Cat furniture & weight ?

meowers

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I've found a few great cat tower/condo combos online that are almost exactly what we are looking for. They are between 53" and 62" tall. Then I noticed some say the weight limit is 50 pounds (way more than enough) and some say 30 pound limit.

I'm getting a new kitten soon, hence the new play furniture, and between the new one growing up and my already 11 pound cat... are they serious? What are your experiences with weight limits and cat furniture?

I'm thinking it's smarter to follow the recomendations, but maybe they are just being way too cautious?
 

littleraven7726

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We have a couple home built cat forts because Stimpy is much too large for any straight from the store cat fort. He is 17 lbs and LOVES to jump off of things. I can't buy a lot of the store bought forts (the big condos) because of the weight limits and the wobble factor. If it wobbles I won't buy it. Stimpy plus one other cat would be a 30 lb weight limit. Like I say, our 2 best forts are home made. The others will knock over if he decides to launch across the room from them. I would also think about the 2 cats rough housing on it, will it stand up to the weird movements of their 2 weights playing on it?

One of our forts feels like the whole thing is made of plywood and fiberboard (we didn't make it, but it's awesome). The other my husband made with 2x4's, concrete tubes, and fiberboard. It doesn't wobble. And we can actually stand on it.
 

goldenkitty45

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Well my treehouse is about 4 1/2 feet tall and my two can rock it (11 lbs and 10 lbs). DH is gonna add a second treehouse to it (7 feet tall) and connect the two by a board/ramp - it should be more sterdy that way.

A wider base should prevent it from being rocked/knocked over.
 

consumerkitty

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My cats tipped over their 6 1/2 ft kitty tree so I put two big boxes of kitty litter to add weight to the base. That's a temporary measure until I find a better way to add weight to the base.
 

zorana_dragonky

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I wish it was easy to just find a big flat metal panel that you could just screw to the bottom, LOL.

Probably one of the easiest ways would be to take the bottom piece and attach some sort of heavy stone tile to the bottom, or something similar. Like take off the very bottom of the cat tree and use some grout and a few pieces of stone tile and bada-bing, your cat tree is super heavy on the bottom!

Or maybe you could just screw another heavy piece of wood to the bottom. That is probably easier, LOL.

I don't know. Anyone else have ideas?
 

littleraven7726

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Originally Posted by zorana_dragonky

Or maybe you could just screw another heavy piece of wood to the bottom. That is probably easier, LOL.

I don't know. Anyone else have ideas?
Our big tree's base and second level are compressed fiberboard (we later covered in carpet). We had Home Depot cut it to the size squares Mike wanted. They weigh a TON.
The fiberboard was actually quite cheap to buy, which surprised us when we were shopping for supplies. We still have some, and I want to use one as a base for a step stool type fort (for next to my dresser).
 

zorana_dragonky

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So if the new cat tree I ordered is too wobbly, I'll take myself on down to Lowe's and get me a piece of compressed fiberboard cut to size and screw it to the bottom of the cat tree.

 
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meowers

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Good advice! I really didnt even think of it tipping over (I'm new to the whole indoor cat thing
) but was more concerned about the top perches breaking maybe? Why do they put a perch thats over 5' tall supported on just one post?! Seems kinda dumb on the makers part, ya know?
 

artgecko

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I recently bought my first cat tree off ebay and it has a 25lb weight limit... Believe me, it definately deserves that.... it can be very wobbly, so I've had to put it against the window/wall and a sub woofer for support. That said, I think the weight limit is per shelf, (as I've had 2, 10lb kittens and 1, 14lb cat on different parts at the same time). But, doubtless, the heavier the weight limit, the better.

I agree on the single post-supported shelf deal. The high shelf on mine is supported by a ~12" plastic tube and it can be quite wobbly. I just recently had to retighten all the bolts on the tree to help with the wobblyness. I guess, if big enough, you could always add a 2x4 to help support the shelf.

Art
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by zorana_dragonky

I wish it was easy to just find a big flat metal panel that you could just screw to the bottom, LOL.

Probably one of the easiest ways would be to take the bottom piece and attach some sort of heavy stone tile to the bottom, or something similar. Like take off the very bottom of the cat tree and use some grout and a few pieces of stone tile and bada-bing, your cat tree is super heavy on the bottom!

Or maybe you could just screw another heavy piece of wood to the bottom. That is probably easier, LOL.

I don't know. Anyone else have ideas?
i wouldn't want to do anything permanent - what if i ever move? maybe just laying those big 14x14 tiles onto the base would be best.
i attached my tall tree to the wall w/an L-bracket - that stopped the wobbling! my Chip is 16 pounds, & while he doesn't use it as much as the others, he has been know to get all the way to the top! Chip on the tree
 
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