I'm thinking of building one. My awesome brother got me one of those fancy "cat cottages" when I got my kitten, but it's 6 feet high and has a pretty big footprint -- big enough that it's not practical in my apartment, so unfortunately we have to return it.
Instead, I'm thinking of building a tree/perch that will give my cat a nice view of the outside. One option, which I'm leaning toward, is building it around a small tree like this:
What I really like about it is it's legitimately decorative, not a big, ugly-looking monstrosity in the middle of the living room or bedroom, and it seems like it would actually be more appealing to cats.
My questions are: Has anyone here actually done a project like this? If so, what did you use for the carpet texture, what kind of wood did you use, and did you add padding? I'm also wondering if there is any reason NOT to use a fake tree -- seems to me that the cats would try eating the leaves if it were real, but I may be wrong on that. As far as the photo above, it doesn't look like those perches are particularly load-bearing, and I'd want to build one that can accommodate my kitten when he grows into an adult cat.
Instead, I'm thinking of building a tree/perch that will give my cat a nice view of the outside. One option, which I'm leaning toward, is building it around a small tree like this:
What I really like about it is it's legitimately decorative, not a big, ugly-looking monstrosity in the middle of the living room or bedroom, and it seems like it would actually be more appealing to cats.
My questions are: Has anyone here actually done a project like this? If so, what did you use for the carpet texture, what kind of wood did you use, and did you add padding? I'm also wondering if there is any reason NOT to use a fake tree -- seems to me that the cats would try eating the leaves if it were real, but I may be wrong on that. As far as the photo above, it doesn't look like those perches are particularly load-bearing, and I'd want to build one that can accommodate my kitten when he grows into an adult cat.