Cat Products Aren't Made for Cats?

[LokiWolf]

For litter boxes, I need to know why the f do they get so expensive. There is a hooded one that has stairs and those stairs take up half the box, the damn box leaks, and it's an awkward size. It's $40+. It's ridiculous. Honestly you could get a storage container from Walmart for like 12 and cut an opening in the side of the box or the lid. And they are bigger. Also, $50 for a stainless steel litter box that still isn't big enough?? Go to a restaurant website and you can get something much bigger for cheaper. Seriously!!

Those scratch houses that look like rvs, tvs, spooky houses.. Why are they put together with plastic screws? Something a cat can chew and swallow?? I got a haunted house one and the three kittens destroyed it by pulling the plastic screws out. I has it for 3 days.

No strings on cat toy mice. One of my kittens is notorious for chewing all the strings off the mice. Now the really furry mice she hasn't but thats probably cause it blends in.

 

[IndyJones]

My vet told me to pull the nose and eyes off the mice before giving them to Indy. Apperently especialy kittens can choke on them like babies with teddy bears that have buttons.

 

[treeclimber]

I want a cat bookshelf.

By which I mean something that has the basic form of a bookshelf, but every shelf has a hole cut in one end or the other (alternating ends on adjacent shelves) so a cat can climb up between shelves. And then the non-hole end of each shelf has a barrier between it and the room outside (like a little cabinet door) so the cat has a little cupboard to hide in.

One of these days I’ll get around to making one, but feel free to beat me to it!

 

[Caspers Human]

Who said you had to assemble a cat tree exactly like it says on the box?

Will your cat actually use that high perch? Maybe it would work better on the other side?

Look at the way it's built and decide if you can rearrange parts, safely. Maybe there could be multiple ways to assemble it.

 

[cejhome]

Toys without dangerous pieces on them that can come off - little eyes, tails, etc. I always have to remove/cut off pieces that can potentially be a danger. I am not comfortable with made in China stuff - I don't trust the materials/chemicals. There are few made in USA toys anymore to choose from.

Cat trees - cat trees now-a-days are awful. I have my 20+ year old cat trees that I will have to see if a handyman can recover with new carpet again. I bought a huge solid wood one on Ebay eons ago (20+ years) - this thing is great. Big enough for our big boy Buddy, and no matter how hard he hits it when he is running up it as a wildman, it doesn't rock (much). I have a 2nd smaller cat tree that is again all solid wood (except for the round tube part - I think that is a heavy paperboard concrete form. Those days are gone. Now its all cheap stuff covered in that cheap thin furry/fleecy material.

 

[Caspers Human]

A big part of the problem is that nobody, during the design and manufacturing process, actually sees the product from start to finish.

Some design engineer draws up an idea on his computer using AutoCad. He e-mails it to his boss who looks at it for about 30 seconds before forwarding the e-mail to a manufacturing engineer. That guy creates a computer program for a CNC machine and e-mails it to a production supervisor. The supervisor orders his workers to make the thing then, out the door it goes.

People look at the pictures of cat trees on Amazon or some other website. They pay with their credit card, it gets shipped and, two days later, it arrives. They spend an hour assembling the darned thing. A week later, their cat has barely sniffed the thing and they wonder why their cat doesn't like the new cat tree that they spent over $100.00 to buy.

Those "Assemble-it-Yourself" cat trees go from design to production without any of the people in between actually putting their hands on real product until it's actually made. Nobody has ever put one of those cat trees in a real room with a real cat until some customer buys it and puts it in their living room.

If you want to have a cat tree that your cats will like you need to buy something made by real people who have tested their product on real cats, not some fanciful concept of a product that was designed and built by computer but nobody in the real world put their hands on before it was made in a factory.

 

[IndyJones]

Might explain why cat trees are still stuck in the 60's. The taky carpeting on them like who wants that in their living room?

Then kitty continuse scratching the sofa.

If they made them more like the vesper series by cat it, people would be more likely to put them in places where kitty wants to scratch. The vesper ones are wood (partical board?) And acutaly look good enough to have out in the opened.

The best ones have a combination of different post wraps on them.

 

[LokiWolf]

Might explain why cat trees are still stuck in the 60's. The taky carpeting on them like who wants that in their living room?

Then kitty continuse scratching the sofa.

If they made them more like the vesper series by cat it, people would be more likely to put them in places where kitty wants to scratch. The vesper ones are wood (partical board?) And acutaly look good enough to have out in the opened.

The best ones have a combination of different post wraps on them.

I had one of those vesper ones come into work (I work at Goodwill). It looked too small for any cat except maybe a kitten and honestly I'd be very worried that the kitty would hurt themselves jumping around and sliding off. My kitties don't always land on my tree but it's got some cushioning with that velvety looking carpet so they can grip and pull themselves up. I personally saw it as more of an attractive piece of furniture for maybe an old cat that lounges around but not a young kitty that has a ton of energy. I'm probably in the minority but it felt like it was built for the look and how it will fit in the home aestetic over practicallity for a kitty. Obviously there are other designs but I don't understand the appeal. You would have to put mats down for grip. But that's me. I put kitty functionality over appeal, but mine is in my bedroom cause that's where kitties hang out.

 

[IndyJones]

The problem I have with putting it in a bedroom is the cats still scratched the sofa. I did habve a 60s one like in your picture but shorter single tier because loft cielings don't allow for tall things but it sat unused except for lounging so I sold it to a friend.

The key is having it near the sofa or kitty will keep scratching there. Indy has a post with three different textures in her room but it is really beat up and the post has come loose from the base over the years. I am thinking of building them one out of a 4x4 I have left over from renovations on the porch. It is a solid peice of wood and quite heavy. I just need to glue some 2x4's to make a top and bottom.

 

[Caspers Human]

... I just need to glue some 2x4's to make a top and bottom.

Use drywall screws. Also use glue if you want. (I would use both if I was making a project like that.)

Countersink the screws. Drill a hole, part way down, so that the head of the screw lies below the surface of the wood. Then, get a wooden dowel, glue it into the hole and cut it off flush and sand smooth.

Drywall screws and carpenter's glue will ensure an ironclad joint that won't come apart.

Countersinking the screws and capping them with wooden dowels hides the screw heads and makes sure that no metal is exposed for cats to get hurt on.

 

[Alldara]

I've had good luck with leaving small posts around the couch and having the furniture by windows.

I don't mind the fluff ones for smaller trees where I'm using them for sleep (one beside our bed and one in the office are used very much for sleep).

What I DO like about carpet ones is that my cats can use every inch of it. They dig their nails in and move around like spider monkeys. They scratch every surface high and low.

Even though carpet is not as "attractive", for me, I prefer to keep my actual furniture looking good rather than opt for something my cats will use less and risk my furniture.

 

[KittyFriday]

I have a seven foot tall cat tree and I like it overall, though I suppose it could be sturdier. It was all covered in white carpet, but a couple of years ago I took the carpet off of some of the pieces and stained them dark brown so that it was more attractive.

One thing I would change about it is I would love if the carpet was designed as covers and could be removed so I could wash it. It's so hard to get the hair off.

 

[Alldara]

I have a seven foot tall cat tree and I like it overall, though I suppose it could be sturdier. It was all covered in white carpet, but a couple of years ago I took the carpet off of some of the pieces and stained them dark brown so that it was more attractive.

One thing I would change about it is I would love if the carpet was designed as covers and could be removed so I could wash it. It's so hard to get the hair off.

A chomchom has been amazing for that. Gets more off than our pet vac.

 

[IndyJones]

I have a seven foot tall cat tree and I like it overall, though I suppose it could be sturdier. It was all covered in white carpet, but a couple of years ago I took the carpet off of some of the pieces and stained them dark brown so that it was more attractive.

One thing I would change about it is I would love if the carpet was designed as covers and could be removed so I could wash it. It's so hard to get the hair off.

Yes capeted ones are also bad if the cat has an accident on them. I had to throw Kabutos old one away when he had a bladder infection and peed on it. It reeked of male cat pee.