Eva sent in these photos of the cat shelves and sisal scratcher that she made for her two beautiful Ragdolls, Ezra and Aurum. I love the cushions she used and how she added Velcro to hold them in place. Below, Eva describes how she made everything.

I always thought most scratching and climbing trees are not so attractive or, if they are nice to look at, very expensive. So I decided to make my own for my two Ragdoll cats Ezra and Aurum.

Things you need;
– wooden board of at least 2cm thick in whatever size you want
– sisal carpet
– strong and big enough brackets
– big wall screws and plugs
– little screws (for the brackets and shelves)
– cushions
– velcro
– sewing equipment
– water-based carpet glue
– water-based stain
– sanding paper
– tacking machine
– drill

After I sawed the wood into the sizes I wanted, I started by drilling holes in the 2 by 40 by 120 cm wooden board (for the screws later), sticking sisal carpet on it with water-based carpet glue, and tacking the back for extra strength.

I sanded and stained the wood shelves (also water-based, of course) and tacked one side of the Velcro on the wood. Then I had to sew the other side of the Velcro on the cushion at the same place (hated that job, but it turned out great!)

I attached the brackets to the shelves and everything onto the wall with big, strong screws and plugs. Make sure to choose brackets that can hold the weight of your cats when they jump, since the weight is much more when jumping.

Now my two cats can jump, scratch and climb all they want! The thing they love most is to sleep on the cushions and climb up the sisal board and I just love looking at my two babies playing.

–Eva