Faux fabric or carpet material? Which do you and kitties prefer? Getting ready to buy a tree. The faux fabric is cheaper, and visually looks better, but wondering if carpet is more enjoyable for cats?

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"At the end of the day, you can focus on what's tearing you apart,... or what's keeping you together."

I have a bunch of different trees and surfaces, and I honestly haven't seen any pattern of like/dislike based on the material. What I think is that they really like sisal rope for the climbing poles, but as far as the horizontal play/sleeping surfaces, I think their preference is much more about height and location (location, location) than it is material. It's difficult to know for sure, but that's my $0.02.

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The little monsters 3

Carpet is harder wearing, and faux fabric needs to be glued more thoroughly or it can split / stretch!
Depends what you are putting it on - ladders would need good gluing of faux, and platforms would benefit from carpet. Mix and match then you can ensure the areas due for a hammering are harder wearing!

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XXX RIP My Beloved Merlin XXX
30/01/2000 to 28/03/2017.
GONE TOO SOON.

Mummy to Morgana - Merlins Legacy of Love

Carpet is easier for Quasar to grip and climb on. It took a long time after getting our faux fur covered tree before he learned how to manage himself on it and not slide off when jumping on it during active play. He still prefers the carpet covered one.

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~ Kyenta

All my cat trees have carpet.

My two like to climb up the sisal or carpet covered poles. They will sleep on either carpet or faux, but definitely prefer the climbing parts to be carpet or sisal. There is one faux-covered pole on our tree and they avoid it - guess they can't get a good enough grip on it. Maybe....

Thanks for all the advice!
http://www.armarkat.com/products/Classi ... A7802.html

This is the tree I have decided to go with! It was between this, and another larger one, but the reviews on this one were much better! I cannot wait for it to arrive to surprise the kitties with!

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"At the end of the day, you can focus on what's tearing you apart,... or what's keeping you together."

That looks like similar material to mine and the faux fur cleans up very, very nicely with the vacuum, far faster and more cleanly than any of the carpet ones I have had.

This is almost the same one I have actually...

http://www.armarkat.com/products/Classic-Cat-Tree-B7701.html

But mine is dark blue. It was a large, heavy box but easy to put together! I am sure your kitties will love it!

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Bri

It looks nice except for one thing: How does the cat get down from that high perch without a "crash landing?"

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The little monsters 3

Haha great point. I will have to put a table somewhere near it in jumping reach so the chances to aim for the floor will be lessened. I plan to put it in a corner for more stability. Perhaps I will share a few photos. I am very excited, it's the first large kitty climbing tree they will own. The ones currently in the house are only just about 3 feet high, quite the difference!

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"At the end of the day, you can focus on what's tearing you apart,... or what's keeping you together."

A very good point Brian.

I have been following Thrones on Instagram who suffered a broken hind leg falling/jumping from a 6ft high cat tree only this week. It hadn't occurred to me that this could happen to a cat, but is a wake up call to us all.

http://instagram.com/thronesthesavannah

His accident was on 4th Feb. Please read his story.


Heather

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Thanks for sharing. Will keep in kind. My cats get up I top of my kitchen cupboards with a 6 foot jump up, and down, always makes me nervous. This Definitely make me more attentive to how the tree will be positioned.

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"At the end of the day, you can focus on what's tearing you apart,... or what's keeping you together."

Yep, that's the reason I mention it. The first cat tree I ever bought was this tree that had a single, high pole and a little rectangular "house" on top. My cats (adult moggies, several years old) loved it of course, and would sleep up there all the time, often one on top of the rectangular "house" and the other inside it. But because it was just a single pole, the only way down to was jump down about 6' from the top with a really loud "thud" (or as I now call it, a "crash landing"). It was ok for awhile, but then came a few times when they "landed wrong" and would get a limp from it, causing me to do what Selbencke said, and place something else tall next to it. It's also now the first thing I look for when buying a tree. I look for a "path down" without the crash landing.

Another thing to consider is that trees last a very long time, and your cat will not always be young and spry. One thing I learned is that old cats love trees just as much as young cats, maybe more! But they obviously don't have the possibility of doing such a crash landing. It'll work out. Congrats on getting your tree, that will be huge for your cat, believe me. You just have to put the tree in a good place for your cat, and part of that is giving him a way down.

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The little monsters 3