Tabby Timeshare Help Needed

November 7, 2007 9:28 PM

I want to make some of those cat condos that have scratching posts, are covered in carpet, etc and am having trouble finding the round parts....

What I need to know is if you know where to get the round sections that are at least 24" in diameter. Carpet tubes are too small and barrels are too heavy. Is there some obvious answer to this that I can't process? Thanks.

posted by DeepFriedTwinkies to pets & animals (12 comments total)

Well, google for Fiber Drum, or Cardboard Drum and pick your seller. These are sometimes as big as barrels, but not heavy.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:31 PM on November 7, 2007

Sonotubes might be what you need.
posted by jet_silver at 9:36 PM on November 7, 2007

I hate to shill for a company, or be off-topic, but the cat trees from Armarkat are an incredible value and when you figure in your own labor and materials way cheaper than doing it oneself. They're like 1/10 the price of the crap you see at Petco. I am not affiliated with the company, just a happy customer.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 9:46 PM on November 7, 2007 [8 favorites]

Holy crap, Optimus - thank you for that link. I see a cool one for $38 and figured the great price would be ruined by shipping... 'til I saw "Free shipping in continental US"...

Those prices are absurdly cheap. Seriously. At PetSmart or PetCo a standard single scratching post could cost $38 unless it's one of the plastic/cardboard junk ones.
posted by twiggy at 10:53 PM on November 7, 2007

That sounds too good to be true, almost. The company's contact information is in NY, but the site's text (and design) is just slightly off from standard English -- not written by a native speaker. I'd want to know more than the site is telling me about where these are made, by whom, and out of what.

Then again, I just read about more Chinese-made toys being recalled (for containing a chemical that has a similar effect to the drug "ecstasy", I think - not good for kiddies).... maybe I'm being paranoid, but I've made cat furniture before and it took quite a while; these prices are a little scary...

On the other hand, they do look cool...
posted by amtho at 11:06 PM on November 7, 2007

That sounds too good to be true, almost. The company's contact information is in NY, but the site's text (and design) is just slightly off from standard English -- not written by a native speaker. I'd want to know more than the site is telling me about where these are made, by whom, and out of what.

Yeah, the site screams "shady deal ahead" but I think they are passing the web design savings onto the customer. They're made of plywood, carpet, glue, and screws. My cats are still alive after using it for a year. YMMV.

Incidentally - and pardon me for derailing the thread - I don't think it's so much that Armarkat's trees are cheap or too good to be true, but rather that the Petco/Petsmart ones are insanely expensive. $190 for this? I know for sure I sound like a shill now, but as far as I can tell going to one of the big box pet stores for cat furniture is just throwing away your money.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 11:52 PM on November 7, 2007

I am so buying that Armarkat for $38, unless you all deplete their inventory first.

To answer the question, though -- if you want to buy brick and mortar style, go to your local big box place and ask for building forms. They will probably be in the same area as bags of concrete and such.
posted by dhartung at 2:15 AM on November 8, 2007

A quick look at the site shows they have Canadian and German branches so there are at least two other languages their employees may speak. Instead of being vaguely suspicious why not Google for customer reviews?

Anyway, thank you, Optimus Chyme -- I think I might order one of these! The price of cat climby things has always held me back but these are surprisingly reasonable even with delivery charges.
posted by loiseau at 2:18 AM on November 8, 2007

Seconding Sonotubes.
posted by cocoagirl at 4:11 AM on November 8, 2007

I'm glad your cats are well. Workmanship/materials/my cat eventually getting cancer was one worry...

... but maybe more than that, I think about material costs, and the man-hours that go into making the materials, plus the man-hours that go into making the components themselves (I realize that there is assembly required once you receive the thing), and then deduct a few bucks that the company is spending on shipping... what kind of hourly pay rate can possibly go into the manufacture of these things?

Look, maybe they're quick to make, but my own (limited) experience indicates that attaching carpet to wood is a pain. Winding rope around poles is a pain. Both acts surprisingly time consuming. Then you've got all that cutting, measuring, etc. They have enough different models that economies of scale probably don't lead to them having rope-wrapping robots (say that three times fast!)...

It seems like a job ideally outsourced to somewhere excessively cheap, with little in the way of labor protections.

Do I know this for sure? Absolutely not. Is my ignorance comforting, and am I semi-idly eyeing a particular model for myself? Yes, I confess. I'm just saying: when new manufactured goods are made surprisingly cheap, something's gotta give.

[Sorry for the derail here. I'll stop now.]
posted by amtho at 4:44 AM on November 8, 2007

Sonotubes are hard to find in 24" sizes. You may be able to through a specialty concrete supplier, but the run-of-the-mill big box home despots only have up to 14" or so.

I think the cheapest way would be to form them yourself. Chloroplast is sort of a heavy plastic cardboard. It's cheap, less than $10/4'x8' sheet. It's dimentionally stable on one axis, but can be bent along the other. Cut forms for the ends of you bent/tubular section in plywood then cover with chloroplast. You may find that a double layer of chloroplast is necessary, but it's cheap stuff. You may also need reinforcing ribs (plywood rings would work) if you're spanning larger distances.

To cover, I find the best method is to paint with contact cement, then staple the edges using normal upholstery techniques: start in the middle, stretching the edge as you work to the corner of the fabric to avoid wrinkles.

Making your own cat furniture probably isn't going to be much cheaper than buying, especially given those prices at Armarkat (those are seriously excellent--thanks for the link!), but you do get exactly what you want. It's hard to find cat poles in something other than blah beige, which in my mind is reason enough to build your own.
posted by bonehead at 5:26 AM on November 8, 2007

Sonotubes are the answer, I just built one a couple months ago and it completely owns. Bonehead, that stuff is called "COREPLAST", chloroplasts are the stuff in plants that help them make energy from sunshine.

Recipe for my cattower follows:
1 sonotube, aka concrete tube from lowe's, home depot, whatever. Cost, like $7.
1 piece carpet remnant, should be less than $10 or free, mine was free.
2 tubes of liquid nails
some wood scraps
a plywood or OSB base and a circle cut to fit inside the top of the sonotube
about 10 screws

I set the tube on the osb base and traced it. Also cut 2 circles traced from the end of the tube, then cut one in half. Within that circle at 4 points I screwed in some pieces of wood. Cut an entrance hole towards the bottom of the tube, but not AT the bottom of the tube, maybe 2-3 inches up. Placed the tube over those pieces of wood and screwed into them from the side. Halfway up the tube I cut a circle, via a template I made from drawing a circle on paper then tracing it on the tube. Cut that out. Carpet the half circle. Place the half circle as a perch inside the hole in the tube and secure it to the sides with screws. Carpet the circular piece of wood. Place the whole circular piece of plywood/osb inside the top of the perch, down maybe 1/2 to an inch inside the top and secure with screws. Use the liquid nails to secure the carpet at all points. Lastly, liberally apply liquid nails to the exterior of the tube and wrap your carpet around it, being careful to cut it exactly right so as to not overlap. I actually did 2 wraps as my remnant was only 2 feet wide. Find the hole you cut out of the tube and cut it out of the carpet.

And...done. I can send pictures if you need. My kitty loves it, he rips up and down it, and it's tall---over 4 feet, and he loves to fly off it and assail the dogs and humans as we least expect it.
posted by TomMelee at 6:47 AM on November 8, 2007