My two cats are rather hard on cat furniture. The small cat tree I have is missing most of the carpet at the top of the posts that hold up the tube so I’ve had to lay it down so the cats will sharpen their claws on that instead of on the carpet on the stairs (at least that was the goal). The scratching post I have (that Dash almost never uses) I had to re-wrap in sisal rope, and apparently it’s not as good as the old rope so neither cat used it for weeks. I think the scent of the new rope is finally wearing off since I’ve seen Talore scratch at it a few times, but she still picks at the stairs sometimes.
My sister proposed boiling catnip leaves to make tea and seeing if soaking stuff in that makes it attractive to the cats, but I haven’t tried that yet. Shaking some catnip on the scratching post was enough to get Talore to rub on it.
A month or two ago I decided I’d just get them a new cat tree – one big enough they could both have a perch and they could use for scratching. Then I went to the store and discovered that I’d be paying nearly $200 for a cat tree that didn’t seem all that big.
I figured I could build a more interesting cat tree myself, so when I had family in town for Thanksgiving we did some planning and got wood. The original concept called for a 10+ foot tall tower reaching from downstairs to the loft railing so the cats could climb it to get upstairs. That seemed like it would be a bit unstable (and out of sight of my desk, so they wouldn’t be on it much while I’m at home at my desk). We also considered just getting shelves, wrapping them in carpet, and mounting them staggered so the cats could jump between them to go up, but that didn’t seem all that exciting (and Dash likes being in boxes more than having a high vantage point).
After looking at cat trees online I settled on a stand-alone tree that will go between my reading lamp and the shelves in the corner of the loft. I insisted it needs to fit through doorways without disassembly, and we decided on a two foot by three foot base and a four foot tall frame (probably with a box and platform on top so it’ll be around five feet tall).
That’s all we had to go with when we went to the lumber yard, so we figured we’d get wood for the frame, plywood for floors, carpet to cover it with, and enough fasteners to make it go together. We discovered that Home Depot has bundles of banister supports, which are sanded square posts (with rounded edges), and come in lengths of three and four feet. We also found plywood of various thicknesses sold in two foot by four foot rectangles with one side sanded smooth. We chose the thickest carpet they had in stock (the really expensive carpet has to be ordered) and got a roll two feet wide.
As it stands now, rather than spending a bit under $200 on a cat tree I’ve now spent around $200 on materials that hopefully will turn into a cat tree soon.
I also got a staple gun (for securing the carpet) and the last few things my tablesaw needed to get it going: bolts to mount it to the stand my dad built last time he was here, the belt to connect the motor to the blade, and a surge protector with a switch (temporary fix since the motor doesn’t have a switch). I had to reverse the direction the motor turns, which turned out to be pretty easy once I spotted the plate on the end that comes off (it was fastened with the bolts that hold the case together, at first glance it didn’t look like a separate piece), but now I finally have the tablesaw that’s been in my garage for the last year in a useable state.
While my family was here I got the basic frame together, then I cut the plywood for the bottom platform after they left. Here’s what I had at the end of last weekend:
I also had a piece of plywood on the end of the top by the lamp so I could turn the lamp on and let Talore sleep in a heated spot that’s not my lap. I’m not certain it was all that warm even with the reading lamp arm swung over the platform, but Talore was quite content to stay there when I put her on the platform. Both cats could walk along the beam on the side of the frame to get to the platform, though Dash always paused for a bit before stepping out onto the narrow beam where he actually had to balance.
This weekend I didn’t spend much time actually working on it, but I did finally draw up a vague plan of how I’m going to arrange platforms. I don’t have it planned exactly, but I know what I’m doing with the upper-middle level and I have an idea of what I’ll do for the bottom levels so I added some middle framing. That finished all the holes I needed in the floor on the bottom, so I fastened that piece of plywood down. This is what it looks like now:
The box in the middle platform isn’t very well supported but Dash managed to get in to check it out pretty quickly. I think he didn’t appreciate how much the cardboard flexed when he wasn’t actually standing over the plywood that’s holding it up: he didn’t stay in it for long.