Cat trees?

What are your thoughts on cat trees?  I never had one with my previous cats, but I'm thinking of getting one for Mia.  She's outside during the day, but locked on the screen porch at night.  She already has quite a few things to play with out there, but nothing she can climb on.  So, I'm thinking a cat tree might give her some exercise and stimulation at night.  She would clearly rather be outside at night (she doesn't like it when I lock her cat door at night) and I'm looking for ideas to keep her happy and interested. 

If we get one, it would be on a screen porch, but not on an outside wall.  I would put it up against the house so it wouldn't get wet.  Since our porch is raised, a nice tall one would give her quite a view!  We have all kinds of creatures that come out at night-everything from foxes to deer.  And this way, she could watch them all from the safety of her own perch. 

Thought?  Pros and cons?  Other than the fact that our porch is quickly turning into a cat house, I can't really think of any negatives. 

Thanks!!!!

I realized years ago that our house was more about making our cats comfortable than about any style of decorating.  My husband and I each have a chair (which the cats occasionally steal) and most of the time, we have the bed to ourselves.

Right now, we have six trees in our house.  (Maybe I should say "our cat sanctuary."   )  We have one on our sun porch, three in the living room and two in the dining room.  There will probably be another one on the sun porch soon, as the cats tend to fight over that one.

I have noticed the occasional stand offs have lessened since we added the "vertical space."

^^Ditto!  We have two very tall trees for playing in the living room area and four shorter ones in various places with cubbies for sleeping.  Our cats LOVE them--for sleeping, playing and scratching.  

I have 2 cats and 2 trees and they love them! They are constantly being used. I consider it a very good investment.

Wow!  Thanks!!!!  I absolutely see a tree in our future soon!!!!

One more question...is there a better brand or style?  I'm looking at something that's solid wood or at least pressed wood of some sort.  Anything cardboard would be destroyed on the porch.  It will be away from the rain, but it does get humid. 

And what is a good height?  I want to make sure it's high enough for her to get away from my kids.  They adore her...sometimes a little too much!  LOL!

Mine are both made by a company called Catware. My cats run on them at full speed and they are very sturdy. They have really big platforms to lay on, a cubby for sleeping, wood and carpet posts to scratch. I'm really happy with these.

I have 1 tree for our girls.  It's in front of a false french door that leads to my backyard.  (One half is door, one half is window)  I have a bird feeder hanging from the eve of the house in front of it.  I purchased it on Ebay from Armarkat about 6 years ago I think.  Maybe even 7; I don't remember for sure anymore. But the tree is in perfect shape.  Covered in fur; but perfect besides that!  It's about 5' tall and has held both my girls at once on the top perch!  That's roughly 30lb of cat! (They are both on a bit of a weight management program, though they are long and tall compared to my mother's cats.)  At their size they both still sleep in the little cubby; you'd think they would be too big but nope!  They use the tree to bird watch, nap and get away from our kids.  The only con of the tree we got was that they never used the hammock.  Maybe if we'd gotten it when they were small kittens still.  I used to keep their toys in it.  But when my DD was starting to get into their stuff I removed it.  It had clips so I could rehook it if I wanted to.  It's been a great purchase.  

My Mother has an even larger tree with 3 tall perches for her crew.  It's about as old as ours and in great shape too! Same manufacturer.  One thing to consider; be sure the base is wide and sturdy!  My girls shake this tree; but it's never tipped at all.  My Mom's cat tree is very sturdy as well.  My only worry is my actual kids trying to climb it.    I can't quickly find any pictures of it right now.  It's right next to my son's playpen area and I've got it a bit torn apart or I'd take a picture now. 

We have a small tree in the computer room that originally belonged to Muffin. She and Tabby are now sharing the tree. It's not that big, but they do get on it together from time to time. It's tall enough that they can see out of the window with no trouble. We got it for Muffin at PetSmart when she was still my mom's kitty.

There's a bigger tree in the living room, in front of the bay window. That one has three perches, two top perches and one about mid-way up. It also has a little hidey-hole that BooBoo laid claim to right after we got it. We've had as many as six cats on it at one time, in various places. Most of the time, though, they use it as a step to the bay window. It's very wide, so there's no way it's going to tip over....we've had cats made flying lunges to the tree and never even shook it or moved it at all. Our only regret is that we just bought it a few years ago and I really wish we would have done it sooner. The cats just love that thing. Bought it at Petco.

Yes, just make sure the base is big and square.  Otherwise it will tip.  I got three on clearance at PetSmart for $100 each - they are the same tree, each about 5 feet tall with a scratcher, sisal rope on the bottom pole, carpeting on the other pole and two platforms.  They were made by Armarkat.

I got one on Amazon - it's actually three four-foot tall trees connected with hinged bridges.  You can fold it so that all three trees are together or spread them out.  The cats like this one because it's in front of the dining room "birdy show."  We have a male cardinal (our very own angry bird) who insists on attacking itself in the DR window.  The cats think its the best toy I ever got them!

Thanks!  I bought this one today.  Mia shows no interest in it yet, but it's on the porch and she spends most of her time outside during the day.  Hopefully, she'll be happy when she comes inside tonight!

That's the one we have three of.  Love them.  My cats didn't jump on them right away, either.  You know cats - they have to get used to everything on their own time

Mia jumped up to the middle level and curled up for a bit, then jumped back down.  Of course, we were all standing there watching her...no pressure!  She scratched at the carpet, the box and the rope for a bit, then curled up on her favorite bed and went to sleep.  I took the feather toy down for now as it seemed to annoy her.  I suspect when she wakes up, she'll explore a bit more. 

Thanks again!

We took all the hanging toys off too.  One of our cats, Gracie, wouldn't go onto the tree until they were removed.  But Gracie is the classic fraidy cat

Ondine said:

We took all the hanging toys off too.  One of our cats, Gracie, wouldn't go onto the tree until they were removed.  But Gracie is the classic fraidy cat

Click to expand...

Wish Mouse and I had had that much good sense when I got his. He has a very stable meter high scratch post and a 3  level tree that's secured in place in front of my flat's sitting room window so he can survey all his 'territory'. The tree had a hanging toy attached to it when I set it up and Mouse managed to get his tail tangled in the elastic within about an hour and we ended up at the vets.    Luckily I was in the room when it happened and was able to untangle him but it gave us both a nasty fright!   I had to wait for about 2 weeks to find out if he was going to loose a bit of his (fabby) tail. He was fine but the last 10 cm of his tail was all droopy for about a week.    No more hanging toys in my house!!!

We got an amarkat tree off Amazon last Xmas for the girls. Best thing we've got them and well worth the $100 or so it cost. It sits behind the sofa and Aya likes to climb up and hang around keeping an eye on me. midori sneaks up sometimes when Aya's not around. Mom thinks we need 2 trees.

I got one about a year ago for my 2 adult cats... it basically went unused till I  sprinkled some catnip in it lol... and at the time I could not afford a really great one, so I got one with a rope bottom and a pillow top platform. Once I started with the catnip the two cats started to use it, and lay on the pillow.. they SOMEHOW both squeezed themselves on the platform lol 

Well a few weeks ago, I was the new adoptive mommy to a new kitten that was abandoned with 2 other litter mates ( too early also) to a very adorable white with black female kitten. Well it seems like NOW I HAVE to get a tree that has at min 3 places for each to lay on...etc and not crowd the others space... 

Any advice on a good one for 3 cats?

3 trees with at least 3 platforms!!!  I go for ones with hard wearing carpet rather than soft furry fabric on the hard platforms but they're harder to find. It's coz it's better for claws to hang on to when cats are throwing themselves about.

Mouse definitely thinks his is his territory viewing platform and no way would it be shared without a battle. He loves it whether it's viewing, snoozing, posing, or just shredding his claws (it's the only time he uses them).  

I got my last one from amazon also. You can get great prices with shipping included.
Cost me $104.00 with free shipping! My cats love it. Definitely take any hanging toys off.

Katluver4life said:

Cost me $104.00 with free shipping! My cats love it. Definitely take any hanging toys off.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure who made this one; but it looks nearly identical to the tree my mother has.  I purchased it for her shortly after mine.  I wish I had room for one like that!  Even with just 2 cats it's nice to have the options.