This is a specific conversation about Cat scratching posts — ones they'll actually use — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
Going fully indoor after years of free outdoor access is a big adjustment — and for a cat who's been scratching tree bark, most shop scratching posts will feel completely wrong. Bark gives real resistance and texture; carpet posts and cheap sisal just don't compare. The most common reason cats ignore scratching posts is they're too short for a full stretch, too wobbly to trust, or the wrong material entirely. Before I point you toward something, a few quick questions: how big is your Ocicat, do they tend to scratch vertically on trees or did they also dig into roots and low bark horizontally, and what are they going after indoors right now — furniture, door frames, carpet?
He's a big boy, about 5.5kg. Always went vertical on tree trunks, really full stretch stuff. Indoors he's been attacking the corner of a wooden door frame and a sisal doormat we had lying around — so he clearly likes the sisal texture, just nothing's tall enough for him.
inparticular.ai
That's really useful — the fact he's already gravitating toward your sisal doormat tells you exactly what you need. He wants the rough, natural fibre texture that's closest to bark, and vertical full-stretch scratching at his size means you need something tall. For a 5.5kg Ocicat doing proper vertical stretches, you want at minimum 90–100cm of usable post height, and it has to be rock solid or he'll reject it immediately. What's your current setup — do you have any scratching posts already, or are you starting from scratch?
Starting from scratch. We had a small wobbly one years ago and he ignored it completely. Happy to spend properly on something he'll actually use.
inparticular.ai
Good — that wobbly post experience is exactly why stability matters so much. If it moved even slightly when he pushed into it, he would have written it off as unsafe and never gone back. For your Ocicat I'd go with the Scratchy Corner XXL Sisal Scratching Post by Scratchy Corner — it's 100cm tall, wrapped in thick natural sisal rope rather than woven fabric, and has a genuinely heavy base that doesn't shift. The sisal is coarse enough to be satisfying for a cat used to bark, and at 100cm a large cat gets a real full-body stretch. It's one piece rather than a cat tree, so it's easy to position near the door frame he's been using — which matters, because cats scratch where they want to scratch, not where you put things. Place it right next to that frame initially, and once he's using it consistently you can gradually move it if you want.
That sounds exactly right. Is there anything I should do to help him transition to it, or just put it down and hope for the best?
inparticular.ai
Don't leave it to chance — a few small things make a real difference. Position it right next to the door frame he's already scratching so it's in his established spot. Sprinkle a small amount of dried valerian or silvervine at the base rather than catnip — Ocicats and many adult cats respond better to those. Don't push his paws onto it or try to demonstrate; that usually just makes them avoid it. Give it a week in that spot before you consider moving it anywhere. The sisal texture combined with the height and stability should do most of the work, especially since he already showed you he likes sisal with the doormat.
Really helpful, thank you. I'll try the valerian tip too — didn't know that.
inparticular.ai
It's genuinely underrated compared to catnip, especially for older cats. Good luck with the transition — going fully indoor at nine is a real adjustment, but sorting the scratching outlet early removes one major source of frustration for him. He should take to that post well given what he's already telling you with the doormat.
