Tree for an older cat

Hi,

I have four cats and one of my boys, Tre, is getting into that older, going on senior, stage. On paper he's 13, but that's a guess really so he could be as old as 15. He hasn't had any major health problems yet, but he's beginning to develop arthritis. It seems to affect his back legs the most, so he doesn't really like to jump. I have him on a cosequin supplement, but so far it hasn't done much. He generally gets around OK and he can climb onto my bed or my couch OK, though I do have to lift him into my lap when I'm sitting at the computer.

The cat tree is where the problem lies. I have a Cool Cat Clubhouse right now. The top platform lines up perfectly with my window sill, so the cats climb up in order to sit on the sill and watch the squirrels and birds outside. Tre will climb up the tree to the window sill, but then he's unwilling to get down. It's quite common for me to come home from work and find him up there. I have to 'rescue' him and put him down on the floor so he can eat his dinner. He hasn't used the bathroom up there yet, but I don't want him to have to make a choice between the pain of jumping down or peeing on the window sill.

Does anyone know of any cat furniture designed with senior cats like Tre in mind? Maybe something with ramps going from one level to the next and closely levels so the ramps aren't too steep.

I've seen some ramps in Foster & Smith that may work, but you might get someone (or yourself) to just measure the distance and build your own ramp and then wrap a piece of carpet around it and attach it to the window sill.

I have no idea but my almost 17 old cat has arthritis.
I have a chair she can jump to from the cat tree.
We also have a chest so she can get on the window ledge.
She pulls her self up with her front paws.
We have boxes also.
Maybe you can try that.

I recall that Skippymjp's Tupper Lair was designed with his 3 legged cat in mind.
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=120749

Hi, and thanks. That setup Gemlady posted is pretty wild.

Part of my problem is I don't have a tremendous amount of space. I've looked at that Foster and Smith ramp and even thought about buying it, but unfortunately it would be extremely steep (maybe 60 degrees or more) if I used it between the top and middle level of the tree, so I'm not sure it would really help. I have thought about the straight ramp too, but since the window sill is 54" high it would probably need to be at least 54" out and again the space issue comes up. So I'm thinking I might just have to build something myself. I'm thinking of something like a pair of 2 x 12's spaced 2' apart with a 1 x 6 ramp going from one side to the other then switching back (just like a mountain road). I'm not sure if that description does it justice, but from the side it would look like this:



The other thing I would like to find for Tre would be a set of stairs to let him get into my bed more easily. He comes to bed with me every night without fail, but lately he has to climb up claw over claw rather than jumping up. So I'd like to get a small set of stairs to make it easier on him. The ones I've seen for cats tend to run $50+, so I'm thinking there must be something cheap at Wal-Mart or someplace (not necessarily geared to cats) for a lot less. Anybody know of such a thing other than just building my own from various boxes?

This may be a really weird suggestion but what about a human step stool - you know, like if something is too high in the cupboard - to get onto the bed? It would cut his "step" in half. ??? Plus you could shove it under the bed when not in use. AND it's prob. like 5 bucks....