If your kitten is 12 weeks old, his smelling senses may not be fully developed to know what the smell might be if it's coming from the scratching post. You can always add some catnip to attract the cat. If you've done your best to clean it, then it's all you can do. If your kitty absolutely refuses to use it, then you know you need to find another home for the scratching post. Everything Raiden has arrived new and he loves and uses all the scratching posts on the cat trees. If your little ones uses the scratching post, congratulations. It's a great design.

It's pretty simple: If you are concerned about fleas, a few puffs of flea spray will take care of that concern. And as for the smell... well, you'll find out of that is an issue. Either your cat will use it or he won't. You could always stack the odds a bit in your favor by spreading a small amount of catnip over it.

Personally though, my bigger concern would be if that design is even a reasonable one (curved surfaces? Why?). It's crazy, almost all of the surface area on that post is unusable. It's like they had a contest to figure out how much material they could use with the smallest amount of usable space and this was the winner.

I once ordered a really big cat tree over the internet, and what came in the mail is a really small scratching post with curved surfaces like yours (only smaller). The cats didn't even acknowledge it's existence. So anyway, no worries, no matter what you don't lose anything since you got it for free. Let us know how your cat likes it, I'm definitely interested to know.

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The little monsters 3

Fleas tend to like being on a host so unless the persons's house was really infested, I don't think it would be an issue. You could rub a lint roller over it to see if you pick up any fleas. I would catnip the thing up and let your little one have at it.

In response to the design comment someone made - cats like all sorts of things that are not designed well, or for cat use for that matter. I think of a too small cardboard box or a nap in a crock pot.

I would find a good flea powder and then after a day or 2 I would spray it with a 50/50 water/white vinegar mix which will completely eliminate any odors. After spraying just let it sit for a day and let it air dry or place a fan in front of it to dry and once its dry the vinegar smell will also go away.

Yup flea powder and the vinegar solution mentioned above are both good ideas.
You could also get the feliway spray to neutralise any pheromone smells, but the vinegar solution should also do that.
Lots of people successfully use second hand scratching posts with their cats. Your cat will just rub/scratch itself on it and will eventually replace the existing smells.

Tbh ....and sorry for being blunt lol but that is abit naff for an active bengal kitten, I wouldn't even bother treating it because I would want a new post that no other cat had touched. Cats carry their germs on their feet, nails. Scratching is the ideal way to spread ....fleas wouldn't be my concern, paws and claws that have scratched around in litter trays among feces and pee would be. Especially with a young kitten.

My advice, don't bother....and get something more suitable, there are lots of threads on here and they don't have to cost a bomb either.

Big thanks for all your comments, all very useful, and interesting to have such opposing views....
Like I mentioned earlier, it was a gift, cleaning it isn't really a problem: if it doesn't work: I'll simply pass it onto someone. Meanwhile I am building a serious 2.3m high tree with plenty of climbing and scratching opportuntie, I too am disappointed with whats commercially availables. Links to good homemade designs would be useful though ...
Keep the advice rolling in please :)

This is the best scratching post I've seen.

http://www.amazon.com/SmartCat-3832-Ult ... ching+post

I'm even considering getting a second one because they just dropped the price on it a bunch.

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The little monsters 3

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~ Kyenta

Todays project: putting up staggered platforms on the side of a tall shelving unit Great for climbing and includes 2 scratching areas 90cm tall. On top (2 metres 20cm above floor level), I will put a blanket....