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Making Your Own Cat Tree |
| By Debra Frick |
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| Frick Kitties Cat Tree |
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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.
About The Author: Debra Frick is a mother of 5 and a grandmother to 7 grandsons. She is a published author and poetress. Born in California, she now lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and many pets. Her hobbies include crocheting, reading, arts and crafts and bargain hunting.
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RE: Making Your Own Cat Tree
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Post By Sabrina H (Guest Post)
(09/28/2008)
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Thanks for posting this, was very help full, gave us great ideas!
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RE: Making Your Own Cat Tree
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Post By (Guest Post)
(07/04/2008)
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If you are interested I can provide you with plans for the ultimate cat condo/gym. I will caution you however, it is not cheap to make and it is very heavy. My wife is 5' 7" and as you can see it is much taller than she is.
Let me know if you want the plans to put on your web site (obviously for free)
Dave Boskee
Editor's Note: I'm sure many would love to have your plans. Send them to us at thrifty@thriftyfun.com and we'll put them up.
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RE: Making Your Own Cat Tree for outdoors
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Post By (Guest Post)
(07/01/2008)
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To make it safe for the outdoors you can go to the fabric store and buy the outdoor upholstery fabric used to recover patio furniture or a nice heavy vinyl. Either would work great for out doors and would protect the wood. Also I would suggest using treated plywood. Hope that helps!
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RE: Making Your Own Cat Tree
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Post By connie w (Guest Post)
(06/02/2008)
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Does anyone have any instructions for making a free-standing cat tree for outdoors? It amazes me that the only ones sold are for indoors, when outdoor cats and indoor/outdoor cats would love to hang out on these on a patio or deck. We have 6 cats that go in and out, and one that refuses to come in. It makes me feel bad that the outdoor-only cat is without a cat-tree, while the indoor-outdoor kitties are always on theirs, sleeping, scratching, playing, climbing, washing, etc. I know she would adore one, too. :(
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RE: Making Your Own Cat Tree
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Post By Crazy Cat Lady (Guest Post)
(02/26/2008)
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Your design is very nice and well thought out! I wish I was as handy as you to try something like that. We purchased a premium cat furniture piece from http://www.spoilmykitty.com and it is wonderful too.
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RE: Making Your Own Cat Tree
Hi, would anyone have ideas on how o make something for out doors. I would like this for my cat outside too.
sheila
na7ural_home @ yahoo.com
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RE: Making Your Own Cat Tree
No kidding - the costs to get even a small cat tree are ridiculous! I have been in desperate need to have some climbing structures and scratching things for my cat because she's been using an old computer chair as her scratching post (and she knows that's "HER" chair to scratch on, we let her, she loves it, if she starts scratching on something else, we direct her to the chair and she finishes there, it's funny) but we really need to get something for her to jump on and scratch on, etc. Thanks for the instructions!!!
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RE: Making Your Own Cat Tree
Thank you so much!!!!! Our daughter has been wanting one so bad but I won't spend the $140 on the one she would like.
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RE: Making Your Own Cat Tree
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Post By duckie43 (Guest Post)
(04/18/2007)
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Great idea, much nicer and easier to adapt to available space and cat size.
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RE: Making Your Own Cat Tree
I love them! I finally found a floor to ceiling platforms only post for my two kitties, Nala an Abby/Tabby and Sarabi, a Seal Point. Sarabi loves it but I think the platforms are a little small for her big self (not too big, she's lost some weight since I switched her to a good quality food) so I need to make bigger platforms (she likes to "jump" and usually ends up flying all the way down!). I'll keep your plans so that we can expand on what we have.
Now...We've had Siamese in our family for generations (Traditional Applehead Siamese, not the "skinny real" ones) I got Sarabi a little over a year ago, my parents saw her and now my Mom wants one! (it took us 10 years to get over the death of Sibu our 18 1/2 yr old boy) She lives in the mountains in AZ and wants an inside Siamese, do you know of any rescue/contacts/breeders? I got mine for free from a family that breeds because the mom got out and go pregnant, Sarabi wasn't "show" quality so they decided to give the remaining kittens (7 mos) away before the new litter came. My mom doesn't want to pay an arm and a leg as she'd like to "rescue" one. I'd love any help I can get!
P.S. After finally finding Sarabi (I mean SHE picked me, I believe animals pick you) another Siamese (Choc. point) showed up on my doorstep, he was abused by men obviously and has some mangled teeth, but I feed him twice a day with moistened food, have a nice house my hubby built, so he's happy!
Thanks for the ideas! Sarabi is pictured here.
P.S.S. How come when I got Sarabi at 7 mo. she looked more Choc. point, but right around 12 months or so she's turned to more of a Seal coloring? Not that I mind, but I really miss that vanilla body of hers!
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RE: Making Your Own Cat Tree
ive been looking for idea on making a cat tree for my spoiled Roscoe, and now I can show this to my hubby and brother-in-law and put them to work, boy are they going love me for this lol!! I love the way it looks
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