Today
was a laborious one. I spent much of it, rather more than I had anticipated,
re-covering the taller sitting room cat-tree. This is one of the chores I
wanted to do on my holidays; though it didn’t take all day, it occupied a large
portion of it, and was not something I wanted to waste half a weekend on, when
a weekend is all I have off. So it was done today.
I used sisal rope to cover the bare patches that various beasts have scratched on the tree, tearing away the carpeting that originally covered the central post. A difficulty I had long pondered was what to do about the spaces I couldn’t cover just by winding the rope around the post. Some bare patches are opposite a platform’s support, which connects the platform to the post diagonally, and rope would not wind well around such a slope.
I decided instead to loop the rope like a long piece of ribbon candy over the bare spots, nailing it on the perpendicular surfaces of the post on either side of the surface that was being covered. This seemed to suffice. The nails I used are u-shaped, intended to fix strands such as barbed wire to wooden poles.
What surprised me was the amount of rope required. I had two spools, each of fifty feet of rope, and bought a third this morning before the task was commenced. I used almost all of the three. There is nearly a hundred and fifty feet of rope on that tree! Still, $40 of sisal is a decent price compared to buying a new tree, and as this one is my custom-made seven-footer, I feel it’s a bargain. I have two more trees to rope, but those need much less work than the big one, and their bare spots will be repaired in the easier manner of simply wrapping the rope around a post.
Now, I just have to get the cats to stop scratching the corners of my chairs and use the newly renovated tree…
Great job recovering the rope. We have 4 home made scratching posts with sisal and using small diameter carpet cardboard tubes. It does take a lot of rope, for sure. Precious loves hers, but my (our) recliner is still a place for her claws that really aggravates me. Hope the cats quickly pick up on the new rope for you.
ReplyDeleteWOW! WHAT a major JOB!!! You have my admiration. In Katie's tree that she fell from and hurt herself, she had a sisal rope dilemma going on. I knew the time was coming. But after she hurt herself (she fell all the way through from the top cup that had a large opening in it for the cat to climb into and out of...) I got rid of that tree and found one half its height. She won't go past the first level. She learned a hard lesson.
ReplyDeleteAlmost 150 feet of rope to do that? Wow, I really wouldn't have thought it would need that much. Great job on it, definitely better than spending upwards of $200 (or more) on a new cat tree.
ReplyDeleteOoh, nice job!
ReplyDeleteWill have to mention the u-shaped staple-like nails to The Hubby for when he attacks this same project here; our carpet-tube scratching post.
Great job! That should keep those claws happy for a good while ;)
ReplyDeletePurrs, Julie
Wow! What a great job. I know the cats appreciate all of your hard work and hopefully now they'll use the scratching posts on the cat tree instead of your chairs. I've always rubbed catnip on my scratching posts to encourage the cats to use them.
ReplyDeleteThat looked like a lot of hard work and sisal rope!
ReplyDeleteNice work! I hope it lasts, but not because they are using the furniture instead.
ReplyDeleteGood job. :)
ReplyDeleteThey will all appreciate the new sisal!
ReplyDelete