In keeping with our scratching theme, I’d like to share with you these elegantly simple and unique scratching posts that offer some different materials for scratching. Natural Scratch is a line of handcrafted scratching posts made of solid natural cork or solid white cedar wood. As we saw in the photos last week, lots of cats like to scratch on wood, so this may be the perfect solution.
Both the cork and the cedar scratchers have incredibly sturdy bases made of red cedar. The cedar post measures 32″ tall and the cork post comes in both 24″ and 32″. These posts have some really great details, designed to entice your cat to scratch, including the antenna toy made of stretchy string, and a “mouse hole” at the top. You can poke the antenna toy through the hole or hide treats or other toys so kitty will reach up to investigate and then dig her claws into the post.
The wood post is made with Wisconsin-grow Northern white cedar. This wood has a nice rough texture that cats love, plus it is very soft, so they can really sink their claws in. The company says that in all the years they’ve been making these posts, no one has ever reported a cat getting a sliver in a paw.
They sent us one of the cork posts to test, and as you can see, it is a big hit. It took a while for them to get used to the new material, but the toy at the top really helped attract them to the post. It gets a lot of use now, and although some crumbs flake off each time it gets clawed, you can barely see any wear. A little vacuuming cleans-up the cork bits. I think we will get many, many years of use out of this scratcher. And the cats especially love how tall it is, they can really get in a good stretch, as Ando and Theo are both demonstrating above.
Natural Scratch just came out with a line of horizontal scratchers, too, in both cork and cedar. They also have the string toy attached, as well as some holes that you can fill with catnip.
All Natural Scratch products come with a booklet with lots of helpful tips for training your cat to use the scratching post.
BONUS GIVEAWAY!
Natural Scratch is offering a 32-inch cork post for one lucky winner! To enter, please leave a comment on this post with your thoughts about the Natural Scratch products. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing on May 16. One entry per person. This giveaway includes free shipping to the lower 48 states. Readers outside this region may enter if they are willing to pay the extra shipping charges.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:29 am
I never thought about cork as a scratcher – looks like an intriguing product. I particularly like the idea of the toy at the top.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:31 am
It looks like an interesting scratcher. Of course, the first thing I thought about was splinters, so I’m glad they addressed that issue! Would love to give one a try!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Ok…LucyGrace really wants to win this one…
May 9th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Our crew of 8 is ready to give this post a workout.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Our foster kitties would learn good habits when they start off with one of these!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:33 am
I know my little cat would very much like to scratch this one. Hopefully more than my furniture!!!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:33 am
I love the cork idea!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:33 am
My guys need this!!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:34 am
I really like the idea of using a renewable resource like cork. And I know our cats would enjoy the height of these posts!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:34 am
i can’t decide which would be better….. we havent had a cork scratcher before so that might be a great one to try!! thanks for the opporunity!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:34 am
This is great. I bought a wooden cat scratcher many years ago, but the company is no longer is business. One tip-you can use a light sandpaper sheet every now and then to sand down the splinters after they have used it awhile.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:34 am
I like that it is natural and still looks stylish!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:34 am
Awesome, I wonder if they would stop using my bedpost if I had this….
May 9th, 2010 at 9:35 am
I have 2 cats that allergic to carpet fibers, so the traditional scratching post with carpet is something they cannot have. This would be great for their newly designed playrooms and it would surely be better for them and keep them occupied as well.
PLEASE, PICK ME….I’M FEELING LUCKY ON THIS ONE!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:35 am
This is such a GREAT product!!!!! I think this is a wonderful natural product and its good looking!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:36 am
What great scratching posts. And nice and tall. We’re in the market for a new post and would love one of these !
May 9th, 2010 at 9:36 am
These look great. My cat and I would both love it!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Cool.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:36 am
These scratch toys are neat. My cat would love them.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:37 am
How clever, a post made out of tree bark, just like they’d use outside! My guys would love that!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:37 am
I’m quite interested in these scratching posts. I’m looking to move to a bigger house and that means its time to find another scratching post. I really like the look of the wood post and it being made from Wisconsin wood is a nice little bonus.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:37 am
Both the cork and the cedar seem like good ideas. My kitty loves to stretch so a nice tall post should be right up her alley. The cardboard scratchers I have for her now don’t seem to hold her interest (she has started shredding my yoga mat instead!). I’d love to find something she likes to scratch that isn’t something I want to use as well!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Alasdair, Emlyn, Julian, and Oliver agree: the tall cork scratcher would be perfect for us!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Hmmmm….looks really good….
May 9th, 2010 at 9:38 am
What a great idea using cork! And I love the “string”, my cats would be sure to love these scratching posts!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:39 am
Wow these are really nice looking scratching posts.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:39 am
My cat loves scratching wood; I never caught her doing it until recently.
I would notice the frame around the patio storage door all mangled and
wondered how it got that way. Well, Mickie, my calico was the little
villain behind it. I saw her committing the crime one day and she was busted!!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:39 am
I would love to have one of these for my cats. We’ve tried the carpet-covered scratchers, and the cats like them, but they also tend to try to eat the loose threads. Not good.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Very interesting idea!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:41 am
My cats don’t have claws, but I would donate this post to a pet shelter so other kitties could enjoy it.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:41 am
I would like to try out this new idea…at least new to me. My cats also like vertical scratching…I think it is more natural to them and they can really get a good stretch which seems to be very satisfying to them.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:42 am
I love that they are tall.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:43 am
One of my cats is really long, bet she would love that scratcher instead of my computer chair!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:43 am
how fun is this?? You find the most amazing stuff!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:44 am
My kitty is reading this post with me, and he is ready to try this out!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:45 am
These are great!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Love the cork scratch post! Nothing but THE BEST for our pets and it’s natural and that makes it even better
May 9th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Looks like a really good idea for scratching, something that the kitties would like to use.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:46 am
These are neat! I like that your review addresses concerns about splinters and crumbly bits, too — thanks for thinking about those things!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:46 am
These are so much more attractive than those carpet-covered monstrosities!! I think my two kitties would love the cork one!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:46 am
These look absolutely terrific! I’m not sure how my cats would respond to the wood or cork, since they’re used to scratching on sisal, cardboard, and, yeah, our furniture. But I bet at least some of them would sink their claws in!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Simple design, great idea of textures. I’ve never tried wood or cork for my cats. It would be interesting to see if they take to them. Definitely nice looking scratchers!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:47 am
Love it, my cats will too…..it would be great to win this for them!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Curious about both of these scratchers. 1. will cats really be able to dig into the hard wood and 2. how long does the cork last compared to sisal and carpet? Would love to try one to see.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:49 am
THIS sounds AMAZING! I have 6 cats, and a “foster” cat while my daughter is out of the country working…so I could put this scratcher to REALLY good use!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:49 am
this sounds novel and interesting – I’m honestly not sure how my cat would react or if she would like the wood – but the cork must be good (and it looks great too)
May 9th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Kallie loves her rope scratch, think she would really like this.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:53 am
Funny Toy. My kitty love this scratcher.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:54 am
These products are beautiful; I love the looks of them. My four ‘kids’ would definitely love them for other reasons…lol
May 9th, 2010 at 9:54 am
my cat hates sisal. this is the perfect alternative!