Shoebox vs Ikea Cat Bed

Cat beds don't need to be expensive. You can make one for free out of an old shoebox!

My chubby baby Oatey seems to prefer it over the RM300 Ikea cat bed made of rattan that we bought for him ;-)

DIY scratch board made of cardboard remnants

Cardboard scratch boards like the ones in the photos typically sell for around RM30 each in Ikea and Pet Lovers Center in Ikano Power Centre.

I made these large scratch boards for less than RM10 each out of old cardboard boxes and non-toxic wood glue.

473ml of Titebond original wood glue costs around RM30 from Ace Hardware. Looking back, I could have saved some money and glued them with homemade tapioca glue (tapioca flour boiled in water).

How did I manage to cut the cardboard so neatly without blistering my fingers? Well, I sent it to a professional paper cutter in a back lane workshop off Jalan Tun Sambathan in Brickfields. It's walking distance from KL Monorail station, and I remember passing by a shop selling meat as I entered the back lane.

There are several paper cutting workshops on the back lane but the first two or three workshops refused to cut cutboard in case it damaged their machines (their paper cutting machines were mostly for cutting up wedding cards and flyers).

Eventually, I found a workshop willing to do the job. There were two customers who were there before me. I watched the man cut up flyers for a local temple ceremony, and a few large pieces of coloured plain manila card with his large industrial paper cutter. My brain started estimating the cost of my job, as he collected RM10 for the few pieces of manila card he'd cut up. Hmm... RM30? RM50? I have enough cardboard to make 4 large scratch boards!

When it was my turn, the man asked me how I'd like the boxes cut. I explained that I'd like triangles and strips of rectangle to make scratch boards for my cats. The man smiled, and asked about my cats. While we chatted, I helped him collect the cardboard pieces that he'd cut from the machine. I even helped remove the huge staples from the box, so it wouldn't damage the machine. If the box size was different to the one he had previously cut, he would confirm the shapes again with me. It took about half an hour to cut all the boxes up.

My brain was thinking.... RM50 for all the effort. So I was pleasantly surprised when the man said "kira cincai... RM10"! I thanked him several times for his kindness, and said that my cats will enjoy scratching them very much :)

Refurbished scratch post with sisal from Ace Hardware

The sisal rope on the cats' scratch post had worn out towards the top, so it was time to replace ... or refurbish the post.

I was very tempted to get a much taller scratch post, as our cats are now grown up. But the local pet shops didn't seem to stock 1m scratch post poles (or close to that). The tall 1m+ scratch post I found was actually a few short scratch poles stacked on top of each other and stabilised with wide plywood bases at each level. That's not long enough for my grown-up cats to perform vertical full-body stretch and scratch. Anyway, I have no intention of turning our living room into an expensive cat gym. An American fragrant cedar cat tree would have made a fine replacement but at USD390, I'm sure there are cheaper local versions... if I can find the wood and carpenter.

For now, I decided on a temporary solution - to get more sisal to replace the worn out sisal on the scratch post. Seriously, it wasn't easy finding more sisal in KL. I had enquired at several local hardware stores but they didn't seem to know what sisal is! After weeks of hunting, I finally found 1/4" (0.63cm) diameter sisal rope at Ace Hardware, Mid Valley Megamall selling for 50 sen per foot. It's in the ropes and wires section, stored in rows and rows of large reels. It's not clearly marked, so I searched for labels or handwritten notes on the side of the reels to make sure that I didn't mistaken manila rope for sisal. I've read that manila rope tends to be heavily oiled and stinks.

I was surprised to discover that, even without glue, the new sisal grips quite well onto the scratch post's old sisal. So I started wrapping the scratch post from the top while making sure that the top end of the new sisal is secured by tightly winding the rest of the sisal rope over it. To secure the bottom end of the rope, I tied several knots towards the last few rows of the windings. Of course, skipping the glue meant that my scratch post didn't look neat for long but it will do for a few weeks.

All in all 10 metres of 1/4" sisal rope covers about 2/3 of the 50cm tall by 8cm diameter scratch post.

Cat ping pong

This game is adapted from Vicky Halls' Cat Confidential.

The pyramid is made of toilet rolls supported by two kitchen rolls at the bottom. The rolls are stuck together with UHU glue.

I meant to chop the kitchen roll into two but couldn't be bothered, so I stuck them at the base. It turns out to be a good design decision, as the extra gap on the base allows missed ping pong balls to roll back to my side. Also the kitchen roll gives my cats a chance to practise their smash ;-)

P/S: This pyramid also doubles as a kibble hideout for when we want the cats to forage for food.