Sundance on the ropes

In October of last year, Tom and John Dauphin used a rainy day when they could not go out to work on the railroad track to convert one of the support poles down in the basement to a scratching post for the cats. Now that the basement is finished, the two-by-fours that used to serve the cats for filing their claws have disappeared behind drywall. So Tom went online and found how to wrap a support pole with rope to give the cats a new place to claw. It took 200 feet of rope to wrap the entire almost-seven-foot pole, and they spent pretty much all day at it.

We weren't sure whether or not the cats would take to it. Cats are not big on change of any sort. We rubbed catnip on it and would hold the cats' paws up to the rope. They looked perplexed but eventually start using it, although Cassidy still prefers to shred the boards on the deck. Sundance, however, uses the basement rope-wrapped pole regularly. You can hear the rumble throughout the house as she rakes her claws over the outer coating of the support beam.

Lately she has been particularly energetic and I see her run down the stairs and climb all the way to the top of the pole. I was hoping to get a video of this, but it was always over too quickly. I finally got a photo, although Sundance had already started back down by the time I clicked the camera. 

Maybe we should put a bell at the top for her to ring.