Building Cat Furniture

[NezumiNeko]

We got a new cat yesterday! He's an adorable siamese mix, I think chocolate point, cutest face ever. He's about 10 months old, but very small and he has extra toes which make his feet so cute and big. I'll post pics (maybe). So anyway, this made me use my good ol' friend the interwebs to search some useless cat related things and I found some really cool, but simple furniture. Go to moderncat.net to see what I mean, they have some pics and links. One of the things that really stood out to me were wall shelves, put for a simple piece of pretty wood, it's over $200. WTF???? :rant: Who would pay that? It's not like I would get one anyway, but still. It's insane. So I was thinking that maybe I could build a couple shelves, my dad could help, it doesn't look too hard. Building an awesome cat tree would be pretty nifty, but I know I don't have those skills/patience.

Any ideas on how to go about this? What materials? We have some leftover carpet, so we wouldn't have to buy any. I haven't really built anything, so any tips are helpful. Thanks!

If it'd be too hard to build or unsafe for the cats, I'm fine with that too. There's A good chance I'll never get to building it anyway. I know Roxi would appreciate some new perches though, she loves her cat tree. :wink2:

 

[SQ]

Cat sites on the internet might have suggestions or even patterns.

 

[Kayla]

You can get tubes to use for cat furniture at your local building center. They are called sauna tubes and are usually long, so you'll have to cut it down to the size you want. Have a vertical scratching area high enough for your cat to fully extend it's reach for best scratching. (2x4s work well for vertical sections) You'll need a base of some sort and if you'd like, another level for resting up higher. (thicker plywood will work for both of those and/ or you can use the tubes for extra levels) We used non toxic glue with very few screws around the edges to attach the carpet. Just screw everything together how you want it and add carpet. You can carpet before if you like, it doesn't matter. Just make sure there are no sharp parts sticking out that may hurt your kitty.

Be creative, have fun, and good luck. :thumbup:

 

[chicky82]

here's an interesting site that has full instructions on how to build a cat tree with shelves :thumbup:

http://feline-furniture.tripod.com/

 

[NezumiNeko]

Thanks guys! I also found some other sites which help, but the bit about the tubes is great. One more question, how can I make sure the structure is strong enough?

 

[sausage4ever]

I would think it would be strong enough if you could drop a bowling ball on it without it falling apart. A bowling ball ways about the same as a cat so it would be a good test, also if you or your kid could stand on it without any ill effects then you should be on the safe side. It's better to build it too strong than regret it later!