Cat's lonely, can't make it up the ladder

October 24, 2007 11:51 PM

I live in a two story loft-ish apartment, and the cat wants to sleep with me upstairs, but only a wood ladder is available. How can I make this happen?

While our cat's very affectionate and wants to sleep with us up in the sleeping loft, nature generally calls at about 5am. Since the ladder leading from the main room up to the sleeping loft is made only out of wood (no carpeting or other upholsterty as of right now) he can't get up and down on his own, so one of us has to carry him up and down all the time, and at odd hours of the night. The ladder is a steep incline (though not straight up), about a 65 degree grade, with flat rungs that are about 14" x 6" x 1".

The cat gets lonely and vocal when he can't sleep with us up here, so just leaving him downstairs is what we'd like to avoid.

So far, we've thought of:

a) carpeting the rungs of the ladder so he can climb up and down on his own, or

b) devising an intricate system of levers and pulleys by which to elevate the cat. But I think this could prove expensive and irritating.

Other ideas?

posted by stewiethegreat to pets & animals (20 comments total)

Why can't he get up and down on his own? Barring any physical infirmities, if he wants to be with you badly enough, he'll soon learn how to climb the ladder. Don't jump to assist him when he gets "lonely and vocal," and he'll surprise you with how resourceful he can be.
posted by amyms at 12:02 AM on October 25, 2007

The problem is that the purely-lacquered-wooden ladder doesn't give him any traction to climb with. He's tried already once or twice, only to fall off the lower rungs.
posted by stewiethegreat at 12:06 AM on October 25, 2007

The problem is that the purely-lacquered-wooden ladder doesn't give him any traction to climb with.

Then your idea of carpeting the rungs is probably your best bet (this can be done very inexpensively with carpet scraps or samples). And you don't have to carpet the whole rung, just enough of a space to give him some footing.
posted by amyms at 12:09 AM on October 25, 2007

Bookshelves next to the loft so there's an intermediate level? There's got to be some way to put up a shelf or two so he can get up in a series of jumps.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:13 AM on October 25, 2007

If there's room, make a cat runway up one side of the steps, just a few inches wide (wide as a cat) but running from top to bottom like a slide. Cover it with carpeting. Leave him at the bottom and let him figure out how to climb. He'll start running up the thing pretty quickly and then slowly figure out how to come back down. It would be easier than climbing a tree, and all cats can do that.

If there's no room for that, then carpet the rungs of your ladder.

The runway may not be necessary, but he'd certainly enjoy it.
posted by pracowity at 12:20 AM on October 25, 2007

The answer to his purrs: the very stylish, very utilitarian cat spiral.
posted by rob511 at 1:10 AM on October 25, 2007

If there's a wall that runs from the first floor to the loft, could you install a series of shelves that go in a step-like manner? Both functional and kinda cool looking.

Like this
posted by like_neon at 1:22 AM on October 25, 2007 [4 favorites]

Attach a carpet lined rain gutter to the side rail of the ladder.
posted by hortense at 1:52 AM on October 25, 2007

This may help.
posted by sebastienbailard at 2:32 AM on October 25, 2007 [2 favorites]

Definitely a Rube Goldberg contraption is called for here. As well as a picture of ceiling cat.
posted by DenOfSizer at 3:36 AM on October 25, 2007

I've seen some cool examples of like_neon's suggestion, though I can't find the cool colored carpeted ones now. But a Google Image search for "cat shelves" found a blog that pictures them (just search within the page for "shelves").

Ahh...here's one site, at least, that sells colored carpeted ones:

KatWALLk
posted by limeonaire at 5:23 AM on October 25, 2007

We once built a climbing tree for our cats to get into a loft in our bedroom (not a full story above the floor, though). We took a 4x4, built a base from plywood, and wrapped it in rope, then anchored it to the loft edge. The cats loved it.

Carpet on your existing ladder is probably easier, cheaper, and more aesthetic, though.
posted by not that girl at 6:31 AM on October 25, 2007

A simple pole, six or more inches in diameter, covered in carpet would get your cat up there. Some cats have difficulty getting down from trees etc. though.
posted by caddis at 6:55 AM on October 25, 2007

I'm sure you've already thought of this, but is there a reason you can't put a small litter box up with you in the loft?
posted by kitty teeth at 7:24 AM on October 25, 2007

Here's a simplish solution - wrap one of the ladder supports tightly with hemp or sisal rope. It can be tricky attaching the ends, but it's worth it. We wrapped a 6-foot length of 4x4 with thick hemp rope (about 1/2" - 3/4" diameter, not sure), and this is placed vertically - the cat climbs up easily. Theoretically, the cat can get down this way too, but it's not as easy and takes practice.

If this won't quite work for you, and you don't want to add carpet to your nice wood steps, you could wrap the steps with rope.

I personally think that wrapping things in rope is a more elegant solution than wrapping everything in carpet -- it's hard to do carpet right, and carpet seems nearly universally to be made of synthetic material.

Good luck!
posted by amtho at 7:24 AM on October 25, 2007

Run some Buddha shelves up the wall.

The NYT just had an article about attractive cat furniture that might give you some other good ideas.
posted by winna at 12:02 PM on October 25, 2007

I'm sure you've already thought of this, but is there a reason you can't put a small litter box up with you in the loft?

Smell, mostly.
posted by stewiethegreat at 12:06 PM on October 25, 2007

Here's a simplish solution - wrap one of the ladder supports tightly with hemp or sisal rope. It can be tricky attaching the ends, but it's worth it. We wrapped a 6-foot length of 4x4 with thick hemp rope (about 1/2" - 3/4" diameter, not sure), and this is placed vertically - the cat climbs up easily. Theoretically, the cat can get down this way too, but it's not as easy and takes practice.

Nice - hadn't thought of that. Might be tricky for the cat to get down though. It's a pretty steep incline.
posted by stewiethegreat at 12:08 PM on October 25, 2007

mini-tramp at the bottom of the ladder?
posted by rob511 at 12:24 PM on October 25, 2007

The cat can learn how to get down; you might have to help them a little if you want him to learn quicker. I'd take the cat's age into consideration, and plan that he will probably jump the last few feet, so maybe provide a soft landing spot (regular carpeting on the floor should be adequate).

Here's my method for dealing with hemp rope ends: wrap the last 1 - 1.5" of each end of the rope tightly with string/twine; you should be able to figure out how to tie this string so that it will stay put. Then you won't have to worry about it unraveling. You can then drive a nail through this end if it's convenient for attaching it.
posted by amtho at 9:50 PM on October 25, 2007