Cardboard beats sisal and carpet at one thing neither can match: it comes apart under the claw. The shredding is the reward, and cats who walk straight past a rope post will work a corrugated pad hard enough to leave a small pile of confetti beside it every morning. That mess is the product doing its job, and it is the trade you are making when you buy one.

These are dense corrugated paper cut into triangles, arches and shaped panels, with a dinosaur and a mermaid among the outlines, in both hollow and solid-core builds. Hollow shapes are lighter and give a cat somewhere to hook a paw through; solid core lasts longer under a heavy scratcher. Angle matters more than shape. A triangle lets a cat scratch on the diagonal, which is the posture most cats fall into in the first few seconds after waking up.

• Corrugated paper board construction
• Hollow and solid-core versions across the range
• Shapes include triangle, hollow paw print, dinosaur and mermaid
• Sizes run small, medium, large and extra large
• Maker's guide: medium suits cats to around 3kg, large to around 5kg
• Extra large is rated for cats of any size
• Catnip listed as included, one board per pack

Two things worth knowing. Corrugated cardboard sheds, so expect flakes on the floor and a pad that wants replacing once or twice a year; that is wear, not a fault, and no cardboard scratcher avoids it. The other thing is the options list. Those single letters are the factory's own colour codes rather than a size chart, so tell us the size and shape you want and we will match it to the right letter instead of leaving you to guess from a translated list.

Who it's for: cats who scratch horizontally, kittens learning where the claws are allowed to go, and anyone in a rented flat trying to hand the carpet back in one piece.