It keeps them from scratching up my furniture. They love it and just go to town on it. This is probably my third one, but they do last a long time. The ball on the top, however doesn’t last very long. They play with that so hard that they tear it up pretty quick.

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This is the second one I have purchased because my cats love the one so much I had to get them another one. It's funny to watch them zoom and zip between the two and play. Great product!

When the first one arrived it was missing the bolt that fastens the two poles together, so I just left the top part off. Months later, when they had destroyed the pole, I replaced it with the top pole. I’m sure it’s an illusion, but it seems to last a very long time by using half of the pole at a time.My two cats just love this pole. The smaller one frequently sits on the platform and wraps all four paws around the post.Using the single pole changes the center of gravity, so the platform stays wherever I place it. The only "maintenance" necessary is vacuuming up cat claw sheaths.The coupon is tempting me to purchase our third one to keep in reserve.

This is my second purchase. The cats loved the first one so much, they broke it in half, so I had to get a second one. It's very sturdy and my cats use it multiple times each day. The first one fell during a rough play session between the cats and dogs, and broke in half, otherwise it would still be here. The roping is very durable and all the scratching doesn't seem to harm it. I have larger cats and it is tall enough for them to stretch all the way up. Easy to assemble and is stable on its base.

I had ordered this scratching post to replace the same style my cat has used for over 5 years. It's still stable but the top section of Sisal had become very frayed and was shedding. While this product was not from the same company, it is the same size and design as my worn out one so I thought it would be OK. I did not realize the material of the base was just pressed board and broke in half in just a couple of weeks. With the cat standing on his back paws and working the top half of the post, the whole thing rocked unsteadily. Fortunately, I had not thrown out the old one and rather than returning this inadequate product, I took the top half of the new post and screwed it to the top of my old post. The screws and threads were identical, though the top half of the post just a tad longer. Does not seem to make a difference, however. Happy cat, happy me.

We turned to this thrifty priced scratcher while standing in the hardware store looking at the big expense of buying wood to make our own.We were alarmed at the small package which is due to the base coming as two separate pieces. The only thing that holds them together are the carpet and being sandwiched between a small washer and the hollow post. This seems to be a durability issue and if you look at the few 1 star reviews, that’s a common complaint.To prevent that from happening, I glued and screwed an 1/8 in piece of board I had laying around to the bottom. Conveniently it already had a hole on the center so I could attach the post as designed. This will improve the sturdiness immensely.My kitty started scratching within 1 minute of putting it out for her and reports that the 32” height is perfect for stretching and scratching.We’ve had scratching posts the entire time we’ve had cats and none of them have scratched the furniture so they are a damage saver and an essential tool of cat ownership.So far so good.

PRODUCT LISTING IS NO LONGER THE PRODUCT I PURCHASEDNormally I wouldn't post a review of this before even cat-testing it, but this product has 0 reviews as of right now, so I figured I'd at least give my first impressions. I will try to remember to update once it's been scratched a bit.First, some specs. The base is 16" x 16" chip-board. Post is 3" diameter, 32" tall. There rope has 6 windings per inch, (~4mm diameter rope). Toy on the top is soft faux fur with on 6" of string. No assembly instructions included, but it's really self-explanatory.Parts:- Base: Comes as 2 halves connected together by the faux fur stapled to it. There's a hole through the seam between the two pieces, countersunk for a washer and bolt head. Photo will explain better.- Bottom Pole: 3" diameter x 15" length, threaded nut built into both ends.- Top Pole: 3" diameter x 15" length. Top has faux fur and a danging toy. The top is not solid or removable. It feels like the fur is wrapped over plastic, makes a crinkling sound when you press on it.- "Connect Board": a wooden ring with a hole in the middle, covered with faux fur.- Allen-head bolt- Threaded rod- Large washer- Allen key.Assembly:- The base is split in two, but the carpet does not have a hole in the center. You'll need to cut one. Easiest way I found is to fold the two halves of the base together and use scissors to cut a small slit in the fur from the back.- Thread the bolt and washer from the bottom through the base, and into the bottom pole. Tighten with the allen key. Make sure the halves of the base are even.- Thread the rod into the bottom pole, add the "connect board", then thread the top rod onto it. I don't think there's a stop for how deep the rod goes, so try to keep it so that the same amount goes into both poles. Tighten by spinning the top pole.- You could also assemble this using only the top pole to make it 16" tall if you wanted.It looks pretty much exactly like the product picture. It's a really really cheap design, but it looks nice enough. I figured why spend $50 on something that is going to get destroyed anyway? I think this will actually be very easy to maintain/repair, though for the price it may be a wash whether to repair or just replace. The base plate can be easily replaced by anything you want, provided you can drill a hole through it for the bolt. The poles seem to be pretty standard rope-wrapped-around-cardboard-tube.It seems quite stable. With no weight on it, I'm able to tip the base up until one side is about 12" off the ground (about 50 degrees) before it topples over instead of righting itself.The fur on the base wraps around, so I think there's minimal risk of scratching the floor. But that does mean that it will slide around a lot. Might be worth adding some rubber feet if this will be on hardwood or tile so the cat doesn't have to chase it around. Or maybe that will be fun.Overall, it's about what I expected and looks to be a pretty good value.UPDATE: I've had this post and my cat for about a month. It took her a little while to get used to it, but she now American Gladiator style climbs right up the post and dives off it. It seems to be holding up just fine. HOWEVER, because the product listing is now completely different than the one I bought, I'm dropping the rating all the way down, since it's not even the same product anymore.