I move to Minneapolis in 4 days. The cats follow a week from then.

Down here at the local humane society, when I got Ollie, I saw this cat tree that looked wonderful. It was a 3 tier tree with an attractive stained and varnished thin wood plank exterior, with some places wrapped in sisal for scratching, and the whole thing had this system of hiding holes leading to each other and the perches. It fairly sizable and was really fantastic. It wasn't terribly expensive either. I believe it was $75.

I wish I had gotten it to ship up north. It's gone now. :(

I'm going to go back tomorrow and ask if they know what it was, so that maybe I can order it, but I am not going to count on that to come through. This piece looked much nicer than what I see at the pet store chains.

Any ideas where I can find some similarly nice cat tree/centers either in Minneapolis, or not terribly far away. On the flip side, any places online that sell nice cat tree/centers I can order to ship if I don't find anything I like? I want to really get them something they'll like AND that looks good in the apt if possible. Also, another nice thing would be if it didn't hold in dust, mites, and cat hair and could be cleaned. Shorter carpeting would take care of this.

I looked online at about a dozen sites that popped up on Google and a lot of photos on Google and can't find anything like what I saw.

I'm guessing the wood planks were cedar. I'm not sure though. There was a round base with sisal on the ends and an entrance. Then coming from the top of the base was 3 pillars. Each resulted in a cat bed / perch. Coming from the bottom base there were what I think were tunnels. The tunnels also doubled as more scratching and/or walking and balancing places. They led from one perch to another. The whole thing was arranged in a circular spiral fashion. I don't know if that is clear. If not, I might be able to draw it to the best of my memory and scan the drawing.

There is a great store on University Ave in Minneapolis that sells custom cat trees and great cat toys. I found it on the corner while my friend and I were waiting for our bus, and I dragged him in (he's a dog person) and made us miss our bus while I gawked. :lol3: My boys looooooooove the catnip cigar I got there, and its about time I replaced it - its gone flat with nomming!

I think the cat trees were a little expensive, but I'm on a grad student's budget, so anything over $50 is expensive to me. :lol3: Supposedly though they can help make custom trees as well, so maybe you can get something close to what you saw before.

Here's the address - http://www.purrniture.com

If you need a physical address, just let me know. I snagged a catalog while I was there.

This is the cat tree I have. I got it from Aramark on eBay and it was a good price and my cats love it.


http://cgi.ebay.com/Armarkat-Cat-Tree-Pet-Furniture-Condo-Scratcher-B6802_W0QQitemZ360161163664QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item53db47 3990&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262&_trkparms=%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A30

Law - you missed out on coming to the local cat show end of April and the one in mid May. You could have bought some very nice cat trees at good prices.

The cat shows have the best prices for furniture compared to Petco or Petsmart. If you are willing to wait, there will be another show end of September in Inver Grove Hgts (Mpls).

If not, then get a smaller one (4 feet high) in Petco/Petsmart for now, and plan on attending the show in September.

If you need more info about it, pm me.


Sand - I saw that website before - trees look nice, but my objection is them not putting prices on the stuff for comparison. I like Armarkat stuff and they have the prices listed. We'll be designing our own tree house (6-7 feet tall) and will take some ideas from the Armarkat stuff.

Some of these are pricey but it may give you some ideas.

http://www.squarecathabitat.com/

http://www.catsplay.com/rflotus.php3

http://www.kittythecat.com/trees.html

http://www.petco.com/product/12529/SmartCat-Ultimate-Scratching-Post.aspx Best liked scratching post with my crew.

I would search ebay... You pretty much only pay shipping there. I have an Armarkat tree that the kitties looooovee it - I hear go pet club is also nice, and can be sturdier than Armarkat. You will find both on ebay, sold by the own factory for much less $$. I bought this one for $6.00 + $111 shipping...
http://www.armarkat.com/classic-cat-tree/classic-cat-tree-a7401/prod_5.html. The equivalent model from Go Pet Club is 2040.

For a modern apartment, I love this one http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21G3KvBNUIL._SL500_AA250_.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MQ0RFE?ie=UTF8&tag=moderncat-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001MQ0RFE), the only problem is the price...