DIY toy guide
Sisal-Wrapped Brick Doorstop Scratcher
A weighted brick wrapped in sisal that scratches and props doors
Wrap an ordinary brick in sisal rope and you get a heavy, stable scratch block that stays put under a determined cat — and doubles as a rustic doorstop when it's not in use.
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Time
- 30 minutes
- Cost
- £3–£6
🧺 You will need
- 1 clean, dry brick (a solid one with no sharp broken edges)
- A reel of natural sisal rope
- Strong non-toxic PVA or wood glue
- Scissors
- Optional: a scrap of thick fabric to line the base
🔧 How to make it
- Wipe the brick clean and let it dry completely; glue a scrap of fabric to the base if you want to protect your floor.
- Run a line of glue along one end and start winding the sisal rope tightly around the brick, keeping each turn pressed hard against the last.
- Work along the length of the brick, adding glue as you go, so there are no gaps and the rope cannot unravel.
- Tuck and glue the final end of the rope down firmly, then leave the whole thing to dry fully before use.
- Set it on the floor and let your cat discover it — a sprinkle of catnip on the rope helps the first introduction.
💡 Tips
- Its weight is the whole point: unlike a light cardboard scratcher, a brick doesn't skate across the floor when a cat digs in, so nervous scratchers commit to it.
- Stand it on end for vertical scratching or lay it flat for cats that prefer to scratch horizontally.
Safety: Use only a sound brick with no crumbling or sharp edges, wind the rope so no rough corner is exposed, and check periodically that the sisal stays firmly glued. Keep it away from spots where a cat could knock it off a height onto a paw.
📝 Notes
Cats scratch to strip old claw sheaths, stretch and mark territory, and they abandon a scratcher that wobbles or slides. A sisal-wrapped brick gives them the coarse texture they crave on a surface heavy enough to trust — and it tidies away as a doorstop between sessions.