Signe Brewster is an editor focused on technology. She also writes about virtual reality and has tested everything from robots to 3D printers.
My husband and I lovingly referred to our late cat Bucky as “Buckward Scissorhands” because he just didn’t know what to do with his claws. Despite his weekly clipping sessions, I often woke up to little knives kneading my neck and cheeks.
Sometimes he stood up to stretch against a window and yowled in frustration when his claws got stuck in the screen. And don’t even ask me about the state of the fabric on my favorite sofa.
The day we bought a Pioneer Pet SmartCat Ultimate Scratching Post was the day Bucky finally found a purpose for his claws.
Our pick
Its durable woven sisal lasts longer than carpet and is better for your pet than rope. It's also one of the tallest scratchers we tested, so your cat can stretch out.
Multiple times a day, he stretched his lanky kitty noodle body out to reach nearly to the top of the post’s 32-inch frame. And then he’d scratch-scratch-scratch before bounding off to do god knows what (though unfortunately he never learned to trim the hedges).
While I can’t say that Bucky stopped scratching the sofa entirely—I used a fabric shaver to clean up the loose threads—the frequency of destruction dropped dramatically with our redirection efforts. The scratching post was so effective that we bought a second post to lure him away from our fabric bed frame.
After more than two years, the woven-sisal scratching post still looks nearly brand-new, with no signs of fraying. Guide author Kaitlyn Wells, senior staff writer, found that the natural fiber shreds cleanly (unlike carpet) and doesn’t become prickly over time (unlike sisal rope, also common among scratchers).
At 16 pounds, the scratcher is stable enough that you can store a potted plant on its top (which helps it blend into our living room), or your cat might prefer to use the post as a perch to survey their domain.
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The Ultimate Scratching Post is rectangular in shape, so if you want to encourage the most even wear, you should rotate it regularly. I also recommend placing one in every room where you’re trying to encourage your cat to stop scratching other furniture.
This post is part of our 2020 “52 Things We Love” series, an ode to Wirecutter picks that have withstood the test of time. Read the entire series.
The current version was edited by Alexander Aciman.
Meet your guide
Signe Brewster is an editor on Wirecutter's PC team. She also writes about virtual reality. She previously reported on emerging technology and science for publications like Wirecutter, MIT Technology Review, Wired, Science, and Symmetry Magazine. She spends her free time quilting and pursuing an MFA in creative writing.
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