Cats Need to Climb!
You may have seen Saturday night's episode of "Must Love Cats" on Animal Planet, in which host John Fulton went to Japan to explore their culture's love of felines. One segment featured homes that had been designed specifically for the felines who lived with their cat parents there. If you have a cat, you know that they like to get up onto your sofa, your shelves, your kitchen countertop, even your refrigerator. If you don't want them there, you may think they're misbehaving just to spite you, but that's not actually the case.
Cat behaviorist and "My Cat From Hell" star Jackson Galaxy refers to some cats as "tree dwellers", meaning that they like to be up high. Leopards, jaguarundis and margays are among the cats who do this in the wild. Leopards will even drag their prey up into trees to keep it from other predators. Our domesticated feline companions are not all that different from their wild cousins in this regard.
Why is it that cats like to climb? Well, put yourself in their position: you're a relatively small animal compared to the two-legged creatures you've chosen to live your life with. You can only see what's on floor level, and there's so much going on higher up. You want to be able to not only see your immediate surroundings, but farther away, just in case a threat (whether it may be a burglar, a strange cat, the vacuum cleaner, or the slobbering family dog) is approaching. You need a lookout post!
If you, as a responsible cat parent, don't buy cat furniture for your kitties to climb, the only things left to them are your own furniture, tabletops, countertops, shelves, and appliances. So if you have a cat who's driving you crazy by jumping up where you don't want him, get him his own places to climb. But what if you live in a smaller space that doesn't have room for cat furniture, or you don't want a big, ugly cat tree hanging out in your living room?
Fortunately, there are solutions available for you. In smaller living spaces, or on all that unused vertical space on walls in rooms with cathedral ceilings, wall-mounted cat furniture may be the perfect fit. We've just recently added items from The Vertical Cat to OldMaidCatLady.com. In their line, you'll find all the components needed to turn any wall in your home into a climbing system for your cats, giving them the up-high space they need while saving your furniture and tchotchkes from destruction!
All of The Vertical Cat's products are hand made in the USA and constructed from sturdy wood in your choice of finishes, many with replaceable carpeted inserts the cats' claws can grab onto as they're climbing. Arrange the shelves, stairs, corner shelves, corner steps, and boxes into any configuration...they'll look like wall art, while providing your cats with places to survey their domain, sun themselves, look out a window, or just hang out away from all the hubbub below. I guess the addition of the cats would actually make these climbing systems "living art"! Combine the wall climbing system with a floor-standing cat tree and your cats will be up there before you know it. Couldn't your home use a little living art that also makes your cats happier and better behaved? Here are a few more photos of the systems to get your imagination going:
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