Cat Tree: A Product Review

In order to improve my rambunctious cat's behavior, I decided to buy him his very own piece of furniture, a cat tree. I hoped that the tree would encourage him to climb, scratch, and sleep there instead of on my furniture, as well as give him a comfortable view out the window. For the most part, this plan has worked perfectly. He's constantly in his tree. So in this sense, I'm very pleased with my purchase. I am a little disappointed, however, with the product I chose.

After a long online search, I chose the Amusement Park from Drs. Foster and Smith. I chose this particular one for various reasons. Among them, the company's long list of reasons why their product is superior to all the others. Others included the color choices, the mix of sisal and carpeted poles, and the general design and layout of the piece. It was just the size I was looking for. Not too big and bulky for my apartment, but still enough levels and features to provide some interest.

For the price, and how big a deal Drs. Foster and Smith make about their superiority, I found this product a little disappointing. The seams in the carpet are extremely obvious and thin. Plasticy carpet strings were hanging everywhere after assembly and took a good 5 minutes of trimming to get it looking presentable. And as the cat scratches certain places more strings appear. Also, with the scratching, there are small pieces of carpet everywhere. The included breakaway toy is nice and the breakaway definitely is safer for kitty, but at 5 lbs, it's not very fun for larger kitties. Mine takes about 45 seconds before it is on the floor and another minute before it is under the couch. And you have to attach the toy to the breakaway snap with a string you tie yourself and I'm a bit skeptical about my knotting abilities.

All of these things were only minorly annoying. I did get the tree on sale ($150 I think) so I was willing to deal with a few minor annoyances. Over the last week though, I have been noticing that the whole tree is crooked and wobbling terribly. So tonight, I spent ten minutes tightening all the legs and the bolts on the bottom. It is self assembly, but I was still shocked at the amount it loosened up in just six weeks. Two of the bolts were so loose I could actually turn them by hand. If I have to do this every 6 weeks, it's going to get mega annoying.

In contrast, my parents bought a smaller $75 cat tree from Petsmart (I couldn't find it on their website, but I know they have it in the store). They've had it for three years with absolutely none of the problems mentioned and, in fact, bought a second one which they've had for two years. Both still look as good as the day they were purchased and have never been tightened.

Overall, the Amusement Park is ok. But I wish I had saved the $75 and bought the more generic, but better quality Petsmart model.