inventive cat trees

[Nina]

Something we did for Gypsy, (our little feral turned house cat), when 
she was confined to our bathroom , was to build her a ladder up to the 
window sill.  We took a long  flat board and nailed stakes every 8 
inches or so to give her some footing.  We secured it to the window sill 
and put a window bed at the top.  You can go to any carpet warehouse and 
ask them for the empty rolls that the carpet comes on, they'll usually 
give them to you for free.  Carpet remnants are either very cheap or 
free too and can be stapled on to the rolls to make the base for 
towers.   Secure one or more "shelves" on the wall(s) with carpet on 
them to make a catwalk around the room, then secure the carpeted rolls 
at different intervals to allow at least two avenues to the cat walk.  
If the shelves are wide enough for two cats to pass each other you'll 
eliminate bickering when they come face to face.  The whole project can 
be done for less than half what it costs to buy a commercial "cat tree" 
and is alot more fun.
Nina

MacKenzie, Kerry N. wrote:
Your little guys have got it good, Tad!.
This is really off-topic, but I've wanted for ages to get one of those 
kitty condo/tower things for mine, which would enable them to get more 
of a view since they're cooped up in a medium size room with just 2 
windows, plus I'm sure they would benefit from it anyway in regard to 
the pecking order/heirarchy that I believe cats need to assert. But 
they're so darned pricey that all the other stuff they need has to 
take priority. One big enough for 6 seems to be around $175-$220 at 
Petsmart--does anyone have a better-priced source/idea? (My FeLV 
neg cats don't have one either, so I can't 'borrow' theirs!)  Any 
ideas welcome. Thanks, Kerry
 
-----Original Message-----
*From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
*On Behalf Of *Tad Burnett
*Sent:* Wednesday, November 10, 2004 11:59 AM
*To:* [EMAIL PROTECTED]
*Subject:* Re: My vet's liaison is willing to share information

Yes..Count me in too...My vet had never worked with healthy FeLV+ cats 
before but he is very willing to work with me on keeping them....He 
had seen a number of them who were brought in on their death bed and 
once they reach that point its probably best to let them go...
In a little over a year I have taken in 8 + cats...3 of them got sick 
and died..The other 5 are still doing fine and if they hadn't been 
tested when I 1st got them you would never know they were +...
Of the 3 that died one didn't eat supper and feel asleep on my stomach 
and a few hours later was gone...
The other 2 had lots of vet care but it was a down hill slide...
My current 5 are kept in a large south facing room with lots of 
windows...I have tried a couple additives to their food but they turn 
up their noses at it so I have been just feeding the Purina One food 
that they seem to love and is a good but not the best food...
I spend lots of time in their room and have a TV in their which gives 
them some company as well as bird feeders outside their windows....
 
Tad