Five reasons, and not one of them is the cat's temperament. The second alone explains half of all abandoned scratching posts.
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A cat that ignores its scratching post and claws the sofa is not being difficult: the post does not do the job the cat expects of it. Five reasons, every one of them fixable.
Scratching is also a way of stretching along the whole length of the body. A 40 cm post leaves an adult cat no room for that movement, so it goes looking elsewhere for a surface that does — the sofa, as it happens.
The rule: the cat has to be able to stretch right out, front paws reaching above its head. For most adult cats that means 60 cm as a minimum.
This is the most common reason. A post banished to a corridor or tucked behind a door will not get used, because scratching is also a form of marking: it happens where life happens, and close to the routes the cat takes.
The test that settles it: put the post exactly where the cat already scratches. You can then shift it a few centimetres a week if that spot is in the way.
Some cats scratch vertically, others horizontally, and the preference is an individual one. Buying three upright posts for a cat that scratches the floor changes nothing.
Look at the scene of the crime: is it the side of the sofa, or the rug? The answer tells you which post to buy, and it costs nothing.
Worn sisal stops catching. The cat no longer feels the resistance that makes the movement satisfying, so it goes back to a surface that gives it.
That is why a post used for two years and then left alone has not stopped interesting the cat: it has stopped working. A post whose surface can be replaced lasts far longer.
A post that shifts when the cat pulls on it will never be used again after once or twice. A cat that has felt the thing tip does not come back.
This is the criterion no product photo shows, and the most decisive one: a post has to take the weight of a cat pulling horizontally without moving a centimetre.