How To Make A Cat Tree More Stable

Add Some Cushions For Kitty To Relax On

A DIY cat tree is a place for scratching, climbing, and exploring. Its also a nice high place that gives your cat some privacy for a nice afternoon nap. If you want to encourage your cat to use their cat tree more, especially for nap time, make sure you add some comfortable cushions and place them inside any cubbies or you can secure them on one or two of the platforms near the top of the tree.

Which Cat Tree Should I Buy

Of course, you could avoid all that hassle and invest in a sturdy, high-quality cat tree that will last you a lifetime. Go Pet Clubs 62-inch cat tree is a wonderful choice when it comes to durability and functionality.

When we tested our unit, we immediately noticed how strong the compressed wood actually is. It doesnt need to be secured to the floor to be stable. We also liked the beautiful design that includes scratch posts and Faux Fur that cover the entire cat tree.

Youll find a hammock and a small hide-out space on the second level that will definitely occupy a lot of your cats time. The posts that are covered with natural sisal rope that enable your cat to exercise their claws without hurting your furniture.

Overall, a fairly priced model that is renowned for its years and years of proven durability. We just wished the hide-out space was a little bigger to fit a larger cat.

Plan : Make A Cat Playground

If you have an extra room that can be utilized to make the cats play area, then this one is for you. You can even convert your entire house into a cat playground.

Make a Cat Fort, Arrange Steps, Create Bridges, and Slides using cardboard and wood. Add dangling soft toys and towel hammock. Add cat beds, scratch posts, faux fur platforms, artificial grass, and faux plants. Combine all of the above methods to make an amusement area for your kitties.

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Cover The Cat Tower Base

A covered base will look more aesthetically pleasing if you cover it with some type of thick fabric or carpet. This will also make the cat trees base more comfortable for your cat.

To attach the fabric or carpet, start by cutting out a piece thats bigger than the base. Next, youll wrap it over the base and use a heavy-duty stapler gun to secure the material.

How To Build Your Own Cat Tree In 3 Easy Steps

One thing that all cat owners should have for their cats is a cat tree. Whether you have one or multiple cats, ideally you want to have multiple cat trees.

Of course this can be a bit challenging for many reasons. You might:

• have limited space
• find expenses add up quickly
• find cheap cost means cheap & dangerous cat furniture
• want to customize your own setup

Whatever the case may be, sometimes its just better to build your own cat tree. But like a lot of projects you think up from time to time, this might seem easier than it really is.

Coming from someone who enjoys carpentry and has won several blue ribbons, there are always hard ways to go about creating things and easy ways to go about doing things. The most important factor is that we DO NOT SACRIFICE QUALITY for being hasty, lazy, cheap or a combination of reasons.

I want to show you how easy you can build a quality, sturdy, DIY cat tree without turning your life into an emotional wreck. My dad used to always say, easy is better than hard and Im going to show you how to make this work for you and your cat.

Before starting, always practice safe habits and use all tools according to the manufacturers guidelines. Myself and anyone on the Cat Climbing Structures team are not responsible for any damages, injuries, or other occurrences that happen as a result of your building your cat tree.

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Diy Cat Tree For All Skill Levels

Cat trees are essential for indoor cats and every cat can benefit from having one in the home. Not only can they provide a safe place for your cat to play and sleep, but they also allow your cat to focus their nail sharpening techniques on the tree, instead of your furniture. Unfortunately, a good cat tree can be costly. If you want to make a simple DIY cat tree, then this guide will walk you through the steps to create a cat tree your cat or cats will love.

• Final Thoughts

Best Top Of The Line Cat Trees

Go Pet Club Huge 87.5 in. Cat Tree Condo House Furniture

Sometimes you just have to go all out. This is less of a cat tree and more of a full hotel for your kitties, with a ton of unique features that makes it one of the best youre likely to ever find. The entire thing is high-quality, and its sure to be suitable for nearly any number of friendly furballs you have around the house.

There are five different cat condos included on the base of this amazing cat tree, as well as tunnels, platforms, and even some included swinging toys. On top of that, its made of great materials and features a huge amount of sisal rope covered scratching posts for your cat to keep their claws nice and sharp.

This all comes at a pretty hefty cost, of course. The only change that we would make to it is for the base to be made of solid wood instead of pressed wood, but with the enormous footprint. its unlikely that anything short of a tiger is going to be knocking it over anytime soon.

Our Opinion:

If you have a lot of cats, and a lot of room, then this might be exactly what youve been looking for to provide your cats with a perfect area for playing, sleeping, and generally messing around.

• Enormous footprint ensures it will never be knocked over
• Multiple tunnels and five separate sleeping areas
• High-quality materials

• Takes up a lot of floor space

Pawhut 108 Floor-to-Ceiling Adjustable Staggered Climbing Cat Tree Tower

Our Opinion:

• Several platforms and a hammock
• Industrial aesthetic

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Make A Scratching Post

Use different tubes that can fit the height of your cat. After cutting the tube for your desired size, wrap the rope around it. The stands will serve as scratching posts for your feline friends. Roll the strings and apply glue to secure them to the tube. Keep rolling the twines until you cover every inch of the pipes.

Provide multiple scratching posts in the home. Marking is one of the functions of scratching and some cats may not want to share a scratching post. You may also notice that each cat has a particular preference when it comes to where, when or how they scratch. One cat may prefer horizontal scratching, one might do vertical scratching, another may like to scratch just after waking from a nap, shares Pam Johnson-Bennett, IAABC.

Attach The Cat House And Connect With The Rods

After cutting the cat house pieces, you can put them together. Use a nail to finish building the house. Connect all the wooden pieces you have cut to the rod. If you opt to make a cat tree condo with more dynamics, you can also add ladders wrapped with twines.

Were not done yet! Do not forget to add color and design! These might give your DIY cat tree the pop it needs to stand out. You can also add a pillow where your cats can rest. If you want to make a more natural-looking space for your cats, integrating stones and greenery can make it look fresh and vibrant.

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Best Cat Trees For Climbing Felines

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Cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy always tells cat moms and dads in his show, My Cat From Hell, that cats need lookout points to feel safe. That feeling of safety will help them adjust to their environment and live happily.

Its up to cat parents to make sure their cats are provided with proper perches so they can get the lay of the land. One way to give that sense of security is by buying your fur baby a cat tree.

What Material Do Cats Like The Most

Cats love ropes and threads any object formed from woven material will have them at it. Sisal, in particular, is a favorite for most, if not all, cats. Its durable and rough texture reminds cats of tree bark, and its woven nature gives them a sense of satisfaction after tearing it thread by thread.

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Cat Empire Beige By Cattreeking

Looking at the image, you might already be able to tell why this cat tree is so great, especially for large cat breeds like Maine Coons. This cat tree is huge. I mean, look at the image.

There is a woman standing right next to the Cat Empire Beige and the cat tree is taller and wider than her. The exact measurements are 72x47x24 inch and it weighs 143 lbs.

Just have a look at the poles. Those are the poles you are going to need if you want to get a cat tree for your Maine Coon. Maine Coons can weigh 15 to 25 lbs and some get even heavier.

When they are jumping from platform to platform, or from pole to platform, there will be even more weight the cat tree has to hold. A normal cat tree will not do the job in this case.

Further, all poles are completely covered with sisal, which means that your Maine Coon can climb up this cat tree from every side instead of just jumping on the platform.

This will make the cat tree more attractive, more entertaining to your Maine Coon and because the cat tree is so sturdy and the poles are so big, you never have to worry about your Maine Coon breaking the cat tree or that it is going to fall over.

The sisal is directly glued to the pole, so your Maine Coon will not be able to roll off the sisal from the pole. Unfortunately, this happens with a lot of cheaper cat trees. The same goes for the plush.

Great Lying Places

Besides that, the hammocks are very soft because of the plush. This makes it very comfortable for your Maine Coon.

Any Cons?

Cozycatfurniture Xl Climbing Cat Tree

This tree is excellent if you are looking to save space because it is designed to fit in the corner of your room. It will go perfectly in free spaces like the corner by your TV stand that usually isnt used.

Your cat will also enjoy the many levels and platforms on this tree although some might be a little small for a full-grown Maine coon.

Most importantly though, there are tons of areas for your cat to scratch on both horizontally and vertically. If youre looking to save even more space, you could try a wall-mounted cat tree.

Heres the breakdown of the CozyCatFurniture XL Climbing Cat Tree:

Size : 25 in x 25 in x 73 in

Colors: beige, mocha

Structure Material: Wood

Covering Material Soft Plush

Type of Cats This Is For: Healthy adult cats. May not be suitable for older cats especially if they have mobility issues.

Assembly Details: easy assembly, manual included

Warranty: not specified

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How To Make A Cat Tree

This article was co-authored by Jean Johnson. Jean Johnson is a Cat Specialist and a writer for the KittyNook Blog. Jean specializes in providing advice on cat health, play, and general information about cats and cat breeds.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 12 testimonials and 100% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 667,474 times.

Cats are natural climbers, and will happily crawl all over tall structures. A homemade cat tree will provide your kitty with hours of entertainment, and can be built at a fraction of the cost of cat trees available at a pet store. With some tools and dedication, you can make a customized cat tree based on your cat’s personality!

Low On Money Get The Queensplace Xxl

Not everybody can afford huge cat trees like the ones I have already recommended. So if you are saving up for a huge cat tree, but you still need a good cat tree for your Maine Coon at the moment, have a look at the Queensplace XXL.

This cat tree is more like a scratching post, but it also has a cat bed on top with a removable pillow and it comes with a big rope your Maine Coon can use for climbing and playing.

It is a very good alternative to one of those huge cat trees, but only if you only have one Maine Coon or if you have a couple of other cat trees in your house.

As you can see the 8-inch Ø pole is pretty stable and the cat tree was tested up to 88 lbs. I mean, there is a woman sitting on this cat tree comfortably.

The sisal and the plush are directly glued to the material beneath, which makes it impossible for your cat to destroy this cat tree while playing.

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Our Pick: New Cat Condos Premier Triple Cat Perch

The New Cat Condos tree is also one of only two of the models we tested where the carpet covers the platforms completely, including the bottoms, leaving no accessible edges for a cat to pull loose. We couldnt poke any holes in the carpet itself during our testing. The only small downside weve observed is that pieces of pile sometimes come loose from the carpet.

The rope on the scratching posts is well-attached, and the rope-covered parts of the posts are at a good height for a cat to stretch to, at 27 inches.

Increase The Weight Of The Base

Besides moving the cat tree to a corner, the next easiest fix is to increase the weight of the base. What you use will depend in part on the shape of your cat tree but many times you can use items from around the house.

Here are some ideas:

• Trays of canned cat food
• Milk jugs filled with water or sand
• Bags of pet food
• Dumbells or kettlebells
• Backpack filled with anything heavy

But if you want to use something a bit heavier, the most cost-effective option would probably be a sandbag. You can but just make sure that your cat doesnt decide its a better scratching post than your actual cat tree! Once filled, that sandbag should weigh around 35-40 pounds which should be plenty for most cats and activity trees.

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Supplies You Will Need To Make Your Own Homemade Cat Tree

Well, it would be best of all to make it from natural tree wood and maybe recycled flat pack wood furniture with old carpet. That would be the cheapest and most cat-friendly option, but there are not many saplings being hewn down around the city of Lincoln. So we may have to resort to buying materials. Keep your options open of course.

We hope you will modify our simple design according to what is available. In any case, making your own cat tower is fun and a lot cheaper than buying a cat tree from a store.

Basically, we have a few suggestions we think will work:

• 2 centimeter-thick MDF or blockboard: Medium-density fibreboard is probably the easiest route for the stages. A reasonably sized piece will do the base and stages 1 and 2.
• Thick plywood board: We used this for the top platform. A recycled cupboard door or an untreated decking tile would serve as well.
• Untreated landscape posts: You can also use thicker lengths of untreated kiln-dried pine. This will serve for the legs.
• Natural carpet: For that added luxury, we cut up an old Axminster to upholster the base and stages. Any natural carpet would do. Just cut it larger than the bases. That way, you can trim and fold it in neatly underneath and tack it on with clout nails, carpet or upholstery tacks.
• Posts and sisal rope: For the scratching posts, use one or several posts with very tight rings of sisal rope6-millimeter thick is ideal.
• Safe cuphooks: This will be for suspending the toys.
• Multi-purpose, thick, long screws

To Prevent Breaking Your House

The first impression lasts forever. If you bought a cat tree to contain your cats hyperactivity and it finds it wobbly, itll quickly return to wreaking havoc around the house.

Thats why I was saying that its a win-win situation, as youll be buying your peace of mind by following this simple guide.

*This page contains affiliate links to products I recommend. If you purchase something from this page, I may receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

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Best Cat Tree For Scratching

This cat treemeasuring 43.25 inches in height, 18.75 inches in width and depthis practically covered in scratching surfaces. Posts are wrapped with jute, while several walls are lined with sisal. Both are ideal for cat scratching.

And when your cat is taking a break from all the scratching fun, he or she can take a nap on the cat bed on top, lounge in the hammock, or hide in the condo.