Do Your Cats Scratch The Walls Up? How To Make It Stop?

[tinshopcats]

We're building a shed for our outside cats and they love anything made out of wood. We're going to go with vinyl plank flooring because of its durability and water resistance but we're struggling with what to do on the inside of the shed for the walls and ceiling because their climbing shelves will be near the ceiling in some places.

What has worked for you all? And/or what can you suggest we do? We were thinking about just plain plywood walls painted with a scratch and stain resistant paint but at the same time we'd love to give the inside a cabin feel.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

[sabian]

I wouldn't think it would be much different from being in a house. Provide them with scratching post which could be as simple as a 4 x 4. You could wrap carpet around it or sisal rope and try and make it more enticing than the walls. I don't know about painting the walls. I don't know of a paint that would resist cat claws and if they did scratch it they may ingest paint stuck under their claws. I would think about cat trees too.

 

[Raevyn]

We're building a shed for our outside cats and they love anything made out of wood. We're going to go with vinyl plank flooring because of its durability and water resistance but we're struggling with what to do on the inside of the shed for the walls and ceiling because their climbing shelves will be near the ceiling in some places.

What has worked for you all? And/or what can you suggest we do? We were thinking about just plain plywood walls painted with a scratch and stain resistant paint but at the same time we'd love to give the inside a cabin feel.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

The trick to stopping then from scratching things they shouldn't is to make sure they have lots of things they CAN scratch. What about some old scraps of plywood? As you have noticed cats love to scratch wood. We have an old wooden porch out back and the neighbours cat scratched it up long before we even moved in. I think the thing with the wall is cats also use scratching to stretch their backs and the walls are high enough for them to do that. The short scratching posts can often be ineffective because they can't get a proper stretch

 

[susanm9006]

I would panel the walls with the rough side of natural cedar tongue and groove wall panels and then let them scratch their hearts out on it. The paneling is relatively inexpensive, holds up well, is a natural deodorizer, is an easy DIY project and will definitely give the cabin feel.

Here are the ones I have used on my porch

https://www.menards.com/main/paint/...r-wall-plank-14-sq-ft-pkg/p-1444430610574.htm

 

[nansiludie]

Would you be able or willing to put up some kind of easily washable material? Like vinyl flooring or kitchen type tiles?