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Old February 16th 04, 10:01 PM
minerva nine
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Just thought I'd share this with people considering declawing their cats....

I've always had cats, and I've never had any of them scratch up my furniture.
Early on, I happened to discover why. Those carpet-covered scratching posts
that you can get at pet stores are no good at all -- cats want something nice
and rough to scratch on. So I made my own scratching post/pad thusly:

Get a piece of sturdy wood or plywood 12"-8" wide X about 24" long. Go to the
hardware store and buy a good length of sisal rope, the really rough and hairy
stuff, but relatively thin, between 1/8" - 3/8" diameter. Tack the end of the
rope across the bottom face of the board with some carpet tacks (be sure the
nails don't penetrate to the other side of the board), then wind the rope around
the board until it wraps the board completely, all the way to the top. Tack it
again at the top. Leave this on the floor somewhere in your cats' regular
travel path. You can also apply some catnip extract (just boil up some catnip
in water and strain it) to get them started. Some cats like the board at an
angle, you can put one end up on a brick or something like that to give it a
little bit of slope.

I imagine you could make something like this with carpet if you put the rough
side of the carpet OUT, instead of the fluffy side. I have also used an old
roll of carpet, rolled with the rough side out -- they go mad for it.

M9