Cat tree blues

arouetta

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I have assembled a lot of ready-to-assemble furniture in my life.  So a cat tree should be no problem, right?

The box arrived and I eagerly opened it.  The thing looks like it has instructions for building the space shuttle.


So......I'll either be crying or taking pictures in about an hour.
 
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arouetta

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Panoramic view of most of the parts.  The two houses are kinda hidden behind the couch.  Please excuse the mess. 
 
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arouetta

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The little bolts and stuff.  It's supposed to come with its own tools.  Do they seriously call that a wrench?

 
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arouetta

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So I decided that step one was to get a real wrench and got out a 3/8" wrench out of the husband's really scary toolbag that needs organizing.  Perfect!  Nope, it's actually 10mm bolts.  Luckily the really scary toolbag had that too.
 
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arouetta

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They call this an allen wrench???  It didn't survive hand tightening the first four bolts.  Back to the really scary toolbag.

 
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arouetta

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And of course the #6 allen wrench is missing from the toolbag.  Thank goodness he has a hex head screwdriver set.  Allen wrench set now on the shopping list.
 
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arouetta

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The instructions say to construct the thing standing up, not construct it on its side and then put it standing up.....and they put two of the 10mm bolts on the bottom of the house.  I was flat on my back screwing the darned things in.


Um, wait a minute....standing up?  The cat tree is supposed to be 74 inches high.  I'm only 5'2".  How the heck am I going to do the top???

Anyway, first floor done.  No tears yet.  But lots of unladylike words.

 
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arouetta

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I'm a little worried about those back supports.  This is the bolt holding them.


Since there isn't a tool to tighten that, I had to hand screw them into the bottom sisal covered supports, put the board in the middle, and screw the top sisal covered supports on.  I used all my strength to twist them until they couldn't twist anymore, but that's not tool tight, that's hand (and arm and shoulder) tight.
 
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arouetta

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Second floor up.


At this point I'm thinking that I should have found out if any of the neighborhood kids had taken shop class and wanted a few extra bucks.  Or taken one of my husband's pretty coworkers to the power tool section of Lowe's and wait for some sucker.....I mean, construction oriented man to approach and offer him a few extra bucks.
 
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arouetta

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I am so glad right now that I decided the cat tree would go next to the couch.  This is the absolute highest I can reach and I have one last floor to put on that must be screwed in from the top.


Wow, I really need to bleach my arm hair. 
 
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arouetta

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Finally, done. 
I hope the hairball-hacking, face stuffing, bleeping fuzzball monsters....I mean the darling kitties.....enjoy it. 
 
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arouetta

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Postscript -

The little darlings don't seem to be that thrilled with it.  When I put Shadow on it, low to the ground, she immediately walked off of it and found a secure (meaning I can't reach her) spot in the corner next to the tree.  You can see the corner on the left of the finished picture.  When I put Midway on it high up, he jumped onto the couch and decided the food dishes looked good.  When I put Montressor on it mid-level, he climbed into the house, walked out, tried sharpening his claws, got too energetic and stepped back and got unbalanced for a second.  Then he jumped down.

I'm eyeing my husband's liquid valerian root extract.  That'll draw the cats.
 

raina21

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Lovely cat tree! You could try sprinkling some dried catnip onto the tree. I've heard that's a good way to get cats to use cat trees.

I bought and assesmbled this monstrosity for our kitties last year (it is ceiling height):


This was what all the pieces looked like. I had to really squish them all together to get them all in the picture:


And this haopened just minutes after putting it up lol:

 
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margd

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Congratulations on your new cat tree!!! 
 
 
   Thank you for taking us along - I enjoyed the journey.    Better you than me.  Heh heh.  
     It might take awhile for the kitties to realize how much more wonderful their lives have just become but don't worry.  They'll figure it out.   And definitely, sprinkle or spray with catnip like @Raina21suggests.
 
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arouetta

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The problem with catnip is that 30% of cats don't react to it....and I've got one of those 30%.  It may attract the other two but not Midway.

All cats love valerian root though, similar high to catnip.  My husband says to wait a couple days before putting it on though, give them time to figure it out on their own.

The instructions flat out say that the cat toys are for display purposes only and says to go to the pet store for real hanging toys, so I didn't bother to attach them.  Guess I'll be shopping tomorrow.
 

tabbytom

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arouetta arouetta ..........nice cat tree you have here. But I want to remind you, please tighten the bolts or screws attachements securely. If you don't do that, the tree will be wobbly and if your kitty jumped and climb, it'll move around and it's not gonna be safe for your kitty and once the screws that join the post or base is bent, it's not safe to be used.
It's better to get a strong guy to re-tighten all the screws and bolts. Unless you are a muscle woman.

My boy already thrashed his top post by hanging on it when he jumps up from the ground and he uses the tree like doing rock climbing. So I've gotten him a new cat tree recently :lol3:

If this is your cat's first tree, he might get some time to get use to it. Entice him with treats to go up or use a cat wand and let him chase his way up. Catnips does not work on all cats.
Place it by the windows so that he can climb up to look out at the birds.

Take photos of him up on the tree and post them in this thread :-

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/332075/pictures-of-cats-enjoying-their-cat-trees
 
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arouetta

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I did tighten every bolt very securely.  If it has to be taken apart for a move, we're going to need to use a drill to do so because I am pretty good with tools.

My only concern is one that a guy couldn't have done much better on, and that's the bolts with the double thread.  There isn't a tool out there that can tighten it, so I had to twist the support until it just didn't move anymore.

The reason the cat was unstable was not the joints.  If you look at the platform that the second house sits on, you will see that it is L-shaped.  When he was scratching the front sisal post, he got really into it, scooted back and very nearly stepped off the platform.  When he felt his foot nearly go over the edge, that freaked him out and made him feel unsteady.
 

rubysmama

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Great cat tree.  Loved the play-by-play of the building process.  Hopefully your kitties will quickly learn to love, and appreciate, the amazing gift their mommy built for them. 
 

lily paddy

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LOVE the play by play of the tree good job!!! Putting together stuff is always a huge challenge for me.. lots of swearing! haha.. It looks great!! I just got one for MAxx and he scarred the life outta me he tipped it somehow and its really tall!!! it hit him!! I worried all day if he was ok.. he went right back didn't lick or rest where it hit him.. then i was moving the dining room table to put a new rug under it and he got under a leg while i was tying to put it back  and it pinched his foot!  Maniac!! anyway.. i tethered my tree .. i see its top heavy.. never wanna see that happen again!!
 

greypaws

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Loved the play by play. As we recently did our own 'some assembly required' cat tree, I could easily relate. I found with my boy that the cat nip spray works much better than the dried catnip. Anything new for him that comes into the house I give it few squirts and he knows it is his.
 
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