Looking for an afternoon project to make something for your cat? Grab your glue gun and give this cute scratch post a try!
You will need:
- Rubber traffic cone (around 45cm tall, available from Amazon or ScrewFix).
- 6mm-thick sisal rope, around 20 - 30m in length.
- 50cm squared of fabric.
- Glue gun.
- Ruler.
- Scissors.
- Cardboard.
- Wool.
The pom-poms
1. Cut out two cardboard rings for each pom-pom. Ours were 10cm (4in) in diameter.
2. Put the two rings together and wind your wool around the rings until they are completely covered. The thicker you wrap the cardboard, the fluffier your pom-poms will be.
3. Slide your scissors under the wool and cut all the way around.
4. Slide a 30cm (1ft) length of wool between the two pieces of cardboard and tie it tightly around the centre of the pom-pom to hold it together.
5. Cut off the pieces of cardboard and fluff out your pom-pom.
The scratch post
1. Firstly, make the fabric cover for the base of your post. Measure the diameter of the opening on the underside of the cone - ours was 20cm (8in) - and draw a circle of the same size onto the centre of your fabric.
2. Cut the circle out and slide the fabric over the cone to cover the base.
3. Using a hot glue gun, stick the fabric to the base of the cone and bottom inside edge. Trim any excess fabric.
4. Apply a thin line of glue around the base of the cone and wrap the sisal rope around it.
5. Continue to wrap the rope around the cone, applying glue every few inches.
6. When you get close to the top, glue your pom-poms to the cone by pushing an inch of the wool through the hole, and sticking it in place with a dab of glue on the rim.
7. Apply a line of glue around the top of the cone, and trap the wool under the remaining rope to secure the pom-poms in place.
And away you go! We'd love to see your photos of your DIY scratch posts, so when you've made one, why not show us some photos of your cat enjoying his new toy?
Top tip!
If your cat is of the stronger variety (like Bear here!), you may want to weight down your scratch post for extra sturdiness!
If you enjoyed creating this scratching post try another step-by-step using a branch as a scratching post!
