I’m interested in a used cat tree after I went to PetsMart and saw the prices. Some were as high as $175. Anyone have any ideas?
Well, it’s not yard sale season yet.
You could try freecycle.org, or craigslist. Would be a crapshoot but won’t cost you anything.
Or you could make one, it’s not at all difficult. I bet you can find all sorts of instructions online.
You could run a “Wanted to buy” ad in your local newspaper’s classified ad section. Someone might respond. Also, if you have any re-sale shops near you, you could check there.
A cat tree is a combination of scratchingposts and elevated spots where the cat can sit. In combination, they’re expenisive, and take up a lot of space. And, frankly I find them ugly.
You could make both yourself. I bought a wooden pole at the gardenshop (or get one from the woods) smeared glue on it an wound it plain rough rope. (Roundroundround - took me an hour for a 4 feet pole!) Looked quite nice.
You could also nail some carpet, or the back of carpet, or some sacking, against the pole. Then you fasten the pole to the wall. For extra cat-credit, put a little wooden platform on top where the cat can sit after he has climbed the pole. or put a platform halfway the pole, and use the platform to fasten the whole thing to the wall.
Or put these materials on a frame, and nail the frame to the wall. You could even paint it in the colors of the wall.
We made one of our own - it cost about $60. Pictures of it (and our cat who really isn’t as fat as she looks in the picture) are here. Yeah, it’s big and kinda ugly, but it keeps the cat from scratching at furniture.
If you do buy or make one, just make sure it’s very sturdy. Your cat will likely just ignore it if it’s not.
I doubt a cat will use a used scratching post in the way you want them to - the scratches and scents are territorial markers. You’re likely to create a urine sprayer this way.
We have rough cedar paneling. Our cats have been scratching on it for 20+ years (we allow/encourage it). The wood is looking rather worn at the two doorways where they do this, but they haven’t gone all the way through yet. They absolutely love it. If you pick up some scrap pieces and nail them to a sturdy something-or-other, I’m sure they’ll use it. Way cheap, way effective. The only downfall is that you have to vacuum up the shreds. No big deal, though.
I like Kalhoun’s idea. I’ve found that scratchingposts have to meet three requirements:
**1 ** sturdy, like MsMitey said. If it falls over once, the cat will never use it again.
**2 ** must feel nice to the nails.
**3 ** often forgotten: a scaratchingpost must be in sight. It is a visual marker to the cat, and he feels it must be in a place where his housemates often pass by so they can see and smell (if we had the nose for it) his work. A doorpost is excellent.
If you put the scratchingpost out of the way, somewhere in the back, chances are the cat will ignore it too. It’s kinda like taking the drawing your kid made today and proudly exhibiting it…behind the old luggage in the attic.
First you get some used cats, then you nail them to a tree.
What?
I agree that they are probably easier to make. I did find some plans online for various make your own cat trees. Frankly, I don’t like the idea of carpeting permanently attached to those things, it gets dirty and hairy and you can’t clean it and my cats always end up having a hairball on stuff like that.
If you decide to make one, another thing that cats may enjoy playing in is Sonotube (I think that’s the name), it’s a heavy duty cardboard tube used for a mold for pouring concrete in cylinder shapes. It’s usually big enough for most cats to fit in and they love hiding in stuff. I am working on a plan to build a cat play tree using some of the tubes.
If your house isn’t very formal-looking, you could actually frame a doorway or two with the cedar (it’s kind of a western-looking or country effect…very casual) in the room where you spend most of your time. When they finally do wear through it (which won’t be in your lifetime) you can nail up another piece.
We also have a thick doorway going from the living room to the kitchen (it’s probably a 10-inch thick threshhold). Sometimes we just pick up a cat and stick her on the wall like velcro. Then we count how many seconds of “hang time” she gets and applaud when she jumps down.
I think I need to look into getting a life.
The brand I used is called quiktube I think, and it worked well. The cat doesn’t really hang out in there, but there’s bookshelves in the way, so maybe she can’t get inside easily (she’s pretty lazy). I vacuum the carpeted parts and they actually stay pretty clean. The carpet isn’t very thick, so I can also use a lint roller on it if I’m feeling anal.
Ugly? Ha! SpouseO and I made a cat tree that really looks like a tree. 'Course, it cost us a pretty penny (even building our own!), but it looks like a tree. So there you go.
To build it, we looked up “how to build a cat tree” (or some such) on the internet, then went from there with our own idea. Took longer than we wanted, but is pretty cool.
Since our cat is declawed (we got her that way), we didn’t worry so much about covering it with carpet. Instead, we used corderoy (sp?) and cotton fabric - the trunk’s brown tie-dyed corderoy, while the “branches” are a mottled green cotton. It’s nice.
If I may offer another option, you don’t have to buy a used one or pay ridiculous retail prices. Try petedge.com
http://www.petedge.com/jump.jsp?itemType=INDEX&itemID=596
They will sell you one of the same cat trees that they sell to the pet stores to mark up, and they will give you a break on shipping too if you spend a certain amount.
There are some here that aren’t quite as expensive.
I got one off craigslist for $50, but I had to drive to Marin.
It’s now in Reno with the cat.
Where are you? My cat recently died, and I’ve been wondering what to do with mine. It’s just a small one (base, a few feet of column, and platform) The column’s lower third is carpet, the middle is wound rope, and the upper third used to be carpet, but it was torn off. I’d recommend wrapping it with rope, as the carpet just doesn’t last long enough when they scratch it.
If you’re local, or want to pay for shipping, it’s yours.
They’re on every street corner after Christmas. Pine, spruce, and fir. They smell good, too.
If you are able to find a used one, use a blacklight to check it for ringworm. Ringworm will glow in the blacklight.
I second the building your own. Much cheaper and lots of fun!
I picked up a nice 4 story one off Craigslist a few months ago. None of our 5 cats will go near the damn thing, I figure it still has the odor from the previous owners cats. Its been the the garage airing out, I should bring it back in and give it another try.