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For those of you who have cat trees..

post #1 of 13
12/7/09 at 10:34am
Thread Starter 
On the carpeted covered trees is there usually wood under the carpet?

I have some picky scratchers in this house. I've had a cat tree before and they dislike scratching on that carpet despite loving to pull up carpet on the floor... They also hate sisal. However I used to have a desk with wooden legs.. and they LOVED that. Unfortunately Ikea no longer sells this desk and I had to give it up in a move.

So I need a cat tree on a budget here. No more then $100. I was considering buying a carpeted one and pulling off some of the carpet if there was wood under that carpet (like oak) it would work great...
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post #2 of 13
12/7/09 at 10:54am
It's usually a pressed particle board type wood. Cheap parts for what they make you pay for the tree. I do not know if any of the wood/wood products are treated in any way aside from the glues in them.


If you're handy or have someone willing to help you there's a simple solution for some scratching posts. Go get an untreated post or two, have someone cut it down to the size you want. Get some plywood or plywood scrap, cut that in a large enough square to support the post. If the post is fairly tall you might want something like 2'x2' square for the base. Cover that in whatever you want - heavy upholstery fabric, carpet, etc. Bolt the plain uncovered wooden post to the base.

If you ever feel more adventurous you could make your own tree. Just remember that you do not want to use treated woods at all if there's the possibility that your cats will scratch and even chew on them a bit.
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post #3 of 13
12/7/09 at 11:13am
Thread Starter 
Foiled.. I don't think I would trust that for my cats.

I think at this point my budget consists of getting some wood from a hardwood store and making a post. I agree with the non-treated wood part too.. but some of the cheaper woods should work and be affordable. I can probably get the get to cut it to right size needs to be about 40 inches tall/long.

Most store bought "posts" are too short for EG he is a long kitty.

I might be able to find a log with some bark on it as well, probably be kitty heaven around here.
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post #4 of 13
12/7/09 at 12:30pm
You'll either need to use around 3-4 very large wood screws, or better yet bolt the post to the wood base. This part can be a problem if you don't have any tools around. I have no idea if you could pay anyone at a hardware store to do that for you, too.

Most landscaping posts and the like come in 3-8'. So you'll be able to find a size that works.
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post #5 of 13
12/7/09 at 3:33pm
Yes its wood under the carpet - usually Pine but some use Oak. You might want to look into making a tree yourself with mostly wood. I'd still use some carpet on the flat surfaces, just for traction. But the posts could be wood for them to scratch.

I had one or two from an east coast treehouse maker that used real tree trunks in the design.

Keep in mind the taller the better and more often the cat will use it. I recommend a MINIMUM of 4 feet tall.
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post #6 of 13
12/7/09 at 3:44pm
We built our own cat tree. Ours has wood under the carpet on the posts. We used 2x4's for the support posts, then covered 2 with plush carpet & 2 with sisal rope. The flat pieces are compressed fiberboard, which is quite heavy and helps provide stability. Those pieces are covered in Berber carpeting. For the cradles we used cement tubes and faux fur fabric.

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post #7 of 13
12/7/09 at 10:46pm
Thread Starter 
Woot thanks for all the responses! The main problem is cutting the wood and plastic down that would be used. We do have some hand tools available we can use to bolt+nail+glue things together with and staple carpet on with a staple gun. I even got my bf brainstorming on this, I guess now its just a trip to the hardware stores to see what they have.

I've had people cut down wood at the Home Depot before. Usually costs a few dollars extra but as long as you buy it all it doesn't matter too much to them it seems.
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post #8 of 13
12/8/09 at 1:11am
There are some cat trees out there with bare wood for the "upright" parts...
Example:
http://www.angelicalcat.com/products/r2.shtml

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post #9 of 13
12/8/09 at 5:01am
Here are some more examples of "natural" cat trees. I believe the raw wood is Bradford Pear.







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post #10 of 13
12/8/09 at 5:13am
Wow, I could get a truckload of bradford pear wood right now. We live in the Bradford Parks part of our subdivision, and at one time all the houses had Bradford pear trees in front of them. Those trees have a short life, though, and many of them have died and are being cut down. There's one a couple of blocks over that was done this weekend, and the limbs are still out front of the house.

You could buy a hardwood post at most big box hardware stores, or an untreated 4x4 pine. You only need about 4 feet, plus a base of 3/4" plywood about 2' x 2'. I imagine you could get those pieces for about $20. Get a couple of 4" lag bolts and bolt the upright to the base.

Maybe I should start making these things!
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post #11 of 13
12/8/09 at 6:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrblanche View Post

Maybe I should start making these things!
Might not be a bad idea if you have the time. Check this link:
http://www.furwoodforest.com/products/

This guy comes to the cat shows and pretty much sells out before the show is over. He makes a small fortune.
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post #12 of 13
12/8/09 at 10:13am
My DH has a tree trunk he's working on, he'll have to finish it next spring since it got cold. Around the time he finishes that our deck will be enclosed and most of the cats will be allowed out to play and scratch on that (it can't come inside unless we remove branches ).

He was randomly following links one night and came across a person that makes and sells cat trees actually made from trunks and branches. These range around $500+ though.


Way out of the OP's price range.
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post #13 of 13
12/8/09 at 12:30pm
You could always make your own That way you can have some areas carpeted and some left bare. It's really easy to do and should cost about 10-20$ in supplies (we just made one for Rosalie the middle of Oct and it was about 12-15$ for all of the supplies and we got a big scrap roll of carpet at a carpet store for free) Good luck
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