Homemade Cat Jungle

[kimward34]

Thanks jmvito - I think I will investigate the possibility... Right now, I have my older "carpeted" cat trees out there BUT now, the carpet is falling off and the trees are disintegrating. I put these cat trees in the out door cage because I wanted to let the boys use them before I take them to the landfill.... Now it's time to get them out of there!

Thanks for the list!!

 

[nicolette]

Originally posted by kimward34
Thanks jmvito - I think I will investigate the possibility... Right now, I have my older "carpeted" cat trees out there BUT now, the carpet is falling off and the trees are disintegrating. I put these cat trees in the out door cage because I wanted to let the boys use them before I take them to the landfill.... Now it's time to get them out of there!

Thanks for the list!!

Kim.... Be careful if you get berber to replace the carpeting out there.... Remember how Sammy's nails kept getting caught up in the loops of my berber?

 

[kimward34]

Originally posted by nicolette
... Remember how Sammy's nails kept getting caught up in the loops of my berber?

Oh yes! More like poor Sammy was "Stuck In Place" -- LOL!

 

[systemxpert]

Kimward34....


Outdoor ? I run a small business that designs and builds high-end cat furniture. I currently don't offer any outdoor models, but I am researching the same thing.

Here are some thoughts that might help.

Use cedar wood. Its light weight and naturally resists the outdoor elements. Cedar is also a natural flea repellent. Avoid the pressure treated wood. Its treated with arsenic and can be bad for your cats.

Thick sisal rope also works well outdoors.

Just some ideas...

 

[momofmany]

The staples are only a problem on the parts where they have pulled the carpet away from the wood. Sometimes we find the staple in the carpet and sometimes in the wood. There are portions of our tree that we used both hot glue and staples - those areas have a lot more difficult time pulling away from the wood. If you build more, perhaps add hot glue under the carpet.

Ours is over 6 feet tall. A center 4X4 support post with 3 large steps leading up to the top platform, which is basically a big square open topped box. We cut out a hole in the corner of the top box so they can peer down thru the hole at the approaching "enemy". We used scrap lumber that we had in the garage and carpet the old carpet that we had just pulled out of the bedroom. Ours cost us the price of the glue and staples. A comparable one at the time (if you could even find it) would have cost over $200.

 

[jmvito]

Hi Mom! The big one we made suits the kittens more so than the seniors. SO we will build a smaller one for Bleu and Dottie and put it in my bedroom. I'm thinking something with 2 sleepers cubes. I'll stack them and use ramps so they can get to the sleepers. I probably won't use much sisal on this one because Bleu can't stand that stuff. It seems to scare him for some reason.

 

[fluffy'smom]

Oh i'd love to make Fluffy a nice scratching post.I'll look into it some more. Yours looks great Jmvito!!

 

[momofmany]

My 12 year old senior loves the tall one. He usually sits on the third shelf up. My 2 year old Scarlett rules the post and gets the top shelf, which she uses to view her fiefdome, and wards off all incoming assults from the large males in the house. It's hysterical watching my little 5 pound Scarlett running off 18 pound Pinky and 14 pound Stumpy.

My base is close to 3 feet square with 2X4 angled supports to keep it steady. We used wood screws throughout. They have caused it to wobble, but it's so darn heavy that they will never cause it to tip over. I have trouble moving the thing.

 

[momofmany]

Here is Scarlett while still a kitten with her brother Twinkle Toes. Twinkle Toes lives with a friend of mine. These are the feral kittens that we saved at 3 weeks old. They are identical to 2 in the last feral litter we saved in May at 10 days old. Of that litter, we adopted Jake and Elwood and kept Muddy Waters and Koko Taylor (the blues kittens....we're so sad we lost our mom we have the blues). We were shocked when we found this picture this morning. Twinkle Toes could be Muddy and Scarlett could be Jake.