Climbers for the Cat Enrichment Masterpost

A cat climber (tree, tower) is a form of indoor cat enrichment which satisfies a cat’s desire to climb, perch high, lounge high, and often combines with a cat’s desire to hide or scratch. They are typically free-standing or temporary fixtures, meaning that they can be relocated easily and won’t damage walls or floors in case you’re living someplace like an apartment.

Cat climbers range from the very small and simple:

To the average, medium and large sized ones:

To the very large and elaborate ones:

Most of these are pretty “traditional” climbers, the sort you might be able to walk into a pet store and find. The really big ones get very expensive, but I have seen plenty of large-sized ones priced around $100. It is a bit of an investment, but they last for a very long time and cats will use them constantly, so it’s well worth it. However, you’re not beholden to traditional! You can actually make a tower yourself fairly cheaply out of PVC and mesh or even PVC and wood!

Climbers also do not have to have carpet on them! Some can be made just from wood, or you can attach cushions later if you want to make it softer for them.

If you live someplace where you can acquire natural branches, you can also make your own climbers out of tree limbs and flat surfaces:

Even household items creatively connected and secured can serve as a tower, if you can’t build quite from scratch. A lot of folks don’t have access to saws and such to cut wood to the right sizes (although some hardware stores will do small cuts for you, so you can always ask and find out!). Another option is to use some sturdy cardboard; it’s perhaps not quite as long-lasting, and will eventually need replacing because you can’t clean it the way you can wood or plastic, but really that’s just an excuse to make a novel tower for even more enrichment.

There is another, temporary form of cat climber that I’ve seen more of recently, which can be hung on the back of a door. It ratchets into place securely so it won’t droop, and provides soft climbing space. These may even be a good DIY project, as it seems like they could be made mostly from straps and cloth, with a solid base on the perches:

And lastly, I debated about moving these to the shelves, but they’re vertical only so; these are more permanent-fixture climbers, anchored floor to ceiling rather than having a base that keeps them free-standing.

One of your best resources for finding more unique climbers than you could find at a normal pet store is Etsy. You can support local craftsfolk, and a lot of times they not only have unique designs already available, but they will take commissions to build something to your specifications.

You can also visit home and furniture stores and look at free-standing shelves not in terms of how you’d use it, but how it could be modified for your cat to use. Hardware stores may also have shelving units that could be used, and carpet stores may sell leftover bits of carpet for cheap if you are interested in DIY. There are a LOT of guides online if you search for DIY cat tower building guides, and if you are planning to build it yourself, you can buy the pieces more slowly if you need to spread the purchase out some.

I absolutely love Nika and her pets :)))

Favorite YouTube channel about animals.