Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So I have the most wonderful furry little friend. He's an angel, he's adorable and fuzzy and he's a little wall scratching demon cat. I've tried spraying the walls with repellent, I've tried covering them in tin foil (he scratched right through the foil). I've tried spraying him with water (he likes water. He plays in his water bowl!)... Everything I tried was a major failure. I put all kinds of scratching posts right next to were he normally scratches and he doesn't like them. He doesn't like the hanging ones, the rope ones or the posts. He ignores all of them... Then it occurred to me that besides the texture of the wall, he might actually prefer the solidity of it. Most of the scratching posts I've tried have a wiggle or wobble to them because they are just attached to a pedestal or hung from a nail. I was really excited when I found this vertical one that attaches to the wall, and with a few careful measures to make this a pleasurable experience, I'm proud to say he's actually using this scratching post! This is the first and only scratching post he has ever used. If you are wondering why I didn't give this 5 stars, it has only to do with the hooks they send for attaching it to the wall. I would suggest you discard these hooks and don't use them. They're flimsy and when I tested it out, it was fairly easy to pull the post right off of them. Instead of using the hooks, I used 4 extra long decking screws and just screwed right through the post in the top and bottom corners. I sunk the screws deeply enough that his claws won't likely hit them while he's scratching. The thing is solidly attached to my wall in the place where he previously chose to scratch. I was really carefully to introduce it to him in a fun way, which I think was helpful too... After making sure it was secure so he wouldn't have a bad experience with it falling on him, I took a bit of catnip and put it on the top edge and the bottom curved part. This got him really interested in it and he was rubbing all over it (so he was putting his scent on it, which they claim is part of the whole scratching experience). Initially, he actually fell asleep using the bottom of the post as a pillow. I thought this was a good start, so I walked away and let him enjoy it. When he got up later, I walked over to the post, and reached my hand down and started scratching it myself. This got him to stand up and put his paws on the the post because he was trying to get me to pet him and in order to rub my hand he had to stand up on the post. He immediately realized he could sink his claws into it, and started scratching right there (breakthrough!!!). So I gave him lots of love and encouragement as a reward. He proceeded to use it several more times last night, and each time I made sure to recognize his efforts when he was done. I won't pretend this is the full solution in itself because it isn't. I still have to address the other spots on the walls that he likes to scratch. I believe it will take a combination of replacing those with these awesome posts that he likes to use, and covering those areas for now so that they aren't enjoyable to scratch.... Since he prefers scratching at the corners of the walls, I'm starting with some of those clear plastic corner protectors. If I have to, I'll even consider attaching clear plexiglas over the areas that he repeatedly goes for. I think a hard plastic will definitely deter him from scratching in these areas, and now that he has a post that he likes, I hope it will be an easy switch!