Cactus Scratching Post Review: Invest in a tall sturdy post

When our sturdy, tall but boring scratching post that we've had for a decade began to fall apart, I started researching replacements. I wanted to try something fun, but still meet the cat's needs in terms of scratching. Ideally, the post should be tall enough that a cat can reach up high with his paws and get a good back muscle stretch. Sisal is preferred with most cats, mine included.

Cactus scratching posts seem very popular and are so cute. I researched Cactus scratching posts and decided on the affordable 27 inch PAWS Cactus 3 post scratcher for $40. My son easily put it together, but I immediately noticed that the top 9 inches of the tall post and the entire small post was covered in soft carpeting. My cats nails get caught on those parts. My cats like the post a lot, but mostly use it for playtime. They like when the toy moves through the different posts and try to paw at it from the other side, as Luke is demonstrating in the picture. Unfortunately, this post could not replace our tall boring one since the cats are unable to get a full back stretch when standing tall to scratch.

I broke down and purchased the 41.3 inch VETRESKA Cactus Cat Scratching Post with Sisal rope. This post is tall and beautiful. The cats didn't immediately take to it, so I added silver vine odor enrichment which helped and then the next day I sprinkled catnip on top. All of the cats started to take turns checking it out, climbing it and scratching it. This post is a great replacement! It's super cute and meets the cat's scratching needs. Bonus points for being able to climb it. I didn't want to spend $140 on a new post, but it was worth it. Note: A few days after the below picture was taken, one of the flowers came off. The flowers are cute, but not why I purchased the post, so we're still happy with it.

Lily on top of the Vetreska Cactus while Josh watches from our old post.