Hi!! I'm loving your blog a lot. I've been trying to enrich my cat's life for a while without much success. I live in a somewhat small apartment with a balcony and the cat loves to look out of it. Aside from that and a bunch of toys and a box I don't have much else. I bought her a cat tree some time ago but she was completely uninterested, not even when it was next to the window! Is it possible for my cat to not be into climbing things? Should I keep trying with cat trees/shelves?
So it is very possible that your cat isn’t a climber! Some cats prefer hiding low over climbing up. What you can do here is side more with hiding options. There are lower cat trees, or cat furniture with scratching posts that cats can hide inside or under that these cats usually find more comfort in.
Another aspect some people aren’t aware of is comfort in the structural integrity of the furniture the cat is climbing on. Some cats (typically bigger ones), can get a little anxious if they don’t think a particular shelf or tree will hold their weight. My cat Heimdall, for instance, pretty much NEVER touches a cat tree unless there’s food on it, and even then, he sticks to the sturdier parts closer to the ground. But he LOVES being on our window sill, because our sills are thick and essentially built-in cat beds.
It may take some working around trying to find what your cat likes, so you can always look for things on sale, or look into making your own so you don’t spend a ton of money trying to understand what your cat likes most.
I WILL say if you have a balcony on your apartment, consider putting your cat on a leash and taking them on the balcony. We used to do this in our apartment complex, because with all the dogs, it was unsafe to walk the cat. It was one of Heimdall’s favorite pass times. He would just lay on the balcony and watch the birds. It was a change to his normal chill-out spot in front of the door to the balcony, and it was awesome, and it was cheap and easy enrichment for him.