The Catit Design Senses Scratch Pad Refill is the replacement card insert for the Catit Design Senses Scratch Pad. The corrugated card is the part that wears out, and it is sold on its own so you can keep the frame rather than buy a new scratcher.

Key Features

• What It Is: A single corrugated cardboard scratching insert, cut to drop into the Design Senses Scratch Pad frame
• Treat Cut-Outs: Openings in the card let you push a few treats or a pinch of catnip in, which is the quickest way to get a cat interested in a pad it has been ignoring
• Replaces The Consumable Part: The frame lasts; the card does not. A refill costs a fraction of the complete unit
• Check The Model: It fits the Catit Design Senses Scratch Pad. Catit's other scratchers take their own refills, so check the name on your frame before ordering

Why Cats Scratch

Scratching is not a bad habit. It pulls the worn outer sheath off the claws, stretches the back and shoulders, and leaves both a visible mark and a scent mark from glands in the paws. A cat that has nowhere acceptable to do it uses the sofa. The single thing that decides whether a scratcher gets used is where you put it: beside the furniture the cat has already chosen, or on the route it takes after waking up, not tucked in a spare room.

Catnip Does Not Work On Every Cat

The response to catnip is inherited, and a sizeable minority of cats -- commonly put at around a third -- do not react to it at all. Kittens usually do not respond until they are a few months old. If catnip does nothing in your house, try silver vine or valerian instead, or simply use a few of the cat's normal treats in the cut-outs.

Who Makes It

Catit is the cat brand of Rolf C. Hagen, the Montreal company founded in 1955. The Design Senses and Flower Fountain ranges are its best known, and parts for them are sold separately so a unit can be repaired rather than replaced.

Good To Know

• Corrugated card sheds as it is used. A ring of cardboard fluff around the pad is the product working, not a defect -- run the vacuum past it when you do the room.
• Turn it over once one side is shredded. Most cats will keep using a pad long past the point an owner thinks it looks finished.
• Do not spray a cardboard scratcher with water or cleaner. It softens and loses the texture the cat is there for.