Target Is Selling Holiday Cat Scratchers That Look Like They're From The North Pole

One of the great joys of having a pet is getting adorable pet gear for them. Do the pets usually care how cute it is? Of course not — but their humans do, so, really, everyone wins. Such is the case with Target’s Wondershop cat scratchers and other cat gear: Shaped like a little café and Santa’s toy shop, the cat scratchers offer fun, holiday-themed twists on a tried-and-true cat favorite — and it is so, so cute. The activity cubes and tunnel, meanwhile, inject a little holiday spirit into a couple of common fixtures of cat-centric households. And, uh, folks? I am highly, highly considering getting all of these items for my little beasts. They’ll have so much fun with them — and think of the pictures!

The most notable, I would argue, is the “Hot Cocoa Café” cat scratcher, because, I mean… people. It’s basically a tiny Starbucks for your cat. That is both hilarious and adorable. But the café, which measure 17.38 inches high, 17.5 inches wide, and 19.5 inches long, isn’t just cute; it’s actually quite practical and functional, combining a ton of many cats’ favorite pastimes into one package: Scratching things, hiding in boxes, sitting on top of things, and poking at things that make noise. Both levels of the little cardboard café have corrugated cardboard scratchers on the “floors” — y’know, these things:

I don’t know about you, but my cats love those kinds of scratchers. (Sometimes they love the arms of my couch more, which is, uh, not great, but hey, at least they’re easily distracted.) A giant box full of those things is definitely their idea of a good time.

Speaking of the giant box, that’s essentially what the Hot Cocoa Café is — and as we all know, there are few things cats love more than boxes. Whenever you get them some fancy toy, they’re usually more enamored of the box the toy came in than the toy itself. This time, though, the toy is a box, which pretty much guarantees they’ll spend 99 percent of their time inside it. The second level also offers a nice, high vantage point, in case your cat is the type that likes to literally put itself on a pedestal and watch the world from on high. And lastly, there’s a jingle ball toy tucked into the “drive-thru” window, which your beast will no doubt get great enjoyment out of batting.

Also, there’s a DRIVE-THRU WINDOW. I LOVE IT.

If your cats prefer their playthings to be a little simpler, though, there’s also the “Santa’s Toy Shop” scratcher. It’s a little bit smaller than the Hot Cocoa Café, measuring 15.5 inches high and 15 inches both wide and long; it also only has one corrugated cardboard scratcher and lacks the jingly toy. Additionally, the peaked roof might make some cats less likely to want to climb on top of it (although some might be fine with it, as this particular cat demonstrates). Like the Hot Cocoa Café, though, it still lets cats both scratch and hide to their heart’s content, as well as play peek-a-boo through the windows.

And lastly, there are a few non-scratcher cat items available in the Wondershop: A two-pack of holiday-themed pop-up cubes and a similarly festive pop-up tunnel.

The cubes, which measure 20 inches high by 15 inches wide and long, are just your standard cat cubes gussied up for the holidays; they give your pets somewhere to hide, with the cutouts on each side offering both ingress and a fun way to play. The crinkly toys on the tops of each are a nice touch — I dig that they’re designed to look like gift bows.

The tunnel, meanwhile, measures 30 inches in length, giving your pets lots of space in which to hide — or, if they’re anything like my cats, through which to dive, particularly in pursuit of toys waggled in front of the opening on the other end. Adorned with a winter village scene, they’re seasonally appropriate, even if your cat doesn’t care what it looks like.

You can even connect all three items:

And, uh, speaking from experience? Do that if you spring for the full set. Your pets will (probably) love it.

Reviews for all of the Wondershop cat scratchers are generally quite good; the two cat scratchers and the cubes all come in at five stars, with the Hot Cocoa Café ranking the most highly of the bunch. The tunnel doesn’t seem to be quite as much of a hit, with some reviewers noting that it might not work for bigger cats; even so, though, it might be worth a shot for you, particularly if you know your cats like these kinds of toys.

This isn’t the first time Target has offered seasonal cat toys that are as fun for humans as they are for pets; in the fall, a haunted house-themed cat scratcher similar to the Hot Cocoa Café achieved a comparable level of fame. Clearly the company took note. (In fact, given the structural similarities of the two cat scratchers, it looks like Target may have used the same pattern from the haunted house scratcher and given it a new look for the winter holiday season.) I’ll be curious to see whether other themed, house-shaped cat scratchers emerge with the changing seasons throughout the year — but in the meantime, if you’ll excuse me, I have a Target order to make.