Category: Cats

I’ve finished probably all I’ll get done on the cat tree before I leave for vacation. I put the hammock in last Thursday, and I finished the top box today. Here’s the current state (even moved into the loft where I intend to put it when it’s finished):

All the platforms that aren’t part of the box aren’t fastened down. Those are where I intend to put platforms, but I’m planning a carpeted box on the bottom level (I’ll need more plywood for it) so I’m still waiting to see how that goes together. The middle platform is actually intended to be a front for the box, but I need to watch the cats getting in and out of it so I know how much I actually can close off such that they still can get in easily.

It’s getting a bit heavy and awkward to carry, but I still managed to get it through the door from the garage (awkward due to steps up to the door, and the cat tree is about five feet tall) and up the stairs (tricky due to the 90 degree turn a few steps from the bottom). I’m worried that once I finish adding the plywood on the bottom levels I won’t have enough handholds to carry it even as well as I can now, but I’ll probably still be able to manage. Worst case I get someone to come help me get it up the stairs, then don’t move it again.

The top of the box on the top is carpeted. I was surprised how easy it was to cut the carpet (with a utility knife) and staple it down. It’s even hard to find most of the staples once they’re hammered in all the way.

I intended the top to be a high vantage point for Talore and the box to be smooth-sided for Dash (not too warm for him and mostly enclosed), though Talore hasn’t been too thrilled at the top (the walls weren’t really tall enough to carpet easily, so I didn’t and she isn’t curling up against the side) and Dash didn’t spend much time at all in the box. I ended up putting a cushion in the box and Talore is sleeping there as I type this. For that matter, Dash is perched on top watching me. Maybe he’d be in the box if Talore wasn’t already.

This was where the cats settled down when I first put it in the loft:

The hammock was intended for Dash, and he very much seems to approve. I’m pretty sure he’d have let me try to carry the cat tree up the stairs with him in it if I hadn’t evicted him right before picking it up. As soon as I put it down at the top of the stairs he was back in it, and he didn’t budge when I shifted it across the room (or installed the carpet).

Last night left me a couple inches of snow in my yard. Whatever else they like getting into, neither of my cats is at all interested in going out in the cold to play in the snow.

I tried to haul Dash outside first figuring his long hair would be better insulation against the cold than Talore has. Just getting the harness on him and adjusted was an experience he was very much trying to avoid, so he wasn’t happy to start with. I’d hoped I could just open the door and put him in front of it and he’d get curious and go outside (with the harness and leash on him so he wouldn’t get away), but instead he poked his nose outside for a few seconds, then ran under a chair to get back to trying to get out of the harness. Dash is hard to carry anywhere, so all I managed was to do was put him down on the step outside my back door. Of course he immediately jumped back inside, but I did take a picture of the only cat prints either cat made.

Unfortunately, Talore was watching Dash struggle to not go outside, so she hid under my bed as soon as I went looking for her. I did manage to get her out and put the harness on her (she’s more willing to accept the harness than Dash), but she very much wasn’t inclined to go near the open door. I managed to carry her outside since she doesn’t struggle like Dash does upon being picked up, but I couldn’t put her down: she climbed up my sweatshirt and clung to my shoulder till I went back inside.

To be fair, it was 15 degrees outside so I wasn’t expecting to be able to keep Talore out for long, but I’d really hoped to be able to get Dash to play in the snow. Maybe I’ll try later after all the snow I tracked in melts.

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.