Subject: Cat Condo/scratching posts

From: "Jerry and Lisa" <[email-masked]>
Date: 11 Feb 1997 21:39:34 GMT

Hey everyone..   I have a question and I hope that someone can help me out
here..   I want to build a kitty condo or a nice scratching post for my
kitties..  I was wondering if anyone in this group can help me.. Send me to
a web page or show a picture of a pattern of a kitty condo or scratching
post..  I want it to be a nice place for my cats, something sturdy, but I
don't want to spend $200 on something my cats are going to scratch up.. 
Please, if anyone can direct me to a good web page with patterns on it, I'd
love that.. 

thank you so much for any help!!

-- 
Lisa

[email-masked]

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From: Ernest Shipley <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 12:08:40 -0800

> thank you so much for any help!!
Lisa, go to several pet stores and look at some of the ones they have to
give you ideas on the many designs available. Also, my wife gets a
catalog from a company called "Doctors Foster Smith" that has a
multitude of that sort of stuff. Their fone # is 800-826-7206. I'm sure
they would love to send you a catalog. Hope this helps.
Ernie

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From: Termite <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 08:27:59 -0500

> they would love to send you a catalog. Hope this helps.

Many times I've seen items in the store that I thought would make a
great project. I often either have a tape with me, or next time I go I
take it with me. I'll sit there and take measurements and make my rough
draft of plans - then later make the finial drawings and make the item.
At first, and still at times, this seems a little wierd and some of the
sales people don't really like it - but what the hey, we all have to
have some fun in life.

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From: "Carl Peters, M.D." <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 23:37:51 -0800

Ernest Shipley wrote:
> > here..   I want to build a kitty condo or a nice scratching post for myI have made quite a few of both over the years. One of the best ideas for a
scratching post involves tightly wound heavy rope ascending a 4X4, with the end
secured by a heavy staple (the kind you nail). It lasts much longer than carpet,
and serves its purpose with the felines. For the condos, check out the stores for
ideas. I made one about 6 feet tall - the upper perch with walls is favored
most (recall that cats like high platforms - at least mine do). I placed 3 platforms
on a 4X4 altogether, held securely with 'L' brackets, then carpeted everything.

Carl Peters

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From: Daniel Morris DeRight <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 03:14:02 -0500

Excerpts from netnews.rec.woodworking: 12-Feb-97 Re: Cat
Condo/scratching posts by [email-masked] 
> sales people don't really like it - but what the hey, we all have to

    Having seen the prices on these in the stores, (about $50-350!) I'd
like to make one for my monster.  My real question is, what to use to
adhere the carpet to the wood?  I've seen some of them tack it on, but
with the way a cat scratches at them, these tend to fall apart very
quickly.

    Suggestions?

==========================
Dan DeRight          [email-masked]

Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom.  It is
the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.    -William Pitt

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From: [email-masked] (Andrew B. Mor)
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 17:33:19 -0500

> give you ideas on the many designs available. Also, my wife gets a

This is what I am currently in the midst of, and I would recommend it.
I spent ~$30 on particleboard and 2x4's, $6 on a couple of cutoff rolls
of carpet, and too many hours trying to piece it together, and the cats
seem to like the shape.  I finished the construction last night and am
going to staple the carpet on tonight.  I also bought some sisal rope
to make a scratching area for them.  Total cost is going to be around
$40, and it will weigh a ton, but when I move, I'll just build them a 
better one.

One caveat, at least for me.  I didn't start with a definite plan, and
some of the pieces aren't ideally shaped.  But that shouldn't hurt somebody
more creative than I.

Andy Mor

----------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew B. Mor                           [email-masked]
Robotics Ph.D. Student                  office: (412) 268-1416
Robotics Institute, CMU                 fax:    (412) 268-5571

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From: [email-masked] (Bob D.)
Date: 14 Feb 1997 12:53:00 -0500

In article <[email-masked]>,
>Please, if anyone can direct me to a good web page with patterns on it, I'd

Really, the goals of a kitty condo type object and a scratching post
can be quite different. We never had any luck getting our cat to 
scratch his carpet covered "cat fort". He just doesn't like to scratch
carpet, and reflecting on that, that is a *good* thing (who came up
with the idea that cats should be indoctrinated to scratch carpet &
fabric as a matter of course anyway?). Actually, he doesn't care about
sisel (sp? I mean "rope") either. 

I finally ran across the (an) answer years back when I read somewhere
that some cats are irresistably attracted to cork. I made a very crude
"scratching post" out of two 3 1/2 foor long sections of 2X4 (glued
together with good old Elmers) and attached that to a plywood base
(about 2 1/2' x 1 1/2') so it wouldn't tip (these dimensions from memory
-- the important thing is to make the base wide enough the cat can't
tip it even if they hang off one side and kick). Once that was done, I
got out the Elmer's again and a large roll of cork I bought somewhere.
I glued cork around the 4x4 upright and over the top of the base. The
cat was mesmerized by this when introduced to it as a kitten. It is
now ten years later and the cat still loves this silly (and much
battered) post for his scratching. He has at least 1/2 the cork off of
it (and vacuuming up the cork is a minor irritation, but doesn't
really require much effort or need to be done any more often than normal
sweeping). He identifies this object (the scratching post) as "his".
The cat fort, he also identifies as "his", but that is used for three
essential purposes:

1.) A place to put his food where the dogs can't get it.
2.) A place to "play".
3.) a place to escape the dogs when he has sufficently torked 
    them off that inaccessibitiy for a while is advisable (besides,
    he can bat at them from one of the "holes" and they have little
    chance of being sufficiently quick to successfully retaliate).

Not all of this post relates directly to woodworking, I'll admit, and
what it does contain is pretty simple (albeit crude), but sometimes
(not often enough, sadly) the simple answer is the best solution.

-- 
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all at home on the 'net....home to net wanderers, drifters,
and aliens...the name of the place...Internet '97.

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From: "jensen" <[email-masked]>
Date: 15 Feb 1997 08:22:08 GMT

do what i do whenever i want to build something and im not to sure to build
it 
just head out to the nearest pet store and look at one there feel it and
look at all the detail how it was put together what was use to put it
together . then head out to one of those dollar store places and pick up
some cheap rugs and let your imagination do the rest.
     hope i was of some help

Jerry and Lisa <[email-masked]> wrote in article
<[email-masked]>...
I want to build a kitty condo or a nice scratching post for my