A few months back I had to give our cat tree a little makeover. Cat trees are usually pretty costly to start with and most of them are not particularly durable. They tend to be made out of cardboard which is then wrapped in pieces of thin carpet-like material and some sisal rope. Unfortunately (for the cat scratcher and your wallet), cats are wild beasts. They are predators. Destructors of all things fancy. Terrorists of your sleep. Tyrants of your knitwear. And their razor sharp claws aren’t particularly carpet fluff and cardboard friendly. Despite my DIY turning out pretty decent, I wouldn’t recommend buying a traditional cat tree to anyone. Unless you find a robust sturdy one made out of solid wood, but those are damn expensive! Instead, I have a more sustainable and very durable alternative that doesn’t cost a toe bean and a tail – the Catipilla wall-mounted cat scratcher.
Who is Catipilla?
Catipilla is a brand created by cat lovers – and those are the best people to create products for cats if you ask me. Their range of products covers everything from just-soft-enough cushions to scratcher posts and cat climbers. Cat climbers were in fact the very first products they designed. Their creation came out of necessity – as their beloved cat got older, she couldn’t jump up on the window sill as easily as she used to. They did just what every good pet parent would – they solved the problem. And the first cat climber was born! To keep your cat healthy and happy you ought to keep them active. And that’s exactly what Catipilla products are for. They allow your beautiful little beast be very active (organising private monkey races on the cat climbers) with occasional rest here and there (on the cushions) and their claws be as sharp as nails (thoroughly sharpened on the cat scratcher).
Review of Catipilla wall-mounted cat scratcher
Is a cat scratcher a necessity? Many would say no but then they probably haven’t discovered the Freddy Krueger-like claw tears in the back of their sofa yet. Cookie and Pippin are absolutely adorable when they’re snuggling at our side at night and warming our feet up on a cold winter evening. They are considerably less adorable when trying to rip up our sofa/carpet/jumper/arm chair/beanie bag/curtains/name any beautiful soft furnishing you wouldn’t even dream of being destroyed within seconds. That’s why they got their mighty cat tree in the first place. So my answer is yes. Yes, a cat scratcher is a necessity.
Is an expensive cat tree a necessity though? That would be a resounding no. I would definitely recommend a durable stand alone cat scratcher over a huge cat tree any time. I find that paper cat scratcher that you can get for a couple of quid get very messy very quickly. Cookie once got his claw stuck in it and started running around in sheer panic which resulted in a big tumble of Cookie/scratcher. Not the greatest of Cookie’s childhood memories. So when Catipilla came up with a super durable wall-mounted cat scratcher, I was very intrigued.
Catipilla wall-mounted cat scratcher is very easy to install – we secured it to one of the beams in our apartment. It will be very easy to take off and reattach somewhere else when we’re moving. The scratcher itself is light and made out of 85% recycled material. Its parts are replaceable and once secured to the wall it’s actually very very sturdy. You can see that Pippin enjoys climbing it and the scratcher stays put perfectly. The South American sisal rope is very robust too – there are no tugs and loose ends. Not to mention that the design of the scratcher itself is pretty neat – minimalist and sleek. It would look very pretty in just about any interior!
These cat scratchers are available in various sizes – ours is 60cm, and it costs reasonable £38 (by contrast, an average cat tree costs £150+). Catipilla now deliver worldwide too!
Thank you Catipilla for sending one of your cat scratcher for Pippin and Cookie to review, they absolutely love it!