# DIY Cat Shelves - how deep?



## shortandfurry (Jan 30, 2013)

I think I need to add another shelf/ramp or two to the home made cat tower at the corner of the stairs. Definitely need a low one for safer dismounting and maybe another high one on the wall going up.

Question is, how deep does a shelf need to be for a cat to turn round without falling off? (ie how far does it need to stick out from the wall?)

This probably depends on the size of the cat(s) in question but is there any sort of guideline to help me work it out? Our stairs aren't very wide so space is at a premium.


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## LDK1 (Oct 1, 2010)

I'd guesstimate, going by our 'Catherine' cat tree dimensions, a minimum of 25cm (10 inches) should be comfortable turning room for an average size cat.

You might be able to get away with less, but if it were me (and I do a lot of DIY) I'd aim for that if possible - certainly for the higher shelf anyway.


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## shortandfurry (Jan 30, 2013)

^ aye I'm hoping I can get another perch above human-head-height, if so that'll be a bigger "lounge" shelf.
Mounting/dismounting ramps can probably get away with being a bit narrower.

Feeling exotically lazy tonight, wondering if Ikea floating shelves would do. The bigger of our two weighs somewhere between 3-3.5kg, need to check if the shelves can hold that much. (edit) ah, perhaps not  "Max. load: 3 kg" for "Lack" shelf

Luckily we have brick walls


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## Citrineblue (Sep 28, 2012)

Citrineblue said:


> The idea for the Ikea Cat Shelf hack came from this site.
> 
> Cat Shelves
> 
> ...


I hope this info is of help.

We have a wall of these shelves so if you look on the Ikea site it will tell how deep the shelf is. Our chunky 6 kg boy sleeps on these so the shelf in themselves can hold the weight and we have it on a plasterboard wall, we did however use appropriate butterfly fixings that can take some extraordinary weight as the fixing opens out on the other side of the wall to spread the load. In this case each shelf has four of these.

We are thinking of adding to these to give more exits from the top shelves as once up there they have to either share a shelf to get down or wait. They are very popular.. The carpet tiles really work as they look as good as the day they were installed.


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## Cookieandme (Dec 29, 2011)

I bought mine and the plateform is 14" x 20" so quite large - blimey so is the picture :blush:


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## shortandfurry (Jan 30, 2013)

Could have sworn I'd already posted it but apparently not .... this is mine as it stands










I feel it needs a ramp below the windowsill, plus at minimum another shelf on the other wall, to the right and midway between the two existing shelves.
Maybe also another low ramp and high shelf, also on the wall to the right.

Thoughts?


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## LDK1 (Oct 1, 2010)

shortandfurry said:


> Could have sworn I'd already posted it but apparently not .... this is mine as it stands
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Great effort! :thumbup1: I see what you mean about the tight space.

I would say ramps aren't really needed as your cats don't seem to have a problem getting onto the shelves - and they probably enjoy the action of jumping up too.

Hmmm... what immediately springs to mind is to have shelves to the right that carry on up the stairs at the same angle as the staircase - starting inbetween the other two shelves like you said.

This could be tricky though if the staircase is quite narrow as you don't want any obstructions that you might keep bumping into of course - but I think it would be fun for them if they could make their way up and down the stairs via the wall.

Maybe you could fit a couple of dangly toys to the tree? Though mine don't seem very interested in these type of accessories!

If that window sill is wide enough for them to get onto, that would be a great place to grow a pot of cat grass for them to investigate and nibble on - or maybe you could fit a shelf just under the sill to put some on - and/or fit a shelf half way between the sill and the floor.

Just a couple of thoughts.


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## shortandfurry (Jan 30, 2013)

LDK1 said:


> Great effort! :thumbup1: I see what you mean about the tight space.
> 
> I would say ramps aren't really needed as your cats don't seem to have a problem getting onto the shelves - and they probably enjoy the action of jumping up too.
> 
> ...


Thank you 

The windowsill is deep enough to sit on (I hadn't thought of putting cat grass there, might do that) but it's tricky to jump down to from the top shelf because it's slightly recessed and kind of slippy as it's painted (though they can just step onto it from the other shelf, or Jasmine jumps straight up to it). They can run/jump/climb _up_ the pole no bother, I just worry about how they get down.
I occasionally hear a great big thump when one of them dismounts from the top - they kind of drop off the top shelf, kick off the lower shelf straight to the floor. So I thought maybe add a ramp/shelf below the windowsill to lessen the drop. It's 2m from floor to ceiling there.

I'd love to add more shelves/ramps/boxes going up the stairs but there's not a great deal of room and hubby thinks I'm mad  lol. Sure I can work something out though.

There's usually a couple of toys left lying around on one shelf or another, plus one that velcros onto the carpet pole, and I get them chasing wand toys up it too  it's good for playtime. It could do with more though, to really add another dimension to their crazy chase times.


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

That is a brilliant cat tree.....did you make it your self with a carpet roll inner?


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## DollyGirl08 (Dec 1, 2012)

Oh wow, my cat tree looks like a mere weed in comparison lol! 
I am looking to make a home made one with lots of shelves as the girls love their tree. 
How do you make one? Can you buy the rope to make a scratching post?


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## whitburnwhiskers (Aug 28, 2012)

We've watched our cats turn around (albeit uncomfortably with smushed faces) on the mantelpiece which is about 10cm! When we built our cat shelves, our thinnest shelf is 20cm to give them a bit more comfort at a higher height but that's really just a connecting shelf to get from one corner to the other.










And I did a blog about them - How To Make Homemade Cat Shelves - where there's more pictures as don't want to hijack your post here!! Cats are happy


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## Lilylass (Sep 13, 2012)

DollyGirl08 said:


> Oh wow, my cat tree looks like a mere weed in comparison lol!
> I am looking to make a home made one with lots of shelves as the girls love their tree.
> How do you make one? Can you buy the rope to make a scratching post?


This might be interesting DG http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-chat/247480-who-needs-hi-cat-pole.html

A carpet inner roll and carpet on the outside 

Looks great & the cats all seem to love it - really must give it a bash


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## DollyGirl08 (Dec 1, 2012)

Lilylass said:


> This might be interesting DG http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-chat/247480-who-needs-hi-cat-pole.html
> 
> A carpet inner roll and carpet on the outside
> 
> Looks great & the cats all seem to love it - really must give it a bash


Thanks. I'm moving soon and looking at houses so want to give the cats a bedroom full of shelves and posts and fun kitty stuff so they can go up there when I have dogs in for boarding who may not be good with cats.


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