Cat pet Live-a-board Scratching Post

Cat pet Live-a-board Scratching Post for our sailboat.

When we were living on board of our sailboat we had a number of cats. A cat on a boat needs a scratching post just like a land cat. They will use your teak woodwork and curtains and cushions if they do not have a place to claw.

We did not want to have the cats de clawed…they cannot catch bilge mice without them or deal with dock dogs. 8-) To provide them with a scratching post we wrapped the mast with carpet.  Our mast comes through the top of the cabin and steps below the cabin floor. It is center of the boat and provided a great scratching post. By rubbing cat nip into the nap of the carpet the cats quickly found and claimed the mast as theirs.

The can would come through the hatch to the mast and down into the boat.

I was pleased the cats stopped using most other things to claw on. A little reinforcement with the threat from a fly swatter stopped clawing in other places. One of the cats found he could climb the mast with the carpet on it and look out the hatch in the top of the cabin.  He could not go out that way, but he found he could come in that way by jumping from the hatch to the mast. It would drive me and the dog crazy. But that is what cats do. 8-)

It is a sailor's superstition that scratching the mast produces wind when you are becalmed...fortunately this is just a superstition, as we would have a had a continuous hurricane!