Corrugated card is the surface most cats pick when you put several in front of them and let them choose. It gives under the claw in a way sisal does not, it makes the noise they seem to want, and it costs little enough that you can replace it the moment it stops being interesting. The triangle shape adds the other thing cats reliably like, which is something to sit on top of.

Two shapes are offered and they behave differently in a room. The medium is a hollow triangle, so a cat can work the outside faces and then go through it or settle inside, which is useful in a household where somebody wants to disappear for an hour. The small is solid all the way through, making it heavier for its size, much harder to skid across a wooden floor, and better as a straightforward scratching wedge beside a sofa.

• Corrugated paper construction throughout
• Medium: hollow black triangle. Small: solid black wedge
• Around 1kg
• Works as a scratcher and a perch at the same time
• Supplied as one scratcher

Corrugated card sheds, and all of it does. You will sweep flakes up around this, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. Treat it as a consumable: a heavy scratcher works through one in a few months, and that is the trade-off for a surface cats genuinely prefer.

What the options mean. Sizes run from S to M — £20.99 for the smallest, £23.99 for the largest.

Who it's for: Cats who scratch flat rather than upright, multi-cat homes that get through scratchers quickly, and small flats where a full-height post will not fit anywhere sensible.