You don’t have to spend a lot of money to catify! Check out this inspirational project from Jessica in DeKalb, Illinois. She and her husband used some leftover shelves to create this awesome kitty climbing wall.
“My husband used spare shelves from a bookcase/entertainment storage case and some brackets from the local hardware store to build a lovely climbing wall for our Josie. I’ve wanted a climbing spot for Josie for a long time but my husband never liked any of the climbers we could afford so he finally decided to make one on his own.”
Notes from Jackson:
“This is a great start! I have a few observations that could really take this design to the next level. See the dead end at the uppermost shelf? Add a few more shelves, extending across the top of the doorway, and this becomes a cat superhighway, not just an isolated climbing wall. I notice the stroller in this pic, which tells me that there’s a toddler around — or else there will be one soon. It’s already a great idea to move your cat up into the vertical world, but it will be an even greater thing to provide the superhighway so your cat can avoid the toddling, tail-grabbing “Kidzilla” phase!”
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The Catification column on JacksonGalaxy.com is written by Cat Style Expert, Kate Benjamin. Kate specializes in environmental enhancement for living with cats and is the founder and editor of hauspanther.com, the premiere online magazine for design-conscious cat people. Kate’s design expertise and Jackson’s cat behavior know-how combine to create cat-friendly environments that are sure to please both human and feline family members alike.
We regret that Jackson does not answer questions posted in the comments. This is due to his demanding schedule and the high volume of requests he receives. But most importantly, since he has not met your cat, it would be contrary to his approach for him to give specific personalized advice for your specific situation. That being said, general questions and issues are addressed throughout this blog, in his book CAT DADDY and of course, the show My Cat From Hell.
How do you keep the shelf pieces secured to the brackets? we’ve used this system of shelving for books and toys, and all it takes is one bump and the shelf comes loose.
There should be a place in the bracket for a screw – you drill it upwards into the bottom side of the shelf.
The stroller is actually a cat stroller and we ran out of shelves to make a pathway over the door. We will probably add one in the future.
Nancy: We used some screws to attach the shelves to the brackets but it was difficult to find some that were short enough.
It’s a kitty stroller!
That’s easy Nancy! Most of those brackets that you could buy from any local hardware store have a hole in the bottom that you can run a screw through so you can secure the shelf to the bracket. I have 64 inch long shelves that I did this to and they’re secured find the cats can jump on them, walk across them, lay on them with them being totally secured to the wall!
To secure cat shelves to brackets you can also use automotive double side tape (or even thin carpetting double side tape). The automotive one is usually foamy, more expensive and designed for heavier stress/loads and temperature than a jumping kitty. But it is also cleaner to remove, and the thickness allows to cut it out with a “string saw” (piece of long string used as a saw -like cheeze/butter string- held between both hands with a left right cutting motion).
The primary aplication for the automotive one is to stick lower body aero kits or decoration only rear wings, as well as any exterior accessory not requiring drilling of the bodywork (extra back up mirror for example). So it’s more than sufficient for shelves.
We have two cat trees. One upstairs and one downstairs, both by large windows so Pita can sit and watch the goings on outside. We keep the window blinds open all the time so she also can sit on the window sills. She basically has the run of the house and can hang out wherever she wants and she usually chooses our the cat trees (which have scratchers for posts). She seems pretty happy with the arrangement and we give her lots of play time and attention. We were thinking of getting a cat tree that looks like a tree and putting it next to my husbands TV chair. She likes to watch TV
I made shelves going up the wall like stair steps to a loft space above a closet. I wrapped the shelves in sisal rope. (I used glue and a staple gun) I first painted the wooden shelf/step brown because the ends show. Each shelf/step is 12 X 12″ and is held up by 2 metal brackets. I used anchors in the sheetrock walls. And yes the brackets have screw holes so the shelf is attached to the bracket and cannot come off. My big cat weighs 15 lbs. They support him just fine. The LOVE these steps. Cats like to climb. Especially great if you have a dog. It gives them a special “dog free” zone!
Looking good!
The shelves look bare and smooth and that might be a bit slippery – I’d staple some carpet remnants around them to give some texture to claw and hold on.