Self Petting Station

  This is a fun little project that can be completed in an hour or two depending on what you have laying around the house.  It's a self-petting station for your cats so that they can get a good back scratching while you're at work or away on vacation.  I found the Ad while looking for toys to keep my cats active, I hate seeing them board.  Here is a link to the original Ad;                  http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3261+1897+26492&pcatid=26492 .                                                                                                                                                                            As you can see in the Ad, they want $18 for this product.  I made mine for about $6. 

  Here are the things you will need:    1. 2 toilet bowl brushes, the best color you can find.    2. A board roughly 12"x12", any shape you like.    3. A small block of wood 1"x1"x1", any shape you like.    4. Fabric or carpet to cover the board.    5. A drill and a set of drill bits.    6. Guerrilla Glue (the kind that expands) or Hot Glue.     7. Staple gun, this is optional.      8. Spraypaint, this is optional.     9. A yardstick.     10. A sharpie.                     

The first thing you will want to do is remove the brushes from the handles.

  When you have removed the brushes, you will notice bare wire on either end of each brush.  These sections of bare wire will be used to connect the two brushes together.    Get your small block of wood, mine is a piece of closet hanger rod as you can see.  Drill a hole through the center, large enough for both brush ends to fit through.  Paint or stain this now if you want to.

Squeeze some glue onto one end of each brush.  Put one brush end through one side of the hole, and the other through the opposite side.  Now you have one long brush.

 Take your base board and staple or glue the fabric or carpet to it.

  Line up your yardstick from corner to opposite corner,  diagonally across the base board.   Find the center of the board.  Measure out about 4" to 5" on either side of center and make a small mark with a sharpie.  Drill a hole through the board at each Sharpie mark using a bit big enough to fit one brush end through.

Now squeeze some glue onto each brush end and fit them into the holes on the baseboard.  When the glue dries, you're finished.   To introduce it to your cat/cats, sprinkle some cat nip on it, sit back and enjoy!