Kitty towers

Nody

Ok this is going to be an odd one as I'm inclined to the answer already but lets see.

I have to date gotten my kitty towers on German Ebay and they are the "standard" type, 1.5m to 1.8m high, 1m+ bottom plate with multiple levels etc. looking in size like this zooplus one and cost around 80 EUR shipped. Now the towers are good but lets be honest with a 8cm base for the limbs going up they are not the most sturdy pieces out there and they tend to have a life of about 2 to 4 years in general before we need to replace them (i.e. the sisal rope is torn, one or more towers limbs are broken by human clumsiness etc.).

Now I've been looking at alternatives such as this one which comes with 12cm poles with possibility to with 14cm instead and noticably more expensive. I've also had an oppertunity to see similar builds in person and they look at a whole different level of sturdiness to be honest (i.e. the quality looks to be a level or two above).

My question is have any of you tried them and how long has the sisal rope etc. lasted? They are usually advertised for Mancoons or large cats but I'm simply looking at investing in something that's more sturdy (to go along with my future cat climbing wall).

Pumpkinseeds

I haven't tried that one. The hole doesn't look very big for a large cat to fit in. We have a giant scratch post that we bought from Zooplus and my 2 love it, it's the sturdiest one we've ever had. I think it'll last a good 5 years minimum and we would buy probably only need to buy some sisal rope to replace the sisal on it.

We have a very sturdy cat tower which we bought in Lidl years ago for about 40 euro. It gets lots of use, but mostly for sitting on and watching out the front door. One of cats is tall and very stocky,about 7 kilos at a guesss,so the hole is far too small for him. It's even a tight squeeze for our smaller chap who only weighs about 4.5 kilos. Sounds like a lot of money for something that might not be as sturdy as it could be. I'd pay the extra for the sturdier one if it were me.

Irish Stones

Have you tried to do one yourself? It would cost close to nothing.
Last summer I did one simple tower for my cats. I found a 1 metre long cardboard tube and wrapped a long length of sisal rope around it. I secured it with vinyl glue. The tower was then screwed on a wooden base. I didn't make it more complex because I didn't know if the tower would have been appreciated, so I didn't invest too much effort. Now that I see that it's a useful item I will try to expand it with some more features as soon I have some spare time.
The tube was a waste from a copy shop, it was the inner tube of a roll of paper for a large plotter.
The sisal rope was purchased in a store and it's 8 or 10 mm.
I took less than 2 hour to have the new toy read for my two cats.

Binka

Nody wrote: »

Now the towers are good but lets be honest with a 8cm base for the limbs going up they are not the most sturdy pieces out there

Are you a any good at diy? My suggestion would be to modify the zooplus one and screw the 8mm base to a larger heavier one. Maybe a decent piece of pine board would set you back about €15 or a heavier material if you can find it.