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 9:56 am
This is a really clever idea!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:57 am
My kitties love scratchers
May 9th, 2010 at 9:57 am
hmmm… i think this might save my furniture. I like that it’s not covered in ugly carpet, although I’d have to do something to disguise the big feet.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:57 am
Ingenious idea! We once put out a stump for the cat to scratch on, but it was a huge mess. This is much more contained
May 9th, 2010 at 9:58 am
OOHHH I want this! No carpet fibers/sisal threads to get stuck in my kittie’s nails.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:59 am
I just love the cork idea. This product looks eco friendly, assuming the base isn’t made with chemicals. Even so, it’s far more preferrable to the typical carpet cat scratch post. Great find!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:59 am
i’m loving the looks of the scratchers but will the cork pieces come off?
May 9th, 2010 at 9:59 am
I would have never thought of using cork…these are very cool!
May 9th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Very cool products!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:00 am
Very interesting idea with the cork…I think, once any cat got used to the new material, they would absolutely love it. I know my kitties would. And it looks nice too.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:01 am
My cats would love this!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:01 am
I love the idea of a cork scratcher. I would think having a completely different texture to scratch on in addition to the more traditional cardboard and sisal, would be exciting for any cat.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:02 am
The cork is such a great idea. I want to scratch it myself!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Cork! Wow – would never had thought of that as a scratching post. Sounds cool! Thanks for the offer.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:04 am
I really like the idea of cork and cedar. Right now my roommates use sisal covered posts but they look bad after a few days of use. The cork and the untreated cedar probably do not change much even after the cats enjoy themselves.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:06 am
My guys could really put a dent in this one!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:07 am
I love the idea of a cork scratching post! And I bet the cedar one smells good.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:07 am
This would be great for my little ones!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:08 am
Yes yes yes, the cork post seems great! Right now we have siszal and cardboard scratching surfaces at home that my cat is allowed to use… I wouldn’t encourage her to scratch directly on wood for the sake of my furniture, but cork seems like a nice alternative surface that kitty would love to scratch on!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:08 am
Interesting idea.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:08 am
My kids would really enjoy road testing this one!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:08 am
This is great. I love it’s simplicity. Curious to see how it holds up.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:09 am
it looks great! would fit in perfectly with my furniture
May 9th, 2010 at 10:10 am
What a neat idea, using cork as a scratching post. My kitties would love to give this one a test drive.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:11 am
What a great scratching post! Love that it’s all natural. My kitties would love trying to get the toy at the top.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:13 am
I don’t think the cork would last long with my Angel, but would love to try it! It’s a different idea than I have seen before.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:14 am
this scratching post is gorgeous and just what we need to help out cats not hit up our couch so often!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:16 am
My cats always scratch our firewood when we bring it in so I am sure they would love this too.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Finally – a cork scratching post! Mine love to scratch on my cork bulletin board so this is perfect. I would love to be able to give my cats something they are supposed to scratch on.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:21 am
We could always use another scratching post around here…
May 9th, 2010 at 10:22 am
I love that it is natural and it must smell nice too!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:24 am
I’ve never seen cork used as a material for scratchers. I’d definitely like to have my cat try it!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:25 am
I’d love to get one of those for my girls! They love reaching up high to stretch-one currently tries to do it on my walls
They really like the currogated cardboard ones-but those can be messy. This sounds like a great alternative! Great article!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:26 am
These look VERY sturdy, with an excellent base to withstand a tall, 22 pound Maine Coon, or any other big, active cat. My big guys could easily scratch about on it without knocking it over. It bugs me when cat furniture is created for kitten sized cats. I have noticed that my cats prefer real wood to carpeted, or sisal covered posts.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Another great idea! If a little cork comes off…who cares? Our cats have literally shredded 2 of those carpeted covered round pedistals with the holes in it…EVERYDAY there’s a lot of the carpet fibers from that little cat cave!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:27 am
These are really nice … loved reading the history of them. My houseful of furkids would love one of these >^..^<
May 9th, 2010 at 10:27 am
I would love one of these for my cats to try. I like the mouse hole at the top!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:28 am
These are awesome! I really appreciate all the thought that clearly went into the design of these.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Our family of furrys are big time scratchers! We are constantly re-sisaling their posts. I would love to let them give one of these a try. Nicer looking than shredded sisal, too!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:29 am
This would be great for our cats, especially the cork version.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:30 am
My cat is in need of a new scratcher, and these look awesome! I like how they are made of materials that will definitely last longer than the cardboard scratcher that I have at home. they look great!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:30 am
I love having products that are Earth friendly for my kitties. This is a good idea. Cork? Who knew??
May 9th, 2010 at 10:30 am
These products look awesome! I have four kitties that love to scratch on wood – they haven’t encountered cork yet – I bet they’d like the cork as well.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:32 am
I love the idea of a natural wood scratching post! Maybe it would stop my cats from scratching up the legs of my settee at the end of my bed.
I am very curious about the cork. I would like to test it out. I was thinking about getting a cork floor for my kitchen. This would be an inexpensive way of testing whether that would work or not! LOL
May 9th, 2010 at 10:33 am
I’ve been searching for an attractive scratching post — here it is! My two cats would love it.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:33 am
Wow! These would be wonderful for my little scratchers! Great design!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:34 am
I have a sisal scratching post, which the cats do use and requires replacement at least twice a year. It would be great to have a product that is more eco-friendly and durable.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:35 am
My kids would love to get their claws into this!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:35 am
These are really interesting! I would love to see how my cats react to the different scratching options
May 9th, 2010 at 10:35 am
interesting material for a scratcher!