Cat tree recommendations?

[cloudyday2]

I'm shopping for a cat tree.

• I think I want something tall, but I don't want a large footprint. I read that sometimes the cat can knock the tree over so maybe I need a large footprint or a short tree.
  
• I've been looking at Armarkat brand, but I have no personal experience with the company
  
• Some cat trees seem to be bare pine. I assume the idea is to make your own removable and washable fabric coverings for the perches?

Advice?

 

[PropheticTimes]

I bought this one 3 years ago - Amazon.com : Go Pet Club Cat Tree, 50W x 26L x 72H, Blue : Pet Supplies

I have 3 pretty hefty cats who chase each other around on it and though it will sway a bit it is not even close to falling over. I like that the perches are customizeable as far as height goes. I have a small baby blanket on each perch so I can easily throw them in the washer. The rest I clean with a lint roller and/or vacuum.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I make my own so I can't recommend brands. But I was just thinking, it depends on your cats. If they are heavy, or very rambunctious, or you have multiples, falling can be an issue.

Weight at the base can help. So can overall shape - a tall box or barrel rather than stem is more stable. But more importantly, can you anchor it to the wall or ceiling? I'd also suggest anchoring two parts together, but that will defeat the small footprint idea. Just a thought?

 

[PropheticTimes]

I make my own so I can't recommend brands. But I was just thinking, it depends on your cats. If they are heavy, or very rambunctious, or you have multiples, falling can be an issue.

Weight at the base can help. So can overall shape - a tall box or barrel rather than stem is more stable. But more importantly, can you anchor it to the wall or ceiling? I'd also suggest anchoring two parts together, but that will defeat the small footprint idea. Just a thought?

That's great that you make your own! Do you have any pictures of one you made? I would love to see one.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I bought this one 3 years ago - Amazon.com : Go Pet Club Cat Tree, 50W x 26L x 72H, Blue : Pet Supplies

I have 3 pretty hefty cats who chase each other around on it and though it will sway a bit it is not even close to falling over. I like that the perches are customizeable as far as height goes. I have a small baby blanket on each perch so I can easily throw them in the washer. The rest I clean with a lint roller and/or vacuum.

Wow ... looking at prices, I'm not too sure I'll be making my own anymore. I can get most of the materials for free, but I'm not sure even the labor is worth it anymore. These prices have come way down!

And my cat has worn hers down so that all I have now is one big vertical barrel-hiding-climbing piece, and a pretty ratty scratching post I keep elsewhere and need to replace. So good timing to know this ...

 

[~Anastasia~]

That's great that you make your own! Do you have any pictures of one you made? I would love to see one.

LOL was just saying I may not anymore.

The one I have now started off as a much more elaborate one, but I've retired pieces of it. The photos of the whole thing are a couple of phones back. I made one for my daughter's boyfriend last Christmas, but didn't take photos.

 

[LaSorcia]

I have Amarkat cat beds and they are great. Never tried their trees though. I got my cat tree at Costco. It was about half the price of anywhere else and it's 6' tall. They are not in stock all the time though. If there's a Costco near you, that might be a good option.

 

[~Anastasia~]

But ... the vertical barrel I have now was attached by a high bridge to another tall thin vertical that was mounted floor and ceiling. (Had to leave that part off after moving since new ceiling was wrong height and I never re-sized it.) But that tall part had a little enclosed hidey-hole at the top where I put a heating pad (lived in a cabin the the mountains) ... that was THE spot, high, hidden, and warm, and the two cats would each try to take up residence and keep the other out.

I use the super-heavy cardboard tube forms that are used to mold concrete columns, and cut lumber. I cover them with carpet and fairly large sisal. I tried thin sisal, but it was a ton of work to attach and shreds too easily.

If I can find any pictures of the old parts, I'll post them. What's left is pretty unimpressive.

 

[*LILAC]

I just let my cat climb a real tree, free of charge!

 

[cloudyday2]

I bought this one 3 years ago - Amazon.com : Go Pet Club Cat Tree, 50W x 26L x 72H, Blue : Pet Supplies

I have 3 pretty hefty cats who chase each other around on it and though it will sway a bit it is not even close to falling over. I like that the perches are customizeable as far as height goes. I have a small baby blanket on each perch so I can easily throw them in the washer. The rest I clean with a lint roller and/or vacuum.

Thanks, I have never had a cat tree, so I'm not sure what features are most important. My cat is about 10 lbs, but he is not always the most graceful cat. He is about 10 years old, but he still has a lot of energy sometimes.

 

[PropheticTimes]

Thanks, I have never had a cat tree, so I'm not sure what features are most important. My cat is about 10 lbs, but he is not always the most graceful cat. He is about 10 years old, but he still has a lot of energy sometimes.

He would love it Lots of scratching posts and places to hide and toys.

 

[PropheticTimes]

Wow ... looking at prices, I'm not too sure I'll be making my own anymore. I can get most of the materials for free, but I'm not sure even the labor is worth it anymore. These prices have come way down!

And my cat has worn hers down so that all I have now is one big vertical barrel-hiding-climbing piece, and a pretty ratty scratching post I keep elsewhere and need to replace. So good timing to know this ...

It's a nice cat tree and since you are handy you can always adjust it to your liking

 

[cloudyday2]

I make my own so I can't recommend brands. But I was just thinking, it depends on your cats. If they are heavy, or very rambunctious, or you have multiples, falling can be an issue.

Weight at the base can help. So can overall shape - a tall box or barrel rather than stem is more stable. But more importantly, can you anchor it to the wall or ceiling? I'd also suggest anchoring two parts together, but that will defeat the small footprint idea. Just a thought?

I am thinking now about making something homemade. I might be able to design a three-legged stack of triangular shelves that would stand above a weight machine in a corner. I'm not sure how to arrange the shelves so that my cat can navigate them. I would hate to go to all that effort and find that my cat ignores them.

I think anchoring it to a wall or ceiling would be a good idea, but I hate to do that because I just painted the walls LOL.

How important are the features like the horizontal cylinders and boxes compared to simply having a high perch? Do most cats enjoy the variety of things in their cat tree (hammocks, multiple stacks of perches, boxes, etc.)?

 

[~Anastasia~]

Here is where knowing your cat is good. Most cats enjoy being high up. A few are glued to being down low. Most cats enjoy some kind of "container" (is he crazy about sitting in boxes?). Some cats love something to hide inside. Some prefer to sprawl and would rather have a large platform. Most like to scratch. Some are very agile and need minimal arrangement to go up the shelves, while some are more likely to need something easier to go up.

It all depends on the cat. I made the first tree when mine were young, so I just included lots of things. Some things they nearly fought over (the high enclosed warm "nest") and some they still don't care much about (the platforms inside the tall barrel that make a series of rooms they can climb through - my cat uses it only when she doesn't want me to be able to reach her, lol, which is once every couple of years).

If you want to build it yourself, I'd start trying to figure these things about your own cat, and start googling images of "catification" or homemade/DIY cat furniture/trees/towers/shelves.

Shelves are great. They usually need to be staggered, or if they are long enough they could have a hole cut in each one, allowing the cat to go through it to the shelf above. Or you could provide a carpeted ramp (or ramp sections) but cats will often just leap over them.

If he is 10 years old, you might want to design it with an eye to being sure he has a way to climb up if he needs that in future. It would be a shame for him to love his new spot, and not be able to get there anymore.

If you have just one cat, many multiple perching locations are probably not necessary. If they are identical, he is likely to choose only one. It might be the highest, or the one at the height he is most comfortable at, or that one that gives the best view of something he's interested in, or the one he can reach out and touch you from. But if you give him ten the same, he may use only one, or two.

But different things appeal to different cats, or sometimes at different times. You might include a closed nest, an open platform, and a hammock, and he may use them all (depends on the cat).

Something to scratch, usually low, and always stable, is a good idea.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Btw, a "nest" is usually just a hiding place. You CAN make it from solid wood, but it won't make a tremendous difference. As long as the platform is stable, you get almost the same effect, from the cat's point of view, if it is made of fabric hanging down. That might really simplify your design.

If your cat LOVES sitting in boxes or baskets, it can be very simple to mount a basket on a shelf or platform. For most cats, it is the size of the bed that matters most of all. My cat loves curling up in baskets, boxes, deep plant saucers, drawers, ANYthing as long as it is just barely big enough. She has a wooden, carpeted platform as part of her tree that makes a container of sorts for her to get in, but she doesn't like it because it's too big. She's happier with a small basket attached inside the one I built.

One more thing - the location you had in mind? Is it in a "social" area of your home? Most cats want to be within sight of what's going on. Not necessarily right in the middle, but not shuffled off too far away either. If that's not an area you use much of the day, you cat might not want to be there either. Such factors as a sunny window can make what I just said moot though.

 

[cloudyday2]

One more thing - the location you had in mind? Is it in a "social" area of your home? Most cats want to be within sight of what's going on. Not necessarily right in the middle, but not shuffled off too far away either. If that's not an area you use much of the day, you cat might not want to be there either. Such factors as a sunny window can make what I just said moot though.

That is one of the problems. I live in a warehouse. Currently my cat has a rooftop apartment with windows and a cat door that gives access to a flat roof to be outdoors. Unfortunately, my mother wants to move in with me (due to loneliness). So I am moving into a tiny apartment with no windows and no roof access. It is next to an office where I work, but I worry about my cat door-dashing into unsafe areas as people come and go from my office.

That's probably hard to follow. I know my cat is not going to like being in a tiny apartment alone during the day when I am in the next-door office. he will be able to hear me through the door, etc.

Maybe I need to find a way to put a fence across my office so people can come in and tell me things without letting my cat escape. There is more room for a normal cat tree in my office too. Hmmm.

I wish cats could talk, so I could ask him what he thinks LOL

 

[~Anastasia~]

Awwww that sounds like a tough situation.

If you're on the other side of the wall, can you visit him frequently?

Or would something like a door that wasn't solid (like a wrought iron door, screen doors etc) be too weird in your office so people can talk through it?

Maybe you could have him in the office with you and just teach him not to rush the door, if people open it to speak to you?

I've seen very large cages with all the amenities of a cat tree inside, that maybe he could be in at your office?

I guess it depends on a lot of things, but I'd probably begin to consider just teaching him not to bolt out, if keeping the door mostly closed is practical. In that case you'd need to be carrying him in and out I guess, maybe even in a carrier of some sort, to avoid creating the association that he can cross the threshold himself.

That's all I can think of right now.

 

[cloudyday2]

I've seen very large cages with all the amenities of a cat tree inside, that maybe he could be in at your office?

I think something like that might be the answer. At one time, I had planned to install a cat door high in a wall dividing my apartment from my office. The door would go to a suspended cat walkway enclosed in chicken wire or something. So my cat could come and go from my apartment and the suspended walkway. He could perch on the walkway and watch me without making a nuisance of himself. (Right now he is sitting in front of my monitor making it hard to type LOL)

Thanks for reminding me of the location issue. I forgot about that factor.

 

[~Anastasia~]

You're welcome, I'm glad if it could help. Being able to visit you at work throughout the day sounds like a great solution!