Building Your Own Six Foot Tall Carpeted Cat Tree

[Apoptosis]

I've been working on building my cat a tree for the past month and finally got it all finished yesterday afternoon. I've never worked with carpet before, so it was a learning experience... I learned that carpet blows...

All said and done the stand has a 24"x24" base that is made out of two 3/4" pieces of plywood that were glued and screwed together. The tree has three 24" perches and one 16" perch. It stands at six feet tall from the base to the top perch. The poles are each made from a pair of 2x4's, so 8 in total were used. Some 4" lag bolts with fender washers secure the base that has been routered out so the bolts are flush and not going to damage the floor. The perches are made from 12" Sono tubes that I cut into thirds and glued together for even more support. I went with two different colors of carpet to give it some depth and a more custom look. If anyone wants more detail on how to make anything let me know and I'll give you a few tips that I learned along the way.

I looked at a few cat stands and this one is similar to this one that runs $344 plus $134 for shipping... Rather than paying $478, I figured this would be a fun project and it really was. My total investment was under $70 and I think it looks pretty good for a first attempt.

Without further ado here is a picture of it:

cat_tree.jpg (76.33 KiB) Viewed 4996 times

[DMB2000uk]

Finally found some time to make it then I see.

Looks pretty good actually, bet serbu loves it

Dan

[vicaphit]

Does your cat like it? In my experience, if you pay good money, or spend a lot of time on something for your cat, they will not like it.

We would spend money on little mice and such, and our cat would have more fun playing with the ring from a milk jug.

[Sparky]

Does your cat like it? In my experience, if you pay good money, or spend a lot of time on something for your cat, they will not like it.

We would spend money on little mice and such, and our cat would have more fun playing with the ring from a milk jug.

LOL....spoken like a true cat owner….or one who is owned by his cats…not sure which way that goes. I know our two prefer the box the item came in more than the item it's self.
My next door neighbor had an idea a few years back to start making modular cat trees that would be easy to ship and then to sell them via the internet. Figured they would just snap together and he could bang them out right and left. They really came out nice but I don't know what ever happened with it, haven't seen him making any in a couple of years. I know his cat’s loved them.

[bigblockmatt]

that is a nice looking tree!

as far as cats liking all the other stuff, so true. i dont know how many times my old cat would end up in the paper bag that we brought home things. the cats favorite toy was an OLD little scale tape measure. i would open that thing and the cat would come running!



as for bedding, nothing beat a pare or shorts...

[vicaphit]

Or, if you try to do anything on the living room floor, they are in the middle of it.

You could also just make your bed. I have never seen a cat that wasn't fascinated by a fitted sheet.

[Dragon_Cooler]

HAHA AWESOME!!!! I hope he uses it, that is my only fear. Its like with little kids, you get them this huge toy, only to find they love the box.. LOL

Im glad you built one though, helped reinforce me thought every time I go into the pet store with kristin. I see those and look under them or in the covered areas and all there is, is wood and carpet. Good job, I love it!

[KnightRid]

That looks great Nate! I was thinking of doing this last year, but I doubt my cat would use it very much ;) She loves to climb but has one hell of a time figuring out how to get back down..lol

Mike

[Apoptosis]

It took nearly a week, but he finally started using it...

serbu_tree.jpg (67.46 KiB) Viewed 4925 times

[Major_A]

I don't know but I thought I'd ask. If you take the carpet and heat the backing with a heat gun doesn't it make it a lot easier to work with?

[Apoptosis]

I don't know but I thought I'd ask. If you take the carpet and heat the backing with a heat gun doesn't it make it a lot easier to work with?

Not sure... Never ever messed with carpet before this.