cat tree for destructive kittens?

haleyrose99

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I have two kittens about four months old, and I've been failing when it comes to cat trees. When I got them from the shelter, they told me their foster family had a cat tree and they loved climbing on it. But it seems like everything I put in front of the kittens now they try to eat! I was already weary before getting one because of how much they are teething right now, but I ended up buying a Frisco 65" cat tree, (which I have to return, the parts literally didn't fit together) and within 2 minutes one of my kittens was already scratching at the fabric and trying to tear it up! She almost made a hole before I moved the tree elsewhere, and they also tried to eat parts of the scratching posts that were a bit frayed. They also scratch like crazy at my carpet so I'm not sure how I feel about a carpeted cat tree either. They are also horizontal rather than vertical scratchers, so beams with scratching posts on a tree do absolutely nothing for them! Anyone have any good suggestions on cat trees for ruthless chewers/scratchers? I really want to catify because one kitten constantly stares up at my kitchen counters and cries because she wants to be up high :sniffle: I live in an apartment so I don't have the option to put anything into the walls either, the best I have right now is a window hammock for them to watch outside, and this is also a bit destroyed already because it has a soft fabric blanket on top that they claw at. Anyone have any good suggestions on cat trees/how to catify for ruthless chewers/scratchers?
 

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Make sure that you're feeding the kittens enough food. They're basically bottomless pits until they're about a year old. Feed them as much food as they want to eat and as often as they want. Kittens have little tummies.

Well fed kittens are more well behaved. They're still super curious and are constantly testing your limits until they learn good behavior so have patience. Everything to a kitten is either a cool thing to play with or eat. TCS has an article on how to set boundaries for your cat and how to discourage bad behavior:


There's also an article on how to curb furniture scratching: How To Stop Your Cat From Scratching The Furniture – TheCatSite Articles

There are flat scratchers you can buy. There are cardboard ones and sisal ones, probably even carpeted ones.

There are threads on TCS on sturdy well made cat trees that last. A recent one is Large Cat - Cat Tree
 

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Cats will tear up trees, there's no way to avoid it. That's what they are for - so the cats don't tear up your furniture. Check to see if their claws need trimming, and get some of those inexpensive cardboard scratchers. My cats love theirs, and the cardboard is replaceable.
 
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haleyrose99

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Make sure that you're feeding the kittens enough food. They're basically bottomless pits until they're about a year old. Feed them as much food as they want to eat and as often as they want. Kittens have little tummies.

Well fed kittens are more well behaved. They're still super curious and are constantly testing your limits until they learn good behavior so have patience. Everything to a kitten is either a cool thing to play with or eat. TCS has an article on how to set boundaries for your cat and how to discourage bad behavior:

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There's also an article on how to curb furniture scratching: How To Stop Your Cat From Scratching The Furniture – TheCatSite Articles

There are flat scratchers you can buy. There are cardboard ones and sisal ones, probably even carpeted ones.

There are threads on TCS on sturdy well made cat trees that last. A recent one is Large Cat - Cat Tree
What's crazy is, my cats really won't eat that much! For example, Wellness' kitten food recommends 3/4 of a can per lb, and I'd be lucky if they eat half a can in a meal (they get wet food every 6 hours). They drink plenty of water, and I leave dry food out for them to graze, but honestly, I doubt they eat more than 1/4-1/2 a cup of that a day either. They are gaining weight, and they both weigh right at or a little above 5 lbs, they just... don't have an interest in eating really. We had a vet visit a few days ago and they have no health concerns besides possible FIV (which may contribute to this maybe? I'm not sure). They're on L-Lysine currently.
I'll definitely try to be a bit more patient, and I'll check out those sites, thank you for those! I've been looking into horizontal scratchers but there are so many options I'm mildly overwhelmed:sweat:
 
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haleyrose99

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Hi
To help a bit with the teething, take a couple clean washcloths (well rinsed if you use scented dryer sheets), dampen them and lightly freeze them. When the kittens chew on them, the cold should help ease any discomfort :)
Didn't even know this was a thing! I will definitely try this, thank you :)
 
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haleyrose99

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Cats will tear up trees, there's no way to avoid it. That's what they are for - so the cats don't tear up your furniture. Check to see if their claws need trimming, and get some of those inexpensive cardboard scratchers. My cats love theirs, and the cardboard is replaceable.
Just checked their claws and they do seem a bit sharp already, gonna trim them while they sleep. Going to buy some cardboard scratchers now, they already have one with a ball around it from Walmart and they like it, so at least I know they might use it!
 

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cat trees are meant to be destroyedt hey save other stuff from getting scratched up like your couch ,chairs etc. you might wanna add a few posts for them to scratch up carpeted trees are better i think those soft felty ones dont last at all. dog chew toys work great
 

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Lots of good advice above regarding teethers and such above! I also found that silvervine sticks helpful.

Correlated cardboard scratchers are amazing and I 100% recommend.

You 100% want a carpet scratcher if they are scratching carpet..you want something they want to scratch that you can say "yes!" to. Use lots of catnip and praise to make the switch.

I actually got one from Walmart. It has what looks like a dog house on top and then three posts. The base is solid wood so it doesn't tip.

Our newer ones we got from Wayfair. We looked at reviews and found ones that were large and suited our cats. They like to sit on those ones and look outside. The brands we bought were Tucker Murphy and

For scratcher ones we actually grabbed a U and W shaped ones from PetSmart. They just sit on the floor. They love love LOVE them. They scratch from every side and go under them and everything. Whisker City® Scratch & Cradle - Catnip | cat Scratchers | PetSmart
 

vansX2

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I have two kittens about four months old, and I've been failing when it comes to cat trees. When I got them from the shelter, they told me their foster family had a cat tree and they loved climbing on it. But it seems like everything I put in front of the kittens now they try to eat! I was already weary before getting one because of how much they are teething right now, but I ended up buying a Frisco 65" cat tree, (which I have to return, the parts literally didn't fit together) and within 2 minutes one of my kittens was already scratching at the fabric and trying to tear it up! She almost made a hole before I moved the tree elsewhere, and they also tried to eat parts of the scratching posts that were a bit frayed. They also scratch like crazy at my carpet so I'm not sure how I feel about a carpeted cat tree either. They are also horizontal rather than vertical scratchers, so beams with scratching posts on a tree do absolutely nothing for them! Anyone have any good suggestions on cat trees for ruthless chewers/scratchers? I really want to catify because one kitten constantly stares up at my kitchen counters and cries because she wants to be up high :sniffle: I live in an apartment so I don't have the option to put anything into the walls either, the best I have right now is a window hammock for them to watch outside, and this is also a bit destroyed already because it has a soft fabric blanket on top that they claw at. Anyone have any good suggestions on cat trees/how to catify for ruthless chewers/scratchers?
I purchased my Cat Tree in April 2019 just before getting my then 10 month old Kitten Miles. I purchased it from "Wayfair.com ". It was delivered assembled to my Front door. Miles didn't care much about the tree until his housemate 3 month old "Jackpot " arrived in November 2019. The Tree is very well made Fortunately As Jackpot Loves to chew on the carpeted areas. Two of which I have covered with Tape to temporarily discourage him of chewing. My boy "Miles never chews on the Cat Tree. Both Cats are well feed with high quality food. Just naughty Jackpot has a compulsion to chew. He has no interest in Dog chews.
 

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maggie101

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I purchased my Cat Tree in April 2019 just before getting my then 10 month old Kitten Miles. I purchased it from "Wayfair.com ". It was delivered assembled to my Front door. Miles didn't care much about the tree until his housemate 3 month old "Jackpot " arrived in November 2019. The Tree is very well made Fortunately As Jackpot Loves to chew on the carpeted areas. Two of which I have covered with Tape to temporarily discourage him of chewing. My boy "Miles never chews on the Cat Tree. Both Cats are well feed with high quality food. Just naughty Jackpot has a compulsion to chew. He has no interest in Dog ches.
Very nice! This one's by go pet club
20221102_230147.jpg

I made the mistake of buying one with 2 perches. Then my cat Maggie has trouble getting to the top because peaches is on the lower which Maggie needs to jump up so I have an old one next to it. The 72 inch lasted 9 yrs til Maggie started chewing on the worn out perches
 

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Ignore the feeding guidelines on pet food labels. They're never accurate especially for hungry growing kittens. As long as the kittens are gaining weight on the amount of food they are eating, I wouldn't worry about how much or little they actually eat.

Try different horizontal scratchers to see what your kittens prefer. If they like carpet, try that so they have something else besides the carpet to scratch (your landlord likely won't be happy about damaged carpet). You can DIY a cardboard scratcher in a pinch using shipping boxes of any kind. Lots of ideas online such as these:





The tower one is literally just squares of cardboard with a hole cut in the middle and the squares stacked into a wooden post to create the tower. There's a similar but more basic one sold on Etsy for a few hundred dollars with replacement squares available for way too much money 😮 A tower can be placed horizontally instead.
 
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haleyrose99

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haleyrose99

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Lots of good advice above regarding teethers and such above! I also found that silvervine sticks helpful.

Correlated cardboard scratchers are amazing and I 100% recommend.

You 100% want a carpet scratcher if they are scratching carpet..you want something they want to scratch that you can say "yes!" to. Use lots of catnip and praise to make the switch.

I actually got one from Walmart. It has what looks like a dog house on top and then three posts. The base is solid wood so it doesn't tip.

Our newer ones we got from Wayfair. We looked at reviews and found ones that were large and suited our cats. They like to sit on those ones and look outside. The brands we bought were Tucker Murphy and

For scratcher ones we actually grabbed a U and W shaped ones from PetSmart. They just sit on the floor. They love love LOVE them. They scratch from every side and go under them and everything. Whisker City® Scratch & Cradle - Catnip | cat Scratchers | PetSmart
I didn't even know they made carpet scratchers! I'll check those out and the one's from petsmart and wayfair. I bought a horizontal sisal mat off amazon and one of them scratched at it and the other could care less, so maybe the shape of the u or x would help. Thanks for the advice! :)
 
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haleyrose99

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I purchased my Cat Tree in April 2019 just before getting my then 10 month old Kitten Miles. I purchased it from "Wayfair.com ". It was delivered assembled to my Front door. Miles didn't care much about the tree until his housemate 3 month old "Jackpot " arrived in November 2019. The Tree is very well made Fortunately As Jackpot Loves to chew on the carpeted areas. Two of which I have covered with Tape to temporarily discourage him of chewing. My boy "Miles never chews on the Cat Tree. Both Cats are well feed with high quality food. Just naughty Jackpot has a compulsion to chew. He has no interest in Dog chews.
I will look into a carpeted cat tree! The frisco one was a felty material and I was super worried they would easily tear it up before I even put it together, but they definitely would have a harder time ripping up the carpet so I may be able to buy time. I also may have to use tape as well, my kittens also love to chew really anything lol thank you for the help and photo reference!!:hyper:
 
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haleyrose99

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Very nice! This one's by go pet club
View attachment 435445
I made the mistake of buying one with 2 perches. Then my cat Maggie has trouble getting to the top because peaches is on the lower which Maggie needs to jump up so I have an old one next to it. The 72 inch lasted 9 yrs til Maggie started chewing on the worn out perches
I did see these! Did you have any issues at all with them clawing at the material/ripping it up? That's my biggest worry with mine, the frisco tree I bought looks like it was the same material and they went to town scratching at it before I even finished setting it up.
 
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haleyrose99

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Ignore the feeding guidelines on pet food labels. They're never accurate especially for hungry growing kittens. As long as the kittens are gaining weight on the amount of food they are eating, I wouldn't worry about how much or little they actually eat.
Okay, that makes me feel better! I've also seen some posts about fish or fish-flavored food being not so great for cats, but they really prefer it over the chicken I have. They will eat it, but they'd rather have the tuna and whitefish and will sometimes not eat all together if it's not that. I'm having a hard time because there are only two flavors offered by wellness and seemingly every kitten food has fish, are there any brands that don't use fish that you know of? (not sure if this warrants its own post in the health section, just thought I'd ask)
Try different horizontal scratchers to see what your kittens prefer. If they like carpet, try that so they have something else besides the carpet to scratch (your landlord likely won't be happy about damaged carpet). You can DIY a cardboard scratcher in a pinch using shipping boxes of any kind.
The tower one is literally just squares of cardboard with a hole cut in the middle and the squares stacked into a wooden post to create the tower. There's a similar but more basic one sold on Etsy for a few hundred dollars with replacement squares available for way too much money 😮 A tower can be placed horizontally instead.
This is a great idea I didn't even think about making my own! They are definitely horizontal scratchers, but I'm not sure if that's just because I don't have much furniture to vertically scratch on (first apartment and still a bit broke lol). I have a ton of old boxes, this weekend I may try this, thank you for the links and tips!! :)
 

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I will look into a carpeted cat tree! The frisco one was a felty material and I was super worried they would easily tear it up before I even put it together, but they definitely would have a harder time ripping up the carpet so I may be able to buy time. I also may have to use tape as well, my kittens also love to chew really anything lol thank you for the help and photo reference!!:hyper:
My "Jackpot " is Now 3 yrs. old and his desire to chew Carpet on the Cat Tree remains. He also loves chewing on plastic unfortunately, So my DW has to hide her flip flops, he likes both plastic tips of her Tennis shoes as well.. I often tell people that I own a "Puppy that meows ".
 
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