How can I make some fun climbing things for little cost :(

bryce

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I don't have alot of cash to buy a nice big cat tree for my cat, so what can I do to make some nice climbing things for the cat. Will she even use it? All she does is just walk around the house now or sit and watch out the window
. I want a more active cat, but I also love her XD.
 

carolina

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Originally Posted by Bryce

I don't have alot of cash to buy a nice big cat tree for my cat, so what can I do to make some nice climbing things for the cat. Will she even use it? All she does is just walk around the house now or sit and watch out the window
. I want a more active cat, but I also love her XD.
HI Bryce!!!!!
Hang shelves on the walls! The more the merrier....
You can go to home depot, get some shelves and brackets, a strip of carpet, and if you don't have already, a glue gun...
Cats LOVE vertical spaces... I made a whole wall of shelves on my living room, and they really enjoy it! I think they like it better than my cat tree...
Anyway, here is a picture of it:
 
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bryce

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My mom isn't gonig to allow that lol. So, anything I can do that doesn't require mounting something on the wall. I wonder if I did something like that in my room if she'd use it more or no.
 
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bryce

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I've got this, how could I get her to be able to get up there though. Would she like it you think?

 

dusty's mom

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You can build your own cat tree with some lumber scaps and carpet scraps, which you might be able to get for free if you hang around a construction site and ask the foreman to set them aside for you. I think there are directions and plans on the internet. I once had one that was pretty simple - a post and a shallow box at the top of the post.

Learn to build a couple of different ones, and you could earn some extra $$ selling them!
 

carolina

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Does this cabinet have shelves inside? Can you leave it open for her to jump into it? or it's full?
Also, you don't need to do the shelve in the living room - you can do it in your room, especially if you spend a lot of time in there...
The kitty will like to stay around you, but in a higher place...
 
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bryce

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It doesn't have shelves in it, I should make some. I just caught her up on my work rack with all my equipment on it. So, I need somewhere else for her so she's not stomping and messing up my work stuff lol. It does have two holes in the top of it though. I think I'll give it a good wipe down and make some kind of shelves or something.

What about making like a staircase system of shelves or what?
 

mrblanche

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A staircase of shelves up to the top of that server would be great.

Keep in mind cat hair is very fine. So fine it can be airborne. So keep an eye on your fans and filters.
 

stephanietx

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Boxes!! you can stack a couple of boxes on top of each other and cut out holes for her to climb in. You can also get plastic totes from the dollar store and pile them on top of each other and/or screw them together to form a cat tree.
 
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bryce

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Originally Posted by stephanietx

Boxes!! you can stack a couple of boxes on top of each other and cut out holes for her to climb in. You can also get plastic totes from the dollar store and pile them on top of each other and/or screw them together to form a cat tree.
Any idea how I would screw them together though? Don't they have holes in em and all? I'd need a lot if it'd be anything decent for her though wouldn't I?
 

nes

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Originally Posted by Dusty's Mom

You can build your own cat tree with some lumber scaps and carpet scraps, which you might be able to get for free if you hang around a construction site and ask the foreman to set them aside for you.
Or just go to a carpet store like "end of the roll" and you can get everything you need SUPER cheap
.

We got our cat tree free from friends (long story) but it now needs to be recovered do so I'm debating making hubby just build an entire new one, it's very simple. You can get used trees off the Internet, but I'd be worried they are just giving them away because the cats peed on them or something.
 

mrblanche

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Somewhere here on the forum is a thread about building a cat condo out of Sterilite boxes. And Carolinalima built a kitty condo out of boxes.

A stack of boxes, all the same size (say, about 18 inches on a side) can be stacked up and taped together. Put holes in the front and holes so that Maggie can climp up on them on the inside.

There's no need to spend a lot of money. I have a cat perch I built with 2 24" square pieces of 1/2 inch plywood, a four-foot section of a tree trunk about 6 inches in diameter, and some old carpet.

Just be sure whatever you make is sturdy.

By the way, by actual survey, the two most beloved cat toys in the U.S. are cardboard boxes and the pull-tab-ring from a milk jug.

Fun in a cardboard box:

 
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bryce

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Thanks, I'll go searching for that thread. My onlly problem is wasting the time on it if she's not going to use it. Someone gave us a small perch/post for her and she's got that wand toy and a turboscratcher, hardly uses them except when I first bought them. I leave em out all the time so is that it?
 

nes

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Originally Posted by mrblanche

the pull-tab-ring from a milk jug.
Thank goodness that's not just Tasha! She goes crazy when she sees me with a water bottle, I just thought she was nuts!


MB is right though, you can have a look at the fleece ball that was just posted up, pennies! The cat trees build with raw logs are some of the pretties I've ever seen!

Oh, if she's not using the perch you already have for her she's probably not going to use a cat-tree, why don't you try covering it with catnip? Maybe once she gets on it she'll use it more. Or try moving it to a sunnier spot or near a window
.
 
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bryce

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Originally Posted by Nes

Thank goodness that's not just Tasha! She goes crazy when she sees me with a water bottle, I just thought she was nuts!


MB is right though, you can have a look at the fleece ball that was just posted up, pennies! The cat trees build with raw logs are some of the pretties I've ever seen!
Fleece ball?
 

carolina

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Originally Posted by Bryce

Thanks, I'll go searching for that thread. My onlly problem is wasting the time on it if she's not going to use it. Someone gave us a small perch/post for her and she's got that wand toy and a turboscratcher, hardly uses them except when I first bought them. I leave em out all the time so is that it?
Hid the wand toy, and bring it up to play with her. Rub some catnip on the post and the turboscratcher...
If it is a box, a shelf, or somewhere the kitty can climb up, it will use it - no doubt...
Do you have a window in your bedroom?
 
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bryce

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Originally Posted by carolinalima

Hid the wand toy, and bring it up to play with her. Rub some catnip on the post and the turboscratcher...
If it is a box, a shelf, or somewhere the kitty can climb up, it will use it - no doubt...
Do you have a window in your bedroom?
I've got a bay window over the garage in my room (it's over the garage lol). So, I've seen her sit up there on the window sill and look out.

She still goes and hides under the bed, could that be because she has really no other place to feel safe in?
 

carolina

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Originally Posted by Bryce

I've got a bay window over the garage in my room (it's over the garage lol). So, I've seen her sit up there on the window sill and look out.

She still goes and hides under the bed, could that be because she has really no other place to feel safe in?
Anything you build put by the window - cats looooove to look out or just hang out by it...
 
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bryce

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Well, my bed is by the window lol. If I move it, then the junk in the other corner would have to go under the window. So, can't put nothing standing up on the floor over there. What about some shelfs that have a condo on them at it?
 
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