Someone told me a really good idea recently (it was for kittens, but works for older cats too) - a kid's tent. They sell them at WalMart pretty cheap and you can zip up the front with a see-through mesh ... pretty neat. I bought one for my kittens. I thought it was a wonderful idea.
I have alot of cat items by joining the freecycle on yahoo in my area. it's pretty easy too. You just join a local group...list what you are looking for and a search engine notifies you when something meeting your needs is posted. I've also given away a lot of stuff, it helped clean out my basement *grin*