Last year, I had the opportunity to help the Cat Daddy himself, Jackson Galaxy, “catify” his home outside Los Angeles. Jackson lives with his three cats, Velouria, Chips, and Caroline, and his little dog, Rudy. Jackson spends his days working with clients, helping them to see the world from a cat’s perspective, so this was his chance to put into practice some of his own advice for his feline family. You may have seen these photos before, but I wanted to share them again so everyone can see what we did and borrow freely for catifying your own home.
The top priority was to create a “cat superhighway” throughout the house. On any good superhighway, you need to have ample lanes to accommodate the flow of traffic, as well as on- and off-ramps. In a multi-cat household, sharing a lane of traffic can cause conflict. Cats shouldn’t have to compete for space on a one lane dirt road.
Jackson’s superhighway includes multiple levels: the floor, the ottoman, the bookshelf, and two levels of cat shelves. His cats have all kinds of options for traversing the space without facing a potential traffic jam.
We continued the highway in the bedroom with more shelves from Ikea leading from a low table up to the top of the dresser. Strategically placed cat beds and scratch lounges make for nice destinations along the highway for happy cats to stop for a nap.
In the office nook, by watching the cats’ behavior, we found that the cats were using the desk surface as part of the highway, moving from the middle window shelf to the shelf above the desk by jumping on and off the desk. Instead of discouraging this, we accommodated the cats by placing sisal pieces with no-slip backing on the corners of the slippery desk surface. This is a great example of modifying an existing surface to accommodate the cats behavior.
As any of you who have both dogs and cats know, sometimes it’s necessary to separate them at feeding time (greedy dogs!) In order to address this issue, Jackson decided to use the top of the low bookshelf in the living room for the cat’s feeding station. To make it easier for the older kitties to reach the raised surface, we added a set of modern pet stairs. Now the cats can easily access their food while Rudy dines on the lower level.
Of course we had to showcase Jackson’s guitar collection, along with other personal touches. Overall, everyone is quite pleased with their new digs!
Thoughts from Jackson:
“I think one of the most wonderful elements of this particular cat superhighway is that it was difficult to assess the needs of our cat clients. Given a brand new space, how would they decide to timeshare? So much smaller than the previous territory, who would try to dominate certain areas, and who would find confidence and safety in various degrees of the vertical world?
The way Kate and I answered that question was to embrace it. We built a highway with four vertical lanes, and with three cats, it could be assured that they could all explore different heights in their own time. The configuration also allowed me to get further into the mojo of each of my cats.
For instance, I made the discovery that given access to “trees,” “bushes” and “caves,” Caroline would allow her feral nature to take over, attempting to “disappear” herself from human view. The last thing one wants when constructing a cat superhighway is to encourage a fearful mindset. I wound up having to block off the top of a closet that I thought would be a great private zone, initially lined with cat beds, as well as underneath virtually any piece of furniture. Her challenge line became to live “on” very midrange heights like the bed, the arms of the couch, etc. Cat beds were then placed strategically in those areas.
The point is that we provided an incredibly flexible skeleton, one which we could change with the emerging individual as well as communal needs of my three cats. It goes to show you that catification is a journey, not a destination; the space as well as the process need to be given the room to breathe as the inhabitants cross their challenge lines and become more and more confident.”
Send Us Your Catification Projects!
Jackson and I want to see what you’ve done to catify your home! You can submit photos and a description of your project on hauspanther.com. We’d love to share your ideas with other cat lovers!
Where did you get the small shelves from? The ones that look more like just a step in the picture with the long hair tabby sitting on it below the acoustic guitar. I really need to get some like that to go with the IKEA shelves I already have. Does anyone have the name or an item # for the shelf and the brackets both as well as the source? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
That’s the Square Cat Habitat Itch Step:
http://www.squarecathabitat.com/index.php/itch-step.html
AWESOME!!! That will help me out a lot. Thanks!
Where did you get the red dot brackets for the window shelves? I have been looking for something unique like that to make come cat-shelves for my living room?
Thanks
The red brackets are from Ikea:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20168705/
Thanks!
Someone asked me to identify each of Jackson’s cats:
– The long haired brown tabby is Velouria.
– The little dilute calico with the white mittens is Chips.
– The big beautiful calico with the white undercarriage is Caroline.
Here’s a list of the products you see in the photos:
– Brown shelves, red and black brackets from Ikea
– Green Hepper Pod
– Blue Hepper Nom Nom feeding dish
– Hauspanther Scratch Tower
– Big Baby Lounge from Brawny Cat
– Wave Perches from Urban Pet Haus
– Itch Steps from Square Cat Habitat
– Pet Stairs from Urban Pet Haus
– Modkat Litter Box
– The Cat Ball
– Green Ultrasuede Lounge from ModPet
– A-frame Scratcher, Stow, and Palm Springs Lounge from Hauspanther (no longer in production)
Jackson! What are you doing with my calico? 😉 Honestly, she looks so much like my Maryam!
Wow, Kate, how envious am I? What an amazing catitat you two have created for three wonderful cats. And it looks very comfortable, beautiful and inviting for people as well. I could write for miles (I’m a writer — that’s what I do!) but I’ll just say *BRAVO* and that these are wonderful photos!
Thanks for showing the “catification” pictures. This gives me some ideas for my house. A cat condo for 4 cats just isn’t enough.
This was a great piece! Seeing Kate’s work on a tiny New York apartment on “My Cat From Hell” really inspired me to take my own attempt at catification to a new level.
Love the sisal pieces with non-skid backing. I could really use several, as my cats love to travese several slick surfaces in my house. What did you use, or where are they available?
Thanks so much; looking forward to seeing much more!
The rubber backed sisal pieces are just sisal rug remnants that I purchase in bulk on eBay. They’re perfect and inexpensive! I always keep some around for this kind of project. Just search on eBay for “sisal remnants”.
It is good to know how many people realize whose home it really is: it’s all about the cats.
I love it all, love the show, think Jackson is the best. I have to say this though; I was shocked to see a top loading, covered litter box!! I have argued with myself over having a lid, and from the show, have removed the lid to enable my cats to feel secure, per Jackson. What gives?
That litter box has holes on the top to vent any smells out. I would imagine a cat using it with her head out the hole to avoid ambush. I would think from the placement that it is there for an older cat who would take a nap on the near by bed or sofa then wake up and need to pee so much she wouldn’t make it to the main litter boxes. That box is protecting the bed or sofa that is next to it.
I would imagine Jackson has litter boxes some place not shown in the photos. As our cats get older we need to make some accommodations for them. I myself have litter boxes in the bed rooms because we have an older cat too. I use the Breeze boxes because the regular litter gets everywhere. I suspect Jackson is using a top entry box to keep the litter from getting all over. It is a good compromise.
Aw, I’m so sad that the Palm Springs Lounge two story cat bed is no longer in production!
I want Jackson glasses!
Thank you so much Jackson for your show, so glad you are able to educate people about Cats.
It’s hard to see how some on the show are so distraught before you come to calm them, but so glad you leave them with better life.
Love your Cat photos.
Keep up the good work.
Betty & “Skeeter”
Hello Jackson. Let me say, it’s always a pleasure watching your interactions with humans lucky enough to have a cat in their lives. My question to you is, how do (or did) you dissuade your felines from meddling with your collection of wall mounted guitars? As you well know, cats are curious and tactile by nature, so I’m curious as to your secret?
I, myself, have a Siamese mix who gets into everything, even though I’ve tried to give him adequate space and distractions to occupy his time.
Does anyone know a good custom catification service to come to my home in LA to catify my cats’ day room? Thx!
Good afternoon Katie,
I had a question regarding the “sisal pieces with no-slip backing.” I know it’s been a while since you made this post, but hopefully you’ll be able to help us. We’re looking to get some for our kitties (they use our bookshelf as a launch pad to get onto our breakfast bar). One of our kitties is missing his back left leg, and we’ve noticed that he sometimes struggles with the jump (even though it’s not that large of a gap). Would you be able to direct me to where you purchased the sisal pads, or were they custom made?
Thank you!
Yes! I get my sisal mats on eBay. They are sold as remnants from making sisal rugs and you can get them by the pound. They are easy to cut to any size and they already have the rubber backing. Depending on what surface you’re using them on, you may need to add some carpet tape to keep the pieces in place. I hope that helps!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SISAL-REMNANTS-100-Natural-Sisal-Carpet-Latex-Backing-10-LBS-/271832994000?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f4a8250d0