Choosing Quality Cat Furniture - 6 Important Factors

The purpose of this guide is to help you choose a quality piece of cat furniture that won't be harmful to your cat and that you'll be proud to own for years to come. Keep in mind that all cat furniture isn't created equal. Many cat condos, trees, scratchers, and toys are built with cheap materials that can be dangerous to your precious kitty, or just otherwise cheap structures that'll embarrass you when you have company over. These cheap materials are good for profit margins and bad for your pocket book when you end up taking a three-month old condo to the dump. A good cat condo is very much like a good house. It is rock solid, has curb appeal, and is only built with the best materials. To help you steer clear of poor products, here's a top 6 list of the most important things you should look for in quality cat furniture.

1. WEIGHT AND MAX WEIGHT LOAD. A telltale sign of a good piece of cat furniture is the weight of the item and it's max weight load. Heavy cat furniture is stable and won't tip or seem unstable to your kitty when they jump on it at full speed. The max weight load is important because often children or grandchildren (or really heavy kitties) can't resist climbing on your cat furniture. A good rule of thumb here is that if you can't climb on every level yourself, don't buy it. The last thing you want is for the piece of furniture to collapse or tip over--even if no one is injured, you will have to spend the money to replace it. Besides, weight and max weight load tell you the piece of furniture is solidly built and will survive the trip if you ever have to move (think of how much furniture and walls get banged up during moving).

2. SOLID WOOD~NATURAL WOOD. Quality cat furniture is made with natural wood products that are good for building furniture. These products are real wood plywood and kiln dried and milled lumber like 2x4's and 4x4's. Avoid cat condos made with cardboard, treated wood, landscape posts and manufactured wood like OSB (engineered strand board), MDF or particle board. Cardboard is cheap and lightweight. Treated wood is toxic. Landscape posts are not suitable for building because they are have immature growth rings that warp, crack and twist within months (after you've paid and left positive feedback). Manufactured wood products are also toxic because they are pressed with formaldahyde which give off volatile organic compounds in the form of fumes. While these products may suitable for exteriors on residential homes (which are then sandwiched by siding, insulation and drywall), they have no place for pet furniture. If anyone tells you otherwise, ask them if they'd use OSB on the interior of their homes instead of drywall? Or better yet, ask a local builder why they don't build houses this way. Unfortunately, the reason these manufactured products are used in a lot of pet furniture is because they are up to 300% cheaper than real wood products. That makes for a nice fat profit margin at the expense of your kitty's long-term health. Ouch!

3. THICK, UNOILED SISAL ROPE. Veterinarians have long recommended sisal rope for the health of your kitty's claws. You'll usually find this rope wrapped around the posts of most cat furniture. There are two types of sisal rope available: oiled and unoiled. Of course, oiled sisal is toxic so avoid it. This usually isn't a problem as almost all cat furniture you'll find is made with unoiled sisal rope--but awareness is important. More important, however, is the thickness of the sisal rope. Quality cat furniture uses 3/8" sisal rope. Cheap cat furniture uses 1/4" rope, which wears out much faster. The difference in cost to the manufacturer between the two sizes is approximately 300%. Again, it is obvious why some manufacturers use 1/4" sisal rope instead of 3/8" sisal rope.

4. CARPET AND HOW ITS ADHERED. Real carpet will always outlast faux fur or fleece covered furniture. The two most common types of "real" carpet are Nylon and Olefin. Quality cat furniture has stapled on carpet in the same manner as quality upholstry. Avoid with cat furniture that has glued on carpet, as most glues that adhere carpet to wood are toxic.

5. FASTENERS USED. Quality cat furniture is securely fastened using long wood screws or lag screws. Lag screws are the strongest. Screws in general are good because they grip the wood and will not pull out. Avoid cat furniture that is fastened together using only nails. Nails have excellent shear strength, but they pull out much easier than screws. Of course, nails and screws used together are a very strong combination because you have the best properties of each. About glue. Be careful here. There are a lot of wood-to-wood glues that are non-toxic. Wood glues in combination with screws make an excellent bond. However, if the cat furniture only is fastened together with wood glue, it will be inferior to the options mentioned above. Glued wood joints can snap apart if jarred hard enough.

6. CURB APPEAL. Okay, curb appeal hardly needs mentioning because subconsciously this is the most important thing. When you buy a giant piece of cat furniture, you have to like the way it looks, because like it or not, it will be YOUR furniture, too! The important thing here is choosing a piece of cat furniture that you can remain proud of two years from now. And cat furniture is like everything else--you get what you pay for. So, if you've considered all the points above, then you should have no problem finding your kitty that perfect piece. Good luck!