Ikea Built My Cat Scratcher

Step 2: Setting Up Shop

Be sure your long, flat box is the right dimensions for your cat. Ideally, it's about as long as your cat is from nose to tail tip, and about twice as wide as your cat, and about as deep as your straight edge is wide... If the old wives are to be believed, your cat is approximately as wide as its whiskers. Even if it spreads out like a hot breakfast when it's sitting down.

If your base box is a little too big, you can cut it down, just make a straight cut all the way down the long way, bring the two halves together by the right amount, and run a strip of tape down the seam on the outside of the box. It's not load-bearing tape, but it will prevent the box halves from popping apart during the final step.

If your base box is too small... find another box. Or make a base out of yet another of those many pieces of cardboard hanging around.

!! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST THE SIZE OF YOUR CAT !!

Take a good look at your big sheets of cardboard, and figure out which way the grain goes. Look at the sides... two sides will have triangles, and two sides will not. You want to position the cardboard with the triangle sides left and right, and the sides without triangles at top and bottom. When you are cutting, you want to cut across the triangles as you pull your blade toward you. If you cut with the grain, it's not as fun to scratch on (or so I'm told).