In search of cat tree

[fpgill]

Hello,

I'm looking for a decent looking cat tree.

I currently have a Lotus but haven't been all that happy with it. It looked great when first set up, and they certainly use it. My four cats sleep on the perches, and use it to get to the top of other furniture. The problems: they have scratched the wood as well as the sisal pad thing, and since it's stained MDF, the scratches show very prominently. (see photo below)

002.JPG

• fpgill
• Jun 15, 2013

In addition, the fabric used for the sleeping pads holds cat hair like a magnet - it doesn't come clean with vaccuuming or washing.

I'm considering a Baobab from Square Cat Habitat but before I launch into that expense I thought I'd ask for opinions. I'm thinking I might run into the same problem if I got the MDF version (scratches showing) but maybe not with the solid bamboo? Any ideas welcome.

So what I'm looking for is the following:

Sturdiness and longevity

Reasonably attractive

Little to no carpeting (essentially becomes a shredded fur magnet)

Will be used for sleeping as well as climbing.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[catspaw66]

Kittystoreonline sells cat trees that are all wood. They are a little more expensive, but they are solid wood, no plywood or MDF, no finishes.

Here is a link to the specific page. You will see that they also have carpeted trees, too.     www.kittystoreonline.com/page/327966209

 

[pinkman]

Do you have an Ikea near by? Maybe you can make some DIY cat shelves. They are very minimal, take up very little space, and I bet cheaper!

 

[fpgill]

Pinkman, thanks for the suggestion but I'm not sure anything I could construct would qualify as "reasonably attractive"!

Can anyone who owns the baobab tree comment on whether scratches show through the finish, either for the MDF or bamboo?

 

[pinkman]

It's really easy to make cat shelves using what you can get at Ikea. Mostly you need the shelves, maybe some carpet, adhesive, and brackets to put the shelves up.

I was looking at the Baobab and Lotus trees before, but after hearing how yours got scratched up I think I'll pass.

Have you looked at any "trees" that are based off of Ikea's Stolmen post? Hollywood Franklin and Whisker studio sell the shelves for them, and you place them onto the Stolmen poke.

 

[Sa'ida Maryam]

Hi, everyone
I am glad to hear about the differences of man- made tree construction. So , the carpet covered one are fur magnets. That can be a real cleaning nightmare problem for hard to reach surfaces.

 

[denice]

I don't know how expensive you were looking to go but there are several companies making the cat trees that look like real trees.  You can google cat trees that look like real trees and it will bring up a list.  At one time I was looking at the Lotus but decided I didn't want to spend that much, I'm glad I didn't now.  I have a regular cat tree with the carpeting and it's about two and a half years old now and it's definitely at the cat hair magnet stage now.

 

[momcatsix]

All my cats love, love the cat trees from www.4yourcat.com   The perch coverings are washable, the sisal extremely long lasting and you can buy replacement items individually.  My oldest one is over 10 years and still looks like new.  Highly recommend it! 

 

[patricial]

There is a new product called Swipets.  It is a glove (you get two) that you wear to swipe pet hair into an easily removable ball or wad of hair.  I just bought mine and it really works well.  I also have a pet hair attachment for my vacuum which works pretty well but involves getting the vacuum out.  Both clean the hail of of any cloth surface.  I found the Swipets at  http://petradioshow.com/sponsors/