THE CATSLE

Natsuko and I were checking out some of the local pet supply stores a few weeks ago. Specifically looking at all the large carpeted cat perches. They're very expensive and most of them don't blend in with the rest of the furniture in your house. We have a very well used one at home right now and it's pretty ugly to look at :(

This got me thinking... I should try and build one of these things ! I could probably make it for less money, and hopefully build something that looks half decent.

The only problem, was that I'm completely useless with tools... So I gave my Dad a call!

My father is a GREAT craftsman and always loves a project ! So I talked it over with him, and I drew up some simple sketch designs. And then I built a mini prototype !





We headed over to Home Depot and bought a car load of Pine wood. And then over the past few weeks we assembled it. My Dad has a big garage, so we put it together at his place. Lucky for us, his neighbour had a skill saw that we borrowed for free. We cut out the holes, and attached the inner shelves. There is three shelves inside the unit to allow for the cats to climb up to the top. My father did most of the sanding, and then the two of us stained it with eco friendly non toxic stain.

That's another thing about the expensive carpeted perches... they're all destined to end up as landfill, and they're wrapped in carpet ! We wanted to build something that if we ever decide to get rid of it, we can easily take a few screws out and reuse the wood.

My parents neighbours saw us working on it and were all very curious. One of them even stopped by and asked my Dad what it was. She said that they'd watched me looking at it, and heard me shout "THIS IS AWESOME!"

So they just had to know... "What's awesome ?!!? What is it ?!?!"

This thing IS awesome for a couple of reasons. It was an idea I came up with and I was passionate about. It was something my father and I made together and had a great time building it. He was really passionate about it too.

Most importantly, our two cats love it ! A few minutes after I brought it home, the cats were playing on it.

We had a few different silly names for this thing, but my friend Jason Hopkins came up with the best one. THE CATSLE.

Before that it was the BEADLE & SON CATBOX SPECTACULAR.

Check out some photos I took documenting the process, plus a few videos of the cats playing with their new indoor home HERE.



your pal,
Beadle