The District 70 Sardine Cat Scratcher & Cave is a cave printed as an open sardine tin, rolled lid and all, with corrugated cardboard over the whole outside for scratching and a hollow inside for hiding.

Key Features

• A hiding place and a scratcher in one, which is unusual - most caves give a cat nowhere to scratch and most scratchers give it nowhere to hide.
• 60 cm long, 30 cm wide and 30 cm high, with an opening of 18 x 20 cm.
• The top is a corrugated surface too, so the cat can sit on it as well as in it.
• Reversible, which District 70 says roughly doubles the life of the piece - turn it over once one face is worn through.
• No assembly required.
• District 70 states this is made from 100% recycled corrugated cardboard, handmade, odourless and put together without toxic glues.

Available in: Pink, white or black.

Good To Know

• Cats use a cave for security rather than warmth. Put it where the cat can still see the room from inside, and never pull a cat out of one - a hiding place only works if it is respected.
• Check the opening against your cat. 18 x 20 cm suits most adult cats but is tight for a large Maine Coon or a heavy cat.
• Cats do not scratch to sharpen their claws. They scratch to shed the worn outer claw sheath, to stretch the whole back and shoulder, and to leave scent from glands in the paw - which is why a scratcher put in a spare room gets ignored.
• Put it where the cat already scratches, not where it suits the room. Beside the sofa arm, across a doorway or next to the bed all work. Once the cat has committed to it you can move it a few centimetres at a time.
• One scratcher per cat plus one spare, and mix horizontal with vertical. Most cats want both, and a cat given only one orientation finds the other on your furniture.
• A new scratcher usually needs selling. Rub catnip or silvervine into the corrugation, finish a wand game on it, and reward the first use. Never carry the cat over and push its paws at it - that puts a cat off for good.
• Corrugated cardboard sheds. Expect a ring of shredded card around it and plan to vacuum. That debris is the product working, not failing.
• District 70's own line is worth repeating: no scratching furniture is indestructible. It is meant to be scratched, so its condition changes as it is used, and normal wear is not a fault. District 70 covers manufacturing defects for 30 days.
• Cardboard furniture is light. A cat landing on it hard will shift it on a tiled or wooden floor, so a rug or a non-slip mat underneath is worth having.
• Fine for kittens, and worth starting early. A cat that learns to scratch cardboard at twelve weeks is far easier to live with at two years.
• If the scratching itself is the problem rather than the furniture, the answer is more scratchers, a nail trim every two to three weeks and soft nail caps - never declawing, which amputates the last bone of every toe and is banned across most of Europe.
• A sudden change is worth noticing. A cat that scratches far more than usual, or stops using a scratcher it liked, may be stressed, arthritic or sore in a claw. Check the paws and see a vet if anything looks tender.