BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Cats Scratching Posts

I was wondering if everyone here has the common carpeted scratching posts for their cats.

My cat doesn't have one. We had been shopping around for an affordable, stable post for her when we purchased one of those small kitchen rugs with the rubber backing the you get for about four dollars at department stores. When we laid it rubber side up on the floor, the cat fell in love with it. We rent our home and had concerns about her claws on the carpets, but since she got her rug, the carpets are completely safe. She scratches that rubber backing to her heart's content and sometimes takes a nap on it afterwards. Every three or four months, the rug needs to be replaced, but it's still an inexpensive solution to the scratching post problem. And since the rug is always face down, it doesn't have to be pretty! So we keep our eyes open for clearances on small ugly rugs. The backing is all that matters.

So does everyone else have traditional scratching posts or something completely different?

That's great!! We used to use the cardboard kind in addition to a big cat tree. My cats LOVED that thing.

I made my cat a cat tree with a window height nest. He loves the nest, but only occasionally uses it for scratching.

Pico, my service dog, adores little rugs and likes to arrange them for stress relief. When I saw a sample of heavy duty rug in a color that matched my house at the dollar store, I bought it and it is now the cat's favorite scratching place. We put it at the front door so it doubles as a welcome mat.

I have cheap bath rugs all over the house for Pico and while my cat doesn't scratch on them, he does enjoy curling up on them.

Julie

My cats love the cardboard ones too, the day I brought it home is the day they left the furniture alone! Your rug sounds great, and how nice of you to care so much, because you rent! I have seen dogs take out window frames, door frames, and a carpet because they wanted outside so badly. The dog that took out the carpet--we lived in a basement apartment and rented from the family upstairs while in college. The owner returned home and found that her dog had scratched the carpet in a two foot area at the door. She somehow thought that I should have realized it and let him out. My cats really need something so they can see out the window.

As for seeing out the window, we got really lucky with this apartment. We have a sliding glass door (leads to the little balcony) with vertical blinds. Vertical blinds are a cat's best friend! We can have the blinds closed when we want to,and the cat can push them aside and look out whenever she wants, as well.
The sliding glass door faces the parking lot and our cat frequently watches for us to come home.

My cats really liked the cardboard scratching things too. I put one right in a spot near a stair step where they'd started scratching and they quit and used the cardboard thing. I got a carpet scratching post and they liked it but I don't think they knew the difference between the post and a carpeted stair step.

I got some spray that says it will keep them from scratching and it works but you have to keep using it..

Joan

My cats love the carboard scratchers too. I put catnip on them and they are all over. I also put double sided sticky tape on the corners of some of the furniture. I have one who likes to scratch the furniture but the sticky tape keeps her away from it.

Not to change the subject, but I could use help with this. We have a family pet, cat. Then Thanksgiving 05 a cat adopted us. It lived under our veranda. We fed it as it was -30 and hadn't left for three weeks. It never came inside, poor thing was scared. That spring "it" had kittens.

My kids absolutely loved them. I found homes for two of them, the other two (as well as the mom), have all been fixed and had their shots. The mom still lives under the porch--does come in and hides--eats and uses the liter box at night. The kittens are now cats and quite entertaining. The dad hangs out in the neighborhood, I don't know who he belongs to, I did ask one neighbor for kitten support though!

The problem, two of them, I really don't like having four cats. (I have four kids). It's a lot of upkeep and two of my children have allergies. But the youngest daughter just throws a fit over them.

The other problem, the neighbors accuse my cats of using their flower bed as a liter box. Well I tried to do the good thing, have them fixed and all. But they're just nasty about it--the neighbors. But the neighbors trap animals, and there's carcasses in the back of his pick up and such--so it's like they're saying here kitty kitty. (and we live in a nice neighborhood). There's a lot of cats in the neighborhood, so I asked, is it my cats? And she said, well I don't know, I just get what they leave. Then he later in the day told my husband to build a liter box outside. So he did. And the cats don't use it. (Like they would). They go under the fire place outside, always have. Anyways I don't know what to do if anything. I don't think it's a big deal, my dh does. The neighbor woman asked my husband to help her with the hedge one day, so my husband being the kind man that he is did. Her husband came home and later told my husband to never touch his hedge again.

Is it my cats, or is it the neighbors, or is it both? Help!

Sounds like your cats are just the convenient scapegoat for some long-standing neighbor problems. Our town recently passed what amounts to "no wandering cats" rules...any they find wandering around will be caught and taken to the pound. There aren't a whole lot of people around here that will let their cats wander outside once they've invested the money into the neutering and the shots, etc. I am assuming you've had yours all up to date on their shots? Outside cats can get into so much dangerous territory that mine never leave the house (except in a cat carrier to go to the vet). As for your youngest daughter "throwing a fit over them", that, quite frankly, sounds like a discipline problem with your daughter! I'd like to have seen the day that I would have thrown a fit over anything...

Kathi, congratulations on never throwing a fit. I thought we were talking about cats.