How High is too High? (Cat Tree/Climber)

[cruisermaiden]

How tall are your cat trees? How high up is too dangerous for them to be/jump from?

In my apartment I have yet to figure out any place available for the footprint of a tall traditional cat tree for the boys – the only place Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve got for one would in the corner of my dining room and I know they wouldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t use it because Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m never in there, and they want to be near me all the time… But I know they would really like having somewhere high to go if they could still be near me.

My father has suggested a great idea for something we can build them to give them access to unutilized vertical space on top of my entertainment center, but it will put them about 6â€[emoji]8482[/emoji]-6.5â€[emoji]8482[/emoji] up and I was wondering if that would be safe? We have of course come up with some great ideas to prevent them from accidentally falling off, but I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know if they would try to jump from that height, and if they did would it be dangerous for them?

What does everybody think?

 

[littleraven7726]

I think it depends on your cats. My husband built our cat tree. It's about 5' tall and has spots to jump down. When we built it Raven was still with us, but was ill. So we had to make sure a rather frail kitty could use it. 2 of my cats are declawed (by previous owners) and can be clumsy, so I don't feel comfortable with the floor-to-ceiling trees you can buy. Lola, our kitten, has all of her claws and rarely falls. Our older declawed guys have had some close calls because they can't catch themselves. With our tree's set up they don't fall from it.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v...roject/?action=view&current=finishedtree1.jpg

 

[mschauer]

Well, if you ask a cat, no tree is too high. They *love* being high up and generally they are quite good at climbing and not falling. But, they *can* fall and they *can* get hurt from falling. As a guess I would say it rarely happens though. Most likely it would happen as a result of one cat knocking another off balance.

I have seen Coco fall off their tree at least 3 times without any help from another cat. One time she landed on her back on the sofa that sits at the bottom of the tree. It it weren't for that sofa being there she would have landed on her back after about a 6' fall. She is the *only* cat I have ever seen fall off a tree without help from another cat. My excuse for her is that she has a bum left eye and might not always judge jumps properly.

Despite Coco's klutziness, I would never take their tree away from them. They *love* it! The top platform is 10' off the floor.

Here's a picture of it with Jeta on the top platform:

 

[cruisermaiden]

Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m less concerned about my cats falling than I am about them getting hurt by jumping off of it. They are both very agile and as I said we have planned out several things to prevent falling.

Do your cats jump from the higher levels of your tree? The couch is too far away for them to jump onto it from the top of the unit, so if they jumped it would be straight to the floor 6.5â€[emoji]8482[/emoji] down.

 

[tuxedokitties]

If your cats don't have balance, vision, or other health issues that could make them likely to fall or miss when they jump, I doubt it would be a problem. Cats love to be as high as they can get. 6.5 feet isn't too far for a normal healthy cat to jump. Until we started keeping him indoors, Oreo used to easily jump all the way straight down from the roof of our one-story house onto the lawn. Will they have a step or other object to get down with if they don't feel like jumping (say, if they've been napping and just woke up)? As long as they don't have to jump if they don't feel like it, it should be fine. They generally won't jump if they don't feel they can do it successfully.

It's great that your father is creative. If you get a picture of the completed project, I'd love to see it!

 

[pami]

2 of my cats would swing from the ceiling if they could. One of them use to jump on top of doors and hang there and jump down. You are going to have to go by what you think your cats will do. I have to make sure that the 2 that think they are acrobats dont have that high to climb because they will jump and when they do, you are not guaranteed that they wont get hurt. Im looking for a pic of how I have some trees, to give them versatility, but also keep them safe.

 

[artgecko]

I just upgraded from a 4' tree to a 6'5" tree and the cats LOVE it. They were hesitant about going to the highest level at first, but I have already seen the two younger cats up there (the older fat cat stays on the bottom 2 levels).

I have never seen them try to jump down from the 6'5" bed, but have seen them jump down from the ~5'5" bed....onto my bed, not the floor (so about a 4' drop). I have also seen one of them misjump when going down and he ended up banging his side on the bedframe, but seems unharmed.

I'd say 6'5" is fine, as long as whatever you are using is sturdy and has a non-slick surface (so they can grip) like carpet.

I have seen some carpeted "shelves" for sale specifically for cat use on walls before... something like that would probably work well if well supported.

Art

 

[cruisermaiden]

The unit is positioned in the corner of my living room so one side and the back are both against walls and one side and the front are both open. The plan was to pad and carpet the whole top of the unit which is a shelf 6.5’x2.5’ and build some carpeted shelves which will be attached directly to the side of the unit alternating front and back to form stepping platforms up to the top. Kind of hard to explain? So if they didn’t want to jump down they could climb down the same way they went up.

Thinking about it now I remember my stepmother’s cat used to get on top of this same unit when it was at my parents’ house and was able to jump down just fine. I believe I will proceed with plans to put it together and will definitely post pictures once we get it done. I may move one of my padded/stuffed chairs over beside it at first to give them something closer to jump to if they want it, for my own peace of mind. Knowing my boys if they don’t want to jump they’ll sit up there and meow until I come rescue them!

Thank you everyone for your input and advice!

 

[goldenkitty45]

Ours is a bout 4 1/2 feet tall, but DH will be building about a 7 ft tall one (this one is too small for our two).

 

[momofmany]

My tallest tree is about 6.5' tall. The cats never jump to the floor from the top, but use the shelves lower down on the tree to get up and down. I also have a 7' cabinet that the cats get up on (via the short refrigerator sitting next to it). In my household, the taller the better. I've been trying to talk my husband into installing wall shelves in our sun room. One of the walls in that room is 2 stories high and they would love to be way up there.

 

[goldenkitty45]

I think if you have plenty of levels they should not just jump straight down. Cats are not stupid. They would use the various levels to go up and down.

 

[mews2much]

Ours is about 4 feet tall and every cat can get on it even Coco.

 

[klaidman]

The new one I just bought is 55" tall

 

[Ms. Freya]

Ours is just 2 1/2 ft, but Cotton doesn't like to climb and Freya has no depth perception, so it works great for them - he can sit under it and she can perch a bit without having to worry about getting too high.

 

[merindah]

Do you think trees are safe for 3 month old kittens? My future kitten is not even 3LB's yet so I am worried she'd climb the tree and get stuck up on it when we're not home.

Thx.

 

[laureen227]

mine have gone on the tallest tree - even as kittens.
my tallest tree is this one - it's 71" high at the tallest.

 

[merindah]

Thanks! I like that one. Are they a pain in the butt to assemble?

 

[laureen227]

Originally Posted by merindah

Thanks! I like that one. Are they a pain in the butt to assemble?

i thought it was easy. just got thru ordering a new one - this one.

 

[dankidus]

If it makes you feel better, there are reports of cats falling out of 6 STORY buildings (and higher) and surviving. 6' shouldnt be a problem I don't think. My last cat used to jump from the fridge (about 5') onto a tile floor and walk off without thinking much of it.

 

[yourbriness763]

Originally Posted by laureen227

mine have gone on the tallest tree - even as kittens.
my tallest tree is this one - it's 71" high at the tallest.

ok so I am such a MORON!!! Apparently I am not so smart when it comes to ebay & such so I clicked on your link & registered with ebay as I thought it would be cool to look at all the trees and possibly buy one, so I accidentally put a bid on a tree & than I looked at all the others & I dont even want the one I bid on...IDIOT!!! I guess that'll teach me to play on sites I know nothing about!