Conference misery::feline_v1

793.0. "BUILD A KITTY CASTLE" by EMIRFI::KEENER () Fri Sep 25 1987 17:53

    Heavens!  With a reply #27 to a note, I didn't figure all that many 
    people would read it, but since I have had many, many mail messages 
    about my scratching haven (post + condo, the latest for the Yuppie 
    Feline), there is a long NOTE that should cover most of the questions.
    
    I hope I didn't make my reply (NOTE 778.27) sound like I'm fanatical 
    but I DO NOT LIKE sisal.  I do macrame plant hangings and made the 
    mistake of using sisal once instead of jute for an outdoor hanging and, 
    while sisal won't rot in the weather (it's a synthetic jute) like real 
    jute, it CUTS skin.  If you are unfamiliar with what jute is, look at 
    the back of your carpeting, it is generally the material used unless it 
    is a K-mart cheapie that uses light-weight canvas sprayed with a foam 
    covering.  Incidentally, carpet backings are VERY small jute cord woven 
    into an open-weave cloth like sheet.  Jute is the original and most 
    common material used in rope and what I use is for macrame and about 
    1/4" to 3/8" in diameter and can be found anywhere that sells macrame 
    supplies in an assortment of sizes.  Probably the large the 
    diameter, the better it would be.
    
    My cat at that time, now deceased (at age 18), liked to scratch on my 
    big hangings and he would cut his pads on the sisal and both of us got 
    an infection from embedded fibers.  Cats really like to pull on fibers 
    - it's a lot like scratching on a tree, which is natural for them so I 
    get jute, smear my wood (a 4" x 4" x 50") with wood glue and wrap it 
    with jute, just spiraling down the post laying one cord next to the 
    other (A friend did his by laying lengths of jute vertically - 
    haven't hear how it worked out yet.  My scratching post/condo is 
    homemade from assorted scraps of lumber - there is a top platform
    (on top of the tall, wrapped post) about 18" x 18" that is about 4' 
    off the floor and then there is a large shelf (about 20" x 30") about 
    26" off the floor that connects to the wrapped pole and a two level
    'condo' on the other end of the shelf.  Everything except the tall 
    pole is covered with carpeting applied with a staple gun.  
    
    When you use a staple gun, use at least 1/2" long chisel point staples 
    and really apply pressure to make sure the staples are actually 
    embedded below the surface of the wood.  You'll undoubtedly need a 
    strong screw-driver or nail puller to remove any staples that don't go 
    deep enough (there's always a few) to keep the cat from hooking a claw 
    behind the staple and possibly getting caught and/or hurt.  I find that 
    carpet tacks and nails not only allow the carpet to rip around where 
    they are driven in, but tend to work loose.  When it comes recovering 
    time (quite often at my house in the winter) that it is a bit of a pain 
    removing the staples and the glue on the pole has to be scraped with a 
    sharp putty-knife-like-tool, but it sure saves my furniture and the 
    cats think it is a gas - they like playing 'king of the mountain' for 
    the top position and 'lurking jungle attack cat' from inside the condo 
    area.
    
    The following is a very crude sketch of our kitty corner.

 ------------------
        ||       |___18" square 1/2" plywood
    5   ||
    0   ||- two 2 x 4 " to
        ||  make a 4 x 4
    i   || /---------------------- Where the shelf comes into the 4"
    n   |+----------+-------+      x 4" pole, one 2" x 4" is cut so
    c   ||          |       |      the shelf can be recessed into the
    h   ||          |       |      pole.  My son went to the trouble
        ||          +-------+      of using dowels and glue, too.
    h   ||          |       |
    i   ||          |       |- these 'cubby holes' are about 16" deep
+-------++----------+-------+
+---------------------------+- the base is part of an old interior door

    Okay - no comments - I said it would be a rough drawing!  The 4x4 post
    is jute wrapped and the rest of ALL the surfaces are carpet (except the 
    bottom which touches the floor.  The shelves (top and center) are some 
    left over 1/2" plywood.  This is an extrememly sturdy, safe scratching 
    area - even all three cats racing around on it does not make it tip and 
    wiggle and my cats are not exactly kitten size light weights - one 
    weighs in at 19 1/2 lbs.
    
    Good Luck if you decide to build kitty a castle.  A friend copied our
    post/condo and closed in the front and back (condo part on the right 
    hand side of the sketch) then made oval openings in the front (it's 
    easier to lurk from a partially enclosed area and it stays quite warm 
    if the house is cool and kitty is in there, but very crowded when all
    three decide to crawl in!
    
    Good luck,
    Ellen
    
    

    I don't quite grock your friend's setup, but since this is cats
    in peril day, let me warn about things like this that have an opening
    on just on side.  If the fall over while the cat's inside and the
    one opening gets blocked....  There was a horror story to this effect
    in either Cats magazine or Cat Fancy magazine awhile back.
    

    I haven't been in to the file for a while but the friend that enclosed
    his 'Condo' in the back has had no problem.  Heavens, with this
    thing I need help to turn it on its side to work on it to recover.
    I cannot imagine any cat or even many cats being able to turn it
    over.  So far, our neighbors Great Dane can't even do it.
    
    Ellen