My cat is an indoor cat and so requires a scratching post as she can't get out and about to claw trees or anything outside. Due to a lot of wear and tear on her little post, I decided that she should get a new one and started to have a look around online to see what was on offer.

I eventually decided to opt for one of the options available from Argos. My main reason for buying from this store was pure convenience if I am honest as it was nearing Christmas time and I had a whole bunch of things to collect from Argos so I thought I would kill two birds with the one stone and get this at the same time.

I was pleased then that the Argos cat post seemed to meet my criteria - it was quite small in height, and was not so high as to prove difficult for my old girl to use (she's very old and has a disability with her hind leg), the 'post' part was made of a twine or rattan material, and it cost under a tenner.

I did think that the post was a bit on the basic side but to be quite honest my girl is fairly old and is very frail these days and so she does not give her scratching post the attention that she once did. She does use it each morning when I get up (showing off to her mommy) but then it remains untouched for most of the day until my partner or myself return home from being out, when she then takes the opportunity once again to show off in that "Look at me mommy!" way that cats do.

My girl being a cat, she of course has that rather typical feline trait of exercising the odd 'exception to the rule' episode and she will sometimes quite randomly walk up to her post and claw it half-heartedly once or twice before returning to her bed., although I get the impression that this is done to humour mommy somewhat. Because of my girl's seemingly 'take it or leave it' attitude towards her post, I was happy with the price I was going to pay from Argos. Whilst not being the nicest looking scratching post I have ever seen, it suits my old girls needs to a tee and as it does not get used much I was happy with the fairly low cost I was paying which was £6.79.

Getting the item from Argos was easily done; I reserved the item online and collected it in my nearest store. I paid for the post in store and when it was handed over to me I was pleased to see that the box was not too big.

When I got home and opened the box I could see that the scratching post was in two separate bits and would need to be built together. The base part of the scratching post is a square that seems to be made of a hard wood material and is covered in a grey coloured sort of 'felt' material. The other part of the scratching post is the post itself which is made of a hard material similar to wood or something and the post is covered in a sort of twisted 'rattan' material which looks a little like rope and is wrapped around the post. This is of course the piece that your cat will be wanting to scratch (with a bit of luck, and save your furniture as a result). On top of the post is a little toy that is basically a little ball attached to a cord. The ball is made of a sort of furry grey coloured material.

The fact that the post was in two bits worried me slightly because I could never be described as being the 'handiest' person in the world and even the sight of a screwdriver is usually enough to turn me into a quivering wreck. These concerns soon subsided though when I saw that the bottom of the 'post' had a fairly large screw-type object protruding from the end. This made more sense when I scanned over the little illustrated instruction that was enclosed in the cardboard box alongside the post and saw that I was supposed to screw this into the 'base' of the cat post which had a large hole in the centre of the square base.

This allows the pole part to stand upright on top of the square base and so forms the 'body' of the scratching post! Voila! A highly incompetent and for-the-most-part-hopeless female (me) managed to assemble said scratching post in a matter of minutes.... Thus, I can only conclude that anybody (even a half trained monkey) could assemble this with ease.

My girl loves her new post and I think she actually uses this a little more than she used her old one which I am taking as very positive feedback from her. It is worth noting too that the post is easy for her to use due to it being just the right height for her needs. Anything too tall and she'd struggle to reach up on her hind legs and scratch it properly. The Argos post measures under 40cm high which seems to be spot on for my girl to reach when she is stretching up to scratch it.

I have noticed her scratching the felt-covered base of the post as well as the upright post itself. I think therefore that the material covering the base is possibly attractive to cats too, given my mog's liking for this.

The post may well be suitable for younger, smaller cats and kittens and it is definitely quite a nice and tidy size. It fits snugly into a corner in my hallway and it seems to be neater than her last post.

I would highly recommend this scratching post from Argos and I will buy it again when this one gets worn out. I find that my girl's posts generally last up to 12 months, until they finally succumb to too much wear and tear and the rattan covering around the post starts to unravel. This one is three months old and it still looks pretty new, so far so good then!

By buying the Argos post I have satisfied my cat's scratching needs and at the same time have saved myself the best part of a tenner, based on the fact that the last post I bought (which by the way was not as good quality as the little Argos one) cost around £15.

This Argos post gets a full Dooyoo stars rating from me and my moggy and I really recommend it! It's a fantastic little bargain!