How to Make a Cat Castle and Scratching Post

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Lee Meredith, contributor

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Banzo the kitten claws herself up onto the top of her post.

Lee Meredith

Garbanzo brings her toys up onto her castle to wrestle with.

Lee Meredith

Carpet pieces with the same pattern but in different colors look great together!

Lee Meredith

Banzo the kitten claws herself up onto the top of her post.

Photo: Lee Meredith

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Glue the two boxes together, with one side lined up evenly and the holes lined up inside. Then glue the carpet onto the outside walls. Cut one piece of carpet so that it covers both boxes on the side where they are lined up—the carpet will help hold them together, especially when your cat is climbing all over them.

I cut a carpet piece in a kind of L shape to cover as much as possible of both boxes on the front side.

Cover the tops of the boxes and some or all of the walls, cutting the carpet where needed. Try to clean up any strings of hot glue (you know how stringy hot glue can be!) so your cat doesn't eat it.

I think mismatched carpet pieces give the castle a more interesting look!

It isn't necessary to cover all the walls, but it would look nicer if you do. I left the back side carpetless, as well as the long side of the tall box, but my kitty still has plenty of places to scratch!

Garbanzo loves to sleep on top of her castle!

To make the scratching post, you'll need:

• Six thick cardboard tubes, all the same length
• Duct tape
• Carpet pieces
• Scissors that can cut through the carpet
• Staple gun or small nails and hammer
• Hot-glue gun
• Piece of thin chipboard

I got my cardboard tubes from the same reuse store where I got my carpet samples, so hopefully you'll be able to find some in your area. The thin chipboard I used came from an Ikea picture frame—it's for the base of the post, so you can use anything thick enough to support the post that you can either staple through or nail through. If your base is too thick to staple through, then you can nail through it instead when I get to that part.

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Comments (4)

writerinfact writes: I have 2 cats, and I really, really DON'T like the idea of teaching them that scratching carpet is an OK thing! I started out by buying a sisal rope-wrapped "post" and discovered that the destroyed version can be re-wrapped (yes, you have to actually buy the stuff from the hardware store instead of scavenging it, but it's worth it!), and is actually a feline-preferred scratching surface. It gets wrapped around those heavy-duty cardboard tubes and hot-glued in place at the ends. Quarter-inch diameter is easiest to figure out how much you need to cover the tube, especially if the circumference is a nice even number, like 4 inches. Or, in my case, it got wrapped around the actual log, complete with original bark, to help the cats make the transition to a more natural scratching post. And yes, I have a 4-1/2 foot tall chunk of 12-inch diameter log standing in my living room!

On the other hand, some cats definitely prefer scratching corrugated cardboard, as I discovered when I put the litter boxes inside slightly taller cardboard boxes to contain the "shake!" Corrugated is usually a highly scavenge-able material, especially from supermarkets.
Posted: 3:05 am on June 26th

matiola writes: Thanks to Your idea my cat won't be scratching armchairs!(-:
Posted: 6:31 pm on February 13th

Pattiphoo writes: love it U have 5 cats and they are always clawing my furniture. I already have the tubes and carpet. Can's wait to make one. Hopefully they will claw at it. Thank you
Posted: 10:03 am on February 28th

vicky_north writes: I should make one of these for Bear. He likes to sit on top of everything and his scratching tree is getting pretty old.
Posted: 6:13 pm on February 14th

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