You may have caught the recent episode of Animal Planet’s My Cat From Hell with Jackson Galaxy, where I made a guest appearance helping to Catify Brenda & Dean’s home for their two cats, Kashmir and Darla. I wanted to give you a few more details about what we did to create Darla’s superhighway.
During Jackson’s first visit, he identified that Darla is definitely a tree dweller, meaning that she likes to climb to high places, especially when Kashmir (who stays primarily on the ground) on is the hunt. Brenda and Dean’s place also had a lot of dead ends where Kashmir could easily trap Darla. We needed to give Darla a way to climb up and out of the way, allowing her to traverse the space without being trapped.
We focused primarily on the dining room, first de-cluttering the area by adding a sideboard that provides streamlined storage and a cat-friendly surface on top. Above the sideboard, we hung several cat shelves and topped them with carpet pieces held in place with double sided carpet tape. As you can see, Darla is quite pleased with her shelves.
To allow easy access to the top of the sidebar and the shelves, we added a cat tree using the Ikea Stolmen pole and step shelves from ContempoCat. This type of cat tree is perfect for Brenda and Dean’s space, since it’s light and airy and requires very little floor space.
To add more lanes to Darla’s superhighway, as well as a bit of a hideaway, I created two climbing tubes using simple cardboard cement tubes painted shiny red and trimmed with black faux fur. We placed a strip of sisal inside for comfort and attached the tubes to the wall with two straps. Darla loves her new climbing tubes!
One of the fun things about this design that you didn’t hear about on the show, is that all of the artwork we integrated into the climbing wall is original artwork by Brenda. Including personal touches like this can really customize your cat climbing wall, making it not just utilitarian, but also something for everyone to enjoy.
Darla’s superhighway actually extends all the way into the kitchen. This is an important feature because it allows access to the climbing wall from two different parts of the house. Since space was limited in the kitchen and we knew that Darla could easily climb a pole (Brenda and Dean had seen her do it before), I created a floor-to-ceiling scratching/climbing post using another Ikea Stolmen pole wrapped with extra thick sisal rope (available at Home Depot). Darla can easily scale the pole to reach the top shelf, then navigate across the climbing wall into the living room, avoiding the ambushes that used to happen on the floor.
Darla’s new superhighway provides her with alternates route and a way to climb up to where she can get away from Kashmir as needed, bringing peace to Brenda and Dean’s home and hopefully keeping both the humans and the felines happy for years to come.
How did you make the floor to ceiling scratching post? One of my cats would love that! Looks like it’s on one of those IKEA poles but do you have any more details?
Yes, it’s an Ikea Stolmen pole and the extra thick sisal rope is from Home Depot. I use a glue gun to attach the rope to the pole, gluing every inch as you wrap it around. That really helps keep the rope in place. With the Stolmen pole, you have to wrap the bottom part of the pole, then secure it in place and finish wrapping the top which is kind of a pain, but it creates a nice look.
I love your work… wish we had a cat lady out my way to do some catification for me. Know anyone in Western MA???
Peace & Blessings!!
That is some awesome super highway!
This is amazing! Super-functional but it looks really cool. If I ever have a place that I own instead of rent, I want to do something like this.
Love the show! The education on cat behavior and the “why” behind it is fascinating. This show does powerful good things!
Thank you!
Kate, the tubes are awesome! I’ve never seen a really enclosed hideout for a tree dweller – aside from a conventional cat tree. They look great, too. I imagine our scaredy cat would feel safe in one. It looks like the tube is hung from the wall with straps at each end each strap is attached to the wall at one spot, could you provide details?
I used woven straps from an upholstery supply store. Just a single screw through both ends of the strap, either directly into a stud or using a heavy duty wall anchor.
I love the entire set! The question about the sisal rope was answered above. The other questions I have are what size screws did you use & did you screw into the studs only? I have bought some shelves from IKEA and cut up a mat so the cats won’t slip. I’m scared to put them on the wall because I’m thinking that when my fat cats jump on them it will tear the wall out.
Thanks for ideas!!!
I love these ideas and the way you integrated with the human side of the equation too! So many ideas… so little time!
This is awesome! I love the tubes trimmed with fur.
I am a big fan of the show and caught this episode. You all did a wonderful job.
I see I’m not the only admirer of the Stolmen pole/extra heavy sisal rope floor-to-ceiling scratcher/climber! All of the Catifications you’ve provided are wonderful, but this really caught my eye. In another life, my ex and I created (and renewed) quite a few scratching poles/posts in similar ways. I love the way you’ve integrated the Catifications with the art, too! Loved this episode of “MY CAT FROM HELL” as I do all of them, and wish Darla and the handsome Kashmir long, happy, loved and FRIENDLY lives together with their family!
Wow, the finished wall looks like a 3-D artwork. Lucky the kitty who gets to use it!
This is a great solution for those of us in tiny apartments with NO available floor space but with one cat who stalks the other! Any folks who can do this in NYC? I have old cement walls, would never attempt this on my own, particularly with a 21 lb scaredy cat running from my feisty female! Not sure my walls would stay up if I did it myself, so if you know someone, lease email me. Thanks so much.
Kate, I loved that episode and happy to see more pics. Shared with <3
I saw this episode and did a little dance when you came onscreen! It is really amazing how much some small changes can help our kitties stay happy.
Beautiful job! I need to do something like this for my 6 who often fight…but two things hold me back: the expense and the fact that the 2 sibling cats who need the escape routes the most are enormous cats. They weigh at least 20 lbs and are very tall as well as fat. A regular shelf would not be wide enough and I am not sure the brackets (even in studs) would be strong enough – especially if they jumped onto the shelf. Any ideas on how to do accommodate the Biggies on the cheap?
This is absolutely amazing! It’s given me so much inspiration to create a nice space for my kitties to play and relax 🙂
Cool superhighway for the kitties. Nice, Kate! Love when you pop in on MCFH.
Can people hire you in AZ to help them catify their house?
We use sisal scratching posts in our sanctuary. What is the safest glue or other form of attachment for the sisal when reattaching it to the post? Is there a nontoxic glue that you use? What do you recommend?
This is a terrific idea. I like the look and I LOVE the description of the rationale – to help purrsons understand the behavioual basis for the design decisions. In fact, it is SO good that later this week I will post a link on my blog.
I LOVE this! I am so going to do my kitty a climbing pole like this, now I’ve made room for it. She just loves to climb, and has been getting bored lately.
For the grass looking carpet that was used on the shelves themselves, does anyone know the specifics as to where I can find these? Is it just synthetic lawn turf from Home Deport or what? It looks a bit more playful and better for the kitties than that. Thanks for the help!
The green carpet is a small rug from Ikea, found in the flooring department. We just cut it with a utility knife and attached it to the shelves with carpet tape.
Hi, can you share what size cardboard cement tubes you used and where to purchase them? Thank you.
I believe these were 12″ diameter, maybe 14″. You can get cardboard tube cement forms at Home Depot and other home improvement stores:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/SAKRETE-12-in-x-48-in-Tube-for-Concrete-200077374/301977277
What a lucky cat!
I love this and I’m trying to make my own walkway and climbing pole for my two cats. I also have one that attacks the other and think this will really help. Can I ask what millimetre of sisal rope you used? Many thanks, Nicola
If you look at the last pic, it appears the sisal is about 1\2-3\4 a cat’s paw!! So I would measure your cat’s outstretch paw and compare that to what is available at Home Depot(as stated in article). My best guess….hope my guess helps….just a stranger reading offering to help!
I love the stolmen cat tower. I have popcorn ceiling just like this couple. I was wondering about the piece of wood between the top of the stolmen pole and the ceiling. Is it used to protect the ceiling? Also what is the piece of wood?
Hey Kendra, it’s Dean… Darla & Kasj’s pet human!
I figured I could chime in here. We are renters, and yes, drilling into the ceiling seemed too much a risk of damage, and had to think of a less intrusive way to affix the poles.
My solution was to put cushioning between the top piece, and the ceiling. We first tried just a simple cutout of cardboard, but that proved too slippery. When the cats go for the pole, they LEAP at it (It’s really pretty cool!) But they can easily dislodge the pole, so…
I got the bright idea of using a layer of that rubbery no-skid shelf liner. You can even find it at a dollar store ‘: ^ ) I stuck a piece between the cardboard and the wood block, and volia… no more slipping!
Oh, and the wood blocks that the Sisal poles are screwed into– I felt the base of the pile was to small diameter to ensure the pile could be firmly affixed. And not wanting to screw it directly into the ceiling, IIgor the idea if using cheese boards. The two I used actually came from a great resource: Goodwill! I bought two of the castaway cheese boards, for around $5 each… I could’ve easily just cut a round board, but I like the ‘finished look’ of a cheese board better. We painted ’em white, screwed the pole base in, stuck a layer of no-slip rubber and cardboard, and bingo, they kitties were ready to party!