My dad built me a cat tree as a going away present for my sophomore year of college. It's quite simple, and was constructed very cheaply out of scrap wood and sample carpet squares but my cats absolutely love it. The top perch spins and tilts- it was my sister's idea and my dad did it as a joke. You see, Nito is very clumsy and they thought it would be funny to take advantage of that with a tipsy turvy upper perch.

Turns out, that's Nito's FAVORITE perch. He loves to climb up there and have me spin him around. He seems to enjoy the way it tilts when he moves to different sides. I've seen him playing around with Chica up there, doing all sorts of crazy moves as the thing tilts and turns. He has never fallen off!

 

Hey that is awesome I wanna do this cause I need to make one for ISIS!!! Well I guess i have a new project!!!

 

Awesome idea about the spinning top perch. (Love the tie dye wall hanging, btw!)

I was going to build my own kitty condo a few years ago, but ended buying a new one off of ebay for around $50.00. I think I won the auction for about .99 cents, but then it was $50 for shipping. I figured I would have spent more than that in material building my own though.

It was almost as nice as the ones at PetSmart and those type of places...They lived on that thing for about a year straight, then got bored with it and never looked at it again. :dis
I ended up donating it to a rescue.

 

Awesome idea about the spinning top perch. (Love the tie dye wall hanging, btw!)

It's definitely a unique feature! I don't think you can find the spinning top in stores, probably doesn't conform to safety standards :lol:

Thanks! I just love tie-dye, I've actually got several tapestries. That rainbow one really brightened up my old dreary room, especially since it had no windows. Now it hangs in my new room behind my desk

 

Hey we are making one similar to this I was looking for the tube on the side and the closest I found was the tube to a carpet roll which is wat I used for the scratch post they are light weight and very sturdy.. when it is completely finished... Ill take a photo of it. it isnt to cool loking as it is our first but I definately will make another and go from there.

 

Cats don't care how "cool" it is! They just like to be up high, and to scratch carpet lined polls, and to climb into the tubes and swat each other! Mine isn't fancy by any means, but the cats don't seem to notice

 

I'd like to make one, but don't have the stuff to make one. I mean store ones are always nice but I have one in mind and so yea, i'm trying to get the materials to build one.

 

Hey we are making one similar to this I was looking for the tube on the side and the closest I found was the tube to a carpet roll which is wat I used for the scratch post they are light weight and very sturdy.. when it is completely finished... Ill take a photo of it. it isnt to cool loking as it is our first but I definately will make another and go from there.

Sonotubes are super-heavy duty cardboard tubes used for building construction (they pour columns into them). When I made my condo, I used sonotubes, cut in half, for the perches (so they are rounded) and one entire tube with a hole in the top as well. There is a book about how to make these but it's out of print. But Sonotubes are your friends. Check a building supply place.

 

Here are a few links to cat trees using sonotubes. The book I used (which was AWESOME but I have searched and can't find it online, and some horrible person a million years ago borrowed mine and failed to return it!!) had you double the sonotube for stability. I used REAL tree limbs, which made it extra nice -- they loved to scratch the real wood. The sonotube is covered w/ carpet (glued on and then stapled).

http://thepetconnection.net/PC-CatTreePlan-1.pdf

And a few modifications to that design: http://amby.com/cat_site/cattree.html

This one has 3 perches but you can make one of them a whole Sonotube (to double it, cut 2, then cut one of those lengthwise and remove 1". Squeeze together and slip inside the second one) and then cut a diamond-shaped hole in the top for kitties to use as well.

This is ingenious! The sonotube you could get for $30. Double it, put in a few floors, cover w/ carpet and WOW!

http://www.bookofjoe.com/2009/09/cat-tower.html

A few more ideas:

http://pitelspot.com/2009/02/13/how-to- ... om-scratch

http://www.showcatsonline.com/x/buildin ... tree.shtml

This one is a great idea!! A ladder, some rope, a little sonotube and carpeting and VOILA!

http://www.nd.edu/~akolaczy/catladder.html

 

Sweet... I am going to check them out as I will make more when I get back home... and probably before because this is amazing she loves carpt on these and she loves to climb the higher she is the better she feels... and the stronger she feels
but thanks for the ideas I am reading up on them now