time that they would love for someone just to come and pick up so that they don’t have the hassle of disposing of it themselves.
You will also need a staple gun to staple in the carpet to the cylinder. Nails or tacks just won’t do the job. The tacks will come loose after your cat scratches the post over a period of time and nails are just plain dangerous so please use a staple gun to secure the carpet to the cylinder.
You will also need a base board to support the cylinder as it stands vertically.
You need a jigsaw to cut a circle into the base board to fit the cylinder down into it or find someway to secure the cylinder to the baseboard as to make it secure enough to withstand paws attacking it all the time during the days to come. I would suggest cutting a circle into the base so that the cylinder fits down into it though.
You will need some glue called Gorilla Glue. It is supposed to be some of the strongest if not the strongest glue on the planet. I saw a demo of it once at a hardware store where they attached a door handle to an 80 pound rock using this stuff and it held tremendously.
That will be all that you need to make your cat scratch post.
Directions:
First: Take your cylinder and secure a piece of carpet all the way around the cylinder making sure that the edges of the carpet meet side to side around the cylinder. Do this using the staple gun, securing the carpet every so often, say every 5 to 6 inches including and especially including the top and bottom portions of the cylinder.
Second: You then need to take your base whether it being a square or circular base, place the carpeted cylinder down into the base if you chose to cut a whole into the base. You will first want to glue around the whole before placing the carpeted cylinder down into the whole. Be sure that your base board is going to be thick enough for the cylinder to to fit into and be stable with the glue when it dries. I would suggest letting your cat scratch post dry overnight so that the glue has an appropriate length of time to settle. Read the directions on the back of the glue and see the approximate amount of time you should give the glue to settle and stabilize whatever you’re working with.
You are now ready to see the efforts of your work go into place. Watch as your cat goes for the cat scratch post and discovers that he or she doesn’t have to necessarily use your furniture for their claw sharpening missions.
Have fun in creating this fun project and enjoy seeing the results of your efforts. You may want to place a cloth mouse onto it with a catnip scent as to attract your cat to it and make it even more desirable to scratch. You can even attach something on the top using a lengthy spring of about 5 inches in length and attach a fun object for your cat to play with and try to catch such as a catnip cloth mouse or a cotton ball.
