Making Your Own Cat Tree

Making Your Own Cat Tree

Welcome to my Kitty World! I have 4 adult Siamese cats and we always have kittens. My husband Leo and I decided one day, we were going to go out and replace the scratching post that my husband made many years ago. Boy, were we in for sticker shock; we went to our local pet store and the prices were just outrageous. For a basic scratching post, we were looking at a minimum of about $60.00 and it was even ugly to look at. In looking at their limited selection, we decided that maybe the internet would give us a better deal. Well not only was the shipping ridiculous but my hubby, being the resourceful guy that he is, said we would be better off building it ourselves.

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.

Materials

• One carpet tube: This can be gotten for free from most of your carpet warehouses as they usually end up in the garbage bin.
• One sheet of plywood or particle board: I used particle board as some one was giving sheets of the stuff away on freecycle. You also should check the cut off bin at your local hardware. Home Depot has one and I have found half sheets of wood for as little as $4.
• 2 yards of fake fur: I used what they call the lamb's wool as it is also used in pads for wheel chairs and I wanted my one old boy to feel comfortable. I bought this at Walmart for $6.95 a yard.
• 1 long toothed floor or door mat: I bought this because, while at the pet store, I saw that they sold a unit that could be mounted on the wall for the kitties to rub against to basically comb themselves and I thought it was neat. I bought this at the Home Depot, it was to get ice and snow off of boots. I paid $10 for it but it made two scratchers.
• 2 100 ft. lengths of jute rope: I bought this at Harbor Freight for about $8 a roll. They have a web site where you could buy this online.
• Staples, Nails and Wood Glue
• Kitty toys to hang from perches

Tools

• Circular Saw to cut tubes and plywood or particle board
• Finish nailer to nail boards together or screw gun and screws
• Staple gun to staple fabric and rope and door mat
• 4 inch hole saw to cut round pieces of wood to fit in tubes to nail or screw into

Cutting Guide

• My husband's base was 24 by 24 inches
• 8 posts out of the carpet tube at 14 inches
• Two boxes, 14 by 15 inches
• Two perches, 14 by 14 with a two inch rim around three sides
• One L shaped board, 24 by 28 inches
• One platform, 14 by 24 inches

My husband suggest 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 to people two 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

Rustic Outdoor Cat Tree

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.

Dave

Homemade Cat Tree in 3 Hours

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!

Making a Cat Tree

I would like instructions for how to make a cat tree?

By mc9 from San Lawrenz Gozo

---

Building a Cat Tree With Built-in Scratching Areas

How do you build a cat tree with scratchers?

By Susie from Banning, CA

Making Your Own Cat Tree

You guys are awesome. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I followed your instructions and made a huge cat tree! Thanks!

Shared on: 08/30/2009

I made my own cat tree!

Thank you so much for sharing your plans! This was my first project so I had to invest in tools, but I was looking for a good excuse to buy tools anyway. At first, I had a difficult time with this project because I wanted precision. I studied your photo and general directions for quite some time, because perfection was my goal. However, after a while, I got tired of being frustrated, and just put it together. It was fun! It isn't perfect - it's lopsided and leans a bit - but it's sturdy and my cats love it!

I don't think I'm going to add the second platform at the top, although I still have enough materials to do so. My cats seem to enjoy hanging off of the edges, so I didn't include the short walls on the platforms. I'll be adding toys next!

Shared on: 05/18/2010

Making Your Own Cat Tree

All in all the huge cat condo/gym cost me about $350 in materials and took me most of 3 solid days to make it. It is completely self standing and the cats love it. I made it very sturdy and it took most of a 12' x 8' piece of carpet remnant.

Dave

Shared on: 11/25/2008