When he built our last scratching post, he used carpet and it was hard, to say the least, to get it to wrap around the post. So we looked for alternatives to carpet and plans to build one on the internet. Well, there was not any plans that we could find that we liked so we decided to design our own. We found that a lot of the manufacturers were using fake fur now instead of carpet, to our relief, so we used that instead of carpet. Hey, and while we are at it, why not spoil our babies with something more than just a scratching post. My husband looked at many of the designs of pre-made cat trees and this is his version for the "Frick Kitties."
My husband's version could be made smaller or larger depending on what your needs are. Of course smaller would mean less money spent on materials. Try and Freecycle as much of the materials as you can. Lots of people have sheets of plywood left over from a project in their garage that they would love to get rid of and old fake fur coats can be used to cover the little houses and perches. A smaller version of this could be made by a novice woodworker, a little more skill is required for a larger one.
My husband suggests that all perches and boxes be made and covered with fake fur beforehand. Attach the rounds inside the tubes with wood glue. Nail or screw tubes onto the base with nails or screws at an angle. Cover the tubes with rope or door mat cut to size. You can also cover some of the tubes with fake fur. Next attach the L shaped piece of wood, screwing or nailing into the round piece of wood at the top of the tube. Nail or screw on your houses and perches.
Attach your kitty toys where you want them and cover the whole thing in catnip. We cut the black mat with a pair of shears. Once you got down to the base, it was not very thick and pretty easy to cut. For assembly, please refer to the picture. We found that we could cover most of the pieces with fabric beforehand and that helped greatly. It will take two people to wrap the jute around the posts as one person needs to be able to staple while the other person holds the jute tight.
I believe that my husband and I saved a great deal on making our own cat tree and we had a ball making it. The kitties love their new place to play and they use the scratcher made from the black mat a lot. I hope this gives everyone some great ideas. Depending on size, this could take a weekend to complete.
By Debra Frick
Here is a very simple outdoor cat tree. While this doesn't sit outside it is made for outside (Our Havana Browns are strictly indoor cats). The base is a cutoff piece of Mesquite stump. The rest is the skeletons from Cholla cactus and Sahuaro cactus. It is held together with decking screws. One box will be stacked on top of the other one with one flap cut off each box. I am going to glue the other ones together to make it sturdy for her to land on. For the top, I am going to glue the flaps shut and cover with another piece of cardboard for strength. That way she will be able to jump on the top and lay if she wants to. I know she is going to love her new playhouse.
By Tricia from Ridgeway, VA
I made this cat tree/playhouse in about 3 hours with $0. Granted, I was able to have scrap wood and carpet laying around so that is what made the cost stay at $0. It is about 3.5 tall and about 2.5 feet wide. A lot better than paying $140 for the one about the same size I saw in the store!
I have several recyclable things on my patio that I have turned into play areas for my cats. I get these Styrofoam boxes in the mail when my sister sends us turkeys and the fixings for holidays.
I put them on top of my huge tin cans. I use the cans to make umbrella holders and for storage and plants. These cans are holding up the Styrofoam boxes and I secured the box to the patio railing. The cats can climb and look out.
I can't let the rooster near the Styrofoam, or any puppies or kittens, as they eat the Styrofoam, which is not good. But my cats are old enough not to eat the Styrofoam. They will, however, sharpen their claws on it, which is fine, but that is the reason this is outside and not in the house.
My cats are more or less spoiled.
This tip was brought to you mainly by them: Peanut, Gizmo, Mickey, Jerry, and Whiskers!
By Robyn
I would like instructions for how to make a cat tree?
By mc9 from San Lawrenz Gozo
By Hayzlenut
11/16/2009
We had a horrible had storm last year and had a rather large branch with several forks fall into our yard. My husband took a 5 gallon bucket and some concrete and set the branch upright in it. He trimmed off all the small twigs and we had a wonderful cat tree. Once the wood dried, it shrank a little and we had to redo the concrete.
I want to make a cat tree out of some recently fallen branches (we had a nasty storm that destroyed a lot of our trees), but do I have to wait for the branches to dry before I use them? How could I dry them when they're too big to fit in the oven? The branches are birch and dogwood.
By Caitlin G.
By moop
06/24/2012
I don't know if this helps but when lumber flooring is cut it needs to sit for a length of time (can't recall if it's days or weeks) inside the house so it can acclimate to the environment before being installed.
Try a web search of woodworking or DIY sites. Posters to their message boards can give you advice.
How do you build a cat tree with scratchers?
By Susie from Banning, CA
By jancat
03/06/2012
You can get design ideas by looking at the commercially made ones and draw a plan based on the good parts of those you like and make it the size you want. You can try going to carpet stores and ask for carpet samples if you don't mind different colors on it. Also buy sisal rope and use that on a few places for a different texture to dig his claws into.
The commercially made ones that we have use a heavy duty cardboard tube that is really made to pour concrete into to make posts. At the top of each round piece is a flat piece of particle or similar, and at the bottom also. Those pieces are square and larger than the post size. You do not want this part too skinny though, you want to be able to cut a hole in at least one of them for the cats to hide in. The larger one that we have there is a post that goes right through it and that is what the square pieces of particle board are screwed into, make sure it is screwed tightly.
The bottom of our larger one has a square bottom, then three 2x4's that support a piece of plywood which is then topped with the cardboard tubing which has a hole cut out for a bed, inside you would carpet the bottom or put in a nice soft pillow as a bed that you can take out and wash. One support is inside the hide out area for extra support.
My suggestion would be go and look at those in a store or look online for designs you like and go from there. Our cats were given a tall one for Christmas which is not even three months ago and they already have the post leading to the top bed which has a hole on one side for kitty to crawl up to the top which is a piece of plywood covered with carpet and has 3" sides on it, it is not enclosed like the other bed area, anyway that post is all in shreds already, of course we have twelve cats that use it. Buy liquid catnip and spray it down when you present it to the kitty or kitties and it will draw them to it.
Every time I spray mine it is like a magnet they all gravitate to it. I am not able to upload any pictures at this time or I would send a picture, sorry. I hope this helps.
I have a homemade 2 ft. carpeted wood scratching post for my cats, but on a whim I bought a cheap cat post with fleece-covered base and top ledge, with a sisal-covered post in between. It is too short (18 inches), but they used it anyway, standing at some distance away so they could stretch on it (cats "love" sisal).
The sisal needs to be replaced, but I really want to replace the cardboard tube post with a longer one. I have the cardboard tube, but I cannot figure out how to get an end cap on it to attach to the wood base and ledge. Either end of the tube will have a threaded rod to screw into the base/perch, but I don't know how to cap the post to screw the rod into it. The store bought one has a plastic cap that is fitted inside the tube, but I don't know how it is attached or where to buy one. Any ideas?
By Kelly H
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Making Your Own Cat Tree