help! i’m looking for a cat tree that is not ugly
I love the litter box cover/bench that was posted a few weeks ago (although it is too pricey for me) and would really like to see something in a cat tree with the same style. My husband and I like modern, simple, and elegant but colorful a la Crate and Barrel. Thanks! Brandi
Hi Brandi, thanks for the email and forgive us for not getting to this sooner! We love clever cat furniture, but it is hard to find and often over-priced. (The cat-litter bench you are thinking of is the Kattbank. It is genius.) Cat trees…. well, that’s another story. The best ones we’ve ever seen are D.I.Y., like Patricia’s place that was featured on Apartment Therapy about a year ago. She made an amazing climbing pole. Russel’s
cat stairs are also pretty amazing. Everyday Studio’s Cat Claw is an inclined scratch pad that comes in bright colors for $75. Their Pounce is more like a little table, same design, for $155. The Lotus is more substantial, for $295 — perhaps it could be painted to look more mod? This one from Cozy Cat Furniture cat tree is a good idea to adopt. Take the photo to your local carpenter have her make one that’s similar, but not covered in beige carpeting. This one, which looks like a mushroom tree, cracks us up! Does anyone else have cat tree recommendations for Brandi? Why doesn’t Ikea make one?
February 16th, 2007 at 7:42 am
Additionally, does anyone have good ideas for hiding a litter box? I don’t have a closet. basement or cabinet that is going to work…
February 16th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Michele, you should look at the contest Apartment Therapy did last year on the “living with pets” topic. You’ll have to hunt through their archives. They might have something there.
The best suggestion I have is an out-of-the-way place, and a covered litter box, if your cat(s) will use one. You can always get a pet crate of appropriate size (the wire kind), put the litterbox in that, and make a cover for it, or buy a basic cover. Commit to washing it relatively frequently. However, anything you do to hide a litterbox will make it more of a pain to clean, because first, you have to get it out of that area, and then, you have to clean the area, too, particularly any fabric covers. (Febreeze helps, but it’s not a miracle worker.)
Our cats’ litterbox is on a landing at the top of the stairs near our bedroom doors, which we really don’t like, but there’s no other practical place for it in the house. We tried to keep it in our little furnished basement for a while, but the cats didn’t like having to get by the dog (who lives on the first floor of our townhouse, and cannot be allowed access to the litter box) to use it, and tended to just go on the floor in its former position. That was a problem, to say the least. We used piles of Nature’s Miracle odor/stain remover (which really works!) and Spot Shot carpet cleaner on the accident spots, and eventually gave up and put the box back upstairs. Even then, we had problems with the more timid of the cats, because he refused to use a covered box. He rightly thought that someone would be waiting to pounce on him whenever he tried to leave the box. We had to go back to an open pan that we try to keep as cleared-out as possible. This wouldn’t be a problem in a single-pet home.
Scratchpads covered with natural rope tend to look better, I think, than the ones covered with carpet, or the ones that are glorified cardboard boxes made for the sole purpose of being destroyed by cats. Doesn’t mean the cat will use them, though. I think living with cats entails a certain degree of resignation. & for what it’s worth, when we did buy a big ugly climbing playset (which at least matched our carpets), the cats wouldn’t use it and we wound up returning it after a few weeks anyway. The only thing I know that you can buy and that cats will use for certain is the “cat beanbag” - the little bed that’s just like a beanbag chair. You can always recover one in your own fabric.
Likewise, my dog has a crate, but prefers to sleep under any of a few very solid coffee/side tables that have space between bottom and upper levels, or on the bottom shelf of a bookshelf. I don’t know why. The spaces are all kind of similar to her crate in size, but a little more central in location, and she can come and go from them more freely.
February 17th, 2007 at 10:13 am
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimhascats/336554034/
This is so cool
February 26th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Michele…. I bought an unassembled microwave cart, and cut a hole in the side before putting it together. The litter box goes in the bottom and it’s easy to clean…just open the doors! I keep the scoop and bags in the drawer, and the cats go in an out through the hole in the side!
June 7th, 2007 at 8:40 am
[...] guys were so great with my cat tree question I thought I would try again. We are looking for some outdoor furniture (table and chairs) for our [...]
September 21st, 2007 at 5:01 am
[...] is one of our favorite things at Shelterrific, and we’ve written about a few pieces of mod cat trees before. But this clever piece at SkyMall, $100, is pretty damn ingenious. We love that it’s [...]
February 28th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Ikea does make a cat tree, but I think it’s ugly.