This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of The J.M. Smucker Company. The opinions and text are all mine.
How to Make a Tree Branch Scratching Post Cat Tower
I’ve always been slightly annoyed by those bumper stickers that say, “My child is on the honor roll.”
If you are one of those parents who have one on your car, I apologize for judging you, because now I understand …
But my child really is amazing, and I just have to brag about her.
No, it isn’t my one and only daughter, although she is very smart, but it’s actually her cat “child,” Mary Jane.
Technically, she’s my grandkitty, but when it comes to brilliance, I’ll claim her as my child. 🙂
You’ve met Mary Jane before HERE, although she was young and did her best to drive me crazy back then.
Now that she’s all grown up and has two adopted babies of her own, whom you met HERE, she’s mellowed out and is a candidate for cat sainthood, or at the very least, honor roll, if there was an honor roll for cats.
Seriously, have you ever seen a sweeter cat to love on kittens that aren’t even her own?
She comes when called, she leads the kittens like the grand marshal of a parade to my daughter’s room at night, and she even plays with our hyper dog.
Mary Jane can sit on command, and it’s the cutest thing ever. My daughter taught her using treats, and she was a quick learner.
She’s so snugly and loving that you can’t help but love her back.
We’re happy to spoil her with the foods she loves and the things she enjoys, because she deserves it.
She is an indoor cat, but she looks longingly out the window, so I built her an indoor cat climbing tower so she can enjoy the feeling of climbing a tree while staying safely inside.
How to Make a Tree Branch Indoor Cat Climbing Tower Scratching Post
1. Cut a thick branch from a dead tree and scrub the tree branch with a hot, soapy, bleach water solution using a wire brush to remove remnants of insects and their nests.
2. Attach a board with screws on the bottom as a stable base for the cat tree.
3. Apply a clear waterproof sealer for extra protection against bugs.
4. Paint the base and platform.
5. Use screws to attach the platform.
Now Mary Jane can survey her little kingdom and eat her favorite food (Meow Mix Rotisserie Chicken dry food) while out of reach of our dogs – which she loves!
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Walmart offers a full selection with different textures and flavors like grilled salmon, seared tuna, and rotisserie chicken, so every cat will have a favorite dry food, wet food, or treat.
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Would your cat love a tree cat climbing tower like the one I made for Mary Jane?
Feel free to brag about your super smart cat in the comments below! 🙂
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Vaya con Dios,
Disclosure – This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Meow Mix. All opinions are mine alone.
Mary Jane is a very smart girl indeed and a beautiful one too. Her face is so sweet. Your daughter did a great job teaching her to sit on command. Maybe I’ll try this with one of our kittens. Our Barney opens doors by jumping on the handle and pushing it down. We didn’t teach him that, he just started doing it one day. If we don’t want him to get into or out of a room or the house, we have to lock up the door.
We had to close off our doggy door, because Mary Jane realized she could go out too! Cats sure are smart, aren’t they, Julia?
We have three indoor cats. My husband is a carpenter, and we used his old, torn up Carhartt jeans to wrap a scrap 4×4 and wrap the top of a piece of scrap plywood for a cat ‘tree’ similar to yours. They absolutely love it, and have nearly torn the pants to shreds scratching it up. It’s much better than the cats sitting on his lap and scratching up his legs!
PS I just love your cat and family stories! 🙂
Our kittens climb our jeans too, but when they try to do it and I’m wearing shorts …OUCH!
While I have owned several cats over the years, one stood out as being extra special by far. This long-haired, black cat, Merlin was his name, had some serious personality! He and I were close right from the start. As a tiny kitten he used to sleep with me in my bed, and walk over my face when he got in and out of the bed. My youngest daughter, who lived with me at the time, prefers dogs to cats, and Merlin knew it. After a few weeks I introduced him to the great outdoors. He loved it! I could call him, and from wherever he was, he would come running back home and jump into my arms. I didn’t teach him that, he just did it on his own.
Whenever I had to leave the house, I would make sure that he was indoors. One day my daughter had a doctor’s appointment. I called for Merlin, who was outside, but he didn’t come. We called and called, no Merlin. I was about to search for him when suddenly he came walking up the steps. My daughter and I were both standing inside of the open front door. Merlin didn’t walk in as usual – he strutted! My daughter and I both stared with wide eyes as Merlin strutted past us with his tail sticking straight into the air. There was no doubt that he was the man of the house and he let us know it! As we stood watching him pass us , we noticed that there was a bunch of leaves and burrs stuck to his butt, ruining the masterful entrance he was trying to achieve. My daughter and I laughed until we cried.
LOL – he sounds like a real character, Andrea!
I adore my cats, I’ve had 4. Shelly is about 14 and she is very smart. If I am reading and she wants me to pet her, I just tap on the left side of the couch, since I am right handed and I want her to change sides, which she does. When she comes on my bed at night for a pet or scratch, I can get her to move to whichever side I prefer. So, I don’t have to wake up “too much” and she gets what she wants.
Cats are smart and loveable in their own way, how wonderful that Mary Jane is kind to the kittens, Shelly wasn’t thrilled when I adopted to rambuncious brothers.
I would love to have one of our cats sleep with us, but my husband won’t have anything to do with that, so my daughter gets them all. She loves how all three of them sleep on her and keep her cozy.
I’d love to brag about my one eyed no tailed cat my daughter dragged home as a rescue but when she accidentally snuck out the door last night and no one knew, I woke up to knocking on our door at 3 am and it was just her flinging herself into the window😂 I will say she has brought lots of laughter but no honor roll bragging rights quite yet❤️
LOL – well, you have yourself quite a cat, Julie! At least she knew what to do to get your attention to get back in the house!
Mary Jane must have been destined to be a mother! How sweet that she has adopted the kittens as her own.
To add to the cat stories, I’ll tell one. Years ago, when I was married, we had a grey tiger cat that we named Timothy. He had six toes on his front feet and had great balance and agility. We lived in a house where there was a piece of molding over the inside doors that made quite a wide shelf. Hard to describe, but Timothy would climb on top of the dresser in the bedroom and then spring up onto that shelf and sit looking like the raven in one of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories! He sometimes jumped down onto one’s shoulders also! Startling, if you didn’t know he was up there. Another thing he did was when we were seated at the table eating he would leap up onto our shoulders and dip his paw into whatever we were drinking. He especially liked when we were drinking milk! Definitely NOT my favorite of his little tricks! And when my then-husband rode his bicycle, Timothy would jump onto his shoulders and ride around with him. Mr Agility, that was Timothy!
Cats are fascinating creatures, for sure!
She was definitely meant to be a momma! Your Timothy sounds like a real character too, Naomi. We also had a cat (that just died last year and was 17 years old) that had an extra toe. We called her our mutant cat. I miss her so much. She was the other “old lady” in our house, aside from me!
Ok…… great tree idea, but that photo of Mary Jane with the kittens is tooooo darn cute!
Hi Angie!
Love your grand fur baby! She is a furry delicious creature! Your photos do her justice! Your cat tree made from a branch is a great idea! Perhaps, I will make one for our fur baby, Chloe. Being a persnickety fur baby, not sure she would use it!….LOL…;)
I wasn’t sure if Mary Jane would use it either, because she’s become a big cat, but she climbs right up it and the kittens love it too.
Love the tree you made.