Cat Super Highway

For most of you the question to ask about this project is “Why would one build a cat jungle gym in their house?” The question I ask is “How am I going to get a good picture of this monstrosity that we have built in the basement?” For the record, this is the best one that I have.

On Monday, we finished the kitty playground that we have been working on since November when I wrapped a post for Crème to scratch. Once again, I have lied to you, but I am unable to keep up the facade. I cannot live a lie. I never finished wrapping the last perch because I ran out of twine on Monday. Douglas bought more the other day, but I have been too busy to finish it. Therefore, the cat super highway will be done this weekend, but I did not want to wait to show you what we have done. I hope that you will choose to forgive me!

Douglas began by installing a couple of cross braces. He taped each one to the beam and then drilled through the tape. Once the screws were in the tape came off without a problem leaving a secure support for the plywood plank he added on top.

Douglas was the engineer behind this project. He is not a certified engineer, although he did major in the discipline for a couple of years. Nor did he do any research before constructing this massive structure, unless you count watching episodes of My Cat from Hell as research. You may not want to follow our example if you are looking to build your own cat complex, but Crème has not appeared to have any difficulty navigating or suffered any injuries, so I think that we did a good job.

The first piece was added between the beams, but it is short enough that we can reach all the way through. We do not want Crème to have a place to escape from us. Therefore, Douglas attached a 2×4 to “L” brackets to create the bridge between that platform and the second post. This also makes it more interesting for Crème since each section of her jungle gym is different. Hopefully, it will take longer for her to get bored with it if she ever does.

He wrapped the section of the 2×4 closest to the pole so that kitty would have something to grab a hold of when trying to climb onto it.

At this point he sawed the corners off another section of the plywood to attach to the brackets already installed on the post. It was then my job to wrap it. This was a compromise negotiated because Douglas did not feel that there was any reason to wrap it, and I thought that it would look better. Therefore, because I was the one that wanted it wrapped, I got to do it myself. I did not mind.

I thought we were done at that point, but Douglas did not. The final stage was to add a couple more 2x4s between a duct and a beam. I did not think that this was necessary, but Douglas wanted to give her more places to explore. I hope that she appreciates all that he does for her!

There was almost a casualty here, but the crisis was avoided by a quick surrender by the intruder.

It is never safe to mess with a crazed man with a drill.

I really wish that I could get a better picture of our masterpiece, but this will have to do for now. I also apologize for the lack of picture of Crème in this post because if we are honest that is probably why most of you follow my blog. It is not that she has not been using her new playground. I just have not been diligent about documenting her activity.

Happy Homemaking!