How to Build a Cat Tower for Cheap
Cats are natural climbers. If you don’t want them clambering on your countertops or scrambling up your curtains, providing your cat with a cat tower is a great idea. Cat towers help your cat exercise and get to the high places they love. A cat tower also provides prime real estate for napping.
If you’ve checked out the prices for commercially made cat towers, you may have experienced sticker shock. Larger cat trees are well over $100 or even $200. But you can learn how to make DIY cat furniture that will have your cat purring with delight and you smiling all the way to the bank.
Cat towers are typically made of plywood, 2”x 4” planks, carpet remnants, and rope. You’ll need some screws, bolts, and brackets to put the entire tower together, but the cost of materials is quite inexpensive, especially if you’re not picky about the color carpet you use.
You’ll need a few tools to build a DIY cat tower, but nothing too fancy. A saw to cut the wood, a staple gun to affix the carpet and rope, and a drill to make holes in the platform pieces and to tighten the screws. You can get a bit fancier by using a jigsaw for circular cuts, but a good-looking and functional cat tower is within reach with just basic tools.
Others have built DIY cat towers before you and left their advice and even their specifications available for folks like you to build your own cat furniture. Here are a few designs for scratch trees and cat towers to get you started:
- Build a DIY Cat Tower – Includes plans and step-by-step instructions. A little humor, too!
- Build a Scratch Tree or Tower – Materials list, guided instructions, and pictures.
- Build a Sisal & Carpet Cat Tree – Easy-to-follow instructions for a large model.
Hot tip: check carpet stores or home improvement stores for carpet remnants leftover from previous installations. You only need a strip, and you can also use varying colors for the “floors” of the kitty condo if you like. Remnants are very affordable, and in some cases, carpet installers will give away smaller pieces – ones that are the perfect size for this project.
DIY Cat Furniture: the Litter Box Hider
There’s more to cat furniture than scratch trees and cat towers. Keeping your cat’s litter box out of sight with a litter box hider is a smart and stylish idea, especially if you live in a place where space for the litter box is at a premium.
There are commercially produced cat litter hiders, but making cat litter furniture is a great DIY project. You can convert many pieces of furniture into litter box hiders. With a few supplies and basic tools, you’ll be upcycling that thrift store dresser or nightstand into a fashionable piece of cat litter furniture to turn your kitty’s toilet into a private palace.
The simplest DIY hack for a cat litter hider is to use a large plastic bin and cut an entrance hole in the side. This same principle applies to converting a trunk, cabinet, or shelf unit with a door or drawer into litter box furniture. You can install a pet door into the side of the furniture for your cat to enter and exit.
A fun and simple DIY cat litter furniture project is to convert a tall dresser into a place to hide the litter box, while keeping a drawer or two for your use. By removing the bottom two drawers, you can place a litter box underneath, and then attach a curtain to fall in front. Use the top two drawers for kitty supplies and treats, or whatever you like.
If you do make a cat litter box hider, you’ll want to use a high-quality litter. The enclosed sides can concentrate the smell, and in some cases make your kitty turn up their nose. Use an odor-controlling litter such as Arm & Hammer’s Double-Duty clumping litter.
Check out these sites for more ideas for how to make DIY cat litter furniture.
Cat Furniture to Keep You and Your Feline Happy
Your cat may behave like all of the furniture in your house belongs to them, but they’re just searching for the warmest, sunniest, softest spot to snooze and contemplate their world domination plans. Give them some furniture of their own, and maybe you won’t have to struggle for ownership of the couch cushions.
If you need a premium performance litter for your litter box hider without the premium price, check out these Arm & Hammer litters:
- Arm & Hammer Multi-Cat – When you have more than one feline, you need strong odor control. Comes in scented and unscented varieties.
- Arm & Hammer Slide – For easy litter box clean up with no scraping or scrubbing.
- Arm & Hammer Clump & Seal – Hard clumps for easier scooping and 7-day odor control.
