Why build a cat tower?
I had an accident in 2009, putting me in a wheelchair, but I like to set goals, such as driving again, and now I drive independently anywhere I want. I never expected to have a goal to build a cat tower! Scroll down to the bottom if you would rather watch a video than read a blog, and remember to leave a blog comment.
In 2017, my son, Ben, found a beautiful kitten in our front yard, gave him something to eat, and gave him a name. We quickly learned that the kitten was angry as he would bite and scratch us, and Ben changed his name to Spartacus. Sparty calmed down and, within a month, was sleeping on our beds, exposing his tummy and loving attention, and claimed my manual wheelchair as his bed.
In 2019, we moved into a custom home that included a cat door, allowing Spartacus access to the backyard, but he couldn’t jump into neighbours’ yards due to a product called oscillot that spun around when he tried to grab the top of the fence.
I regularly watch Jackson Galaxy on Youtube for cat advice. I have made catification changes to my home to help Spartacus enjoy staying on our property. Jackson suggested cats love to perch in high places, giving them a great view of their surroundings.
Using Google to search for ideas to build a cat tower
I asked Google for ideas to build a cat tower, and the results were either too complicated, too expensive, too difficult for me to make, or not tall enough. I found a bookcase-based tower and thought of using galvanized metal shelving units, as they are cheap, strong, light, and resistant to rust.
The plan to build a cat tower
However, the shelves were only 137 centimeters tall, and there was no path to the top shelf, and Spartacus wouldn’t want to sit on metal shelving. I planned on buying two units, joining them together, and using only five shelves, with the remaining three shelves alternatively attached to the sides of levels 2 3, and 4 allowing Spartacus to climb one level at a time. The shelves to be supported by wood from wooden pallets, and fake grass will be glued to every surface using waterproof liquid nails. See the image of the finished product.
The building process
I built the tower sideways on a table, and the combined height was now 2 meters, high enough for Spartacus to look into the neighbour’s yards.
I used two pieces of wood on each shelf, with two nuts, bolts and washers on each piece of wood. After connecting all three climbing shelves, I cut the fake grass and glued it to every surface, using clamps and octopus straps to keep everything in place until the glue dried.
As the tower was too heavy for me to move, my friend Chris carried it to the backyard. We placed rubber feet between the metal and the concrete, and Chris attached the tower to my raised garden bed with ten screws.
Spartacus’s thoughts about my efforts to build a cat tower
I convinced Spartacus to jump to the first level and encouraged him to the second level by giving him a treat. A day later, Spartacus made it to the 3rd level and spent half an hour looking at the views and relaxing. A few days later, I convinced him to try the top level, and he loved it and stared at the neighbours for some time.
My thoughts
I was pleased that a suggestion from Jackson, combined with my ideas and techniques for building a cat tower from my wheelchair, was successful. What can I do next?
And if you are in a wheelchair, what goal do you want to achieve?
Why walk when you can roll?
The Youtube video
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More information about me is found at johnduthie.com
Please leave a comment about my cat tower.
