Feed: Indoors Cats Will Love to Climb If You Give Them - AggScore: 14.0

Indoors Cats Will Love to Climb If You Give Them Somewhere to Do So

---

Anyone who has a cat will tell you that they love to climb. All cats love to climb, just think of those images of lions sitting in trees in Africa. Why do cats love to climb and how can you cater to this if your cat is an indoors cat? Of course it's very difficult to know unless you can get into the mind of a cat however it's most likely that climbing is purely instinctual. There is no doubt that climbing a tree is a wonderful way for a cat to get away from a predator, and I have seen many instances of cats smirking at dogs below from the safety of a branch. It is a much safer place to sleep than on the ground. And of course the cat is a predator as well as prey, and cats will happily go straight up a tree if they can see something tasty in the branches like a bird. And they are particularly good at this at night when they are best able to catch many small nocturnal furry animals which live in our trees. For this reason experts recommend that cats be kept indoors at night, and preferably 24 hours a day. So if you do the right thing and keep your cat indoors 24 hours a day can you expect him to forget about his instinct to climb? No you can't. If he has nothing to climb then he will find something. Most commonly the back of your couch or your favourite curtains. It wouldn't be the first time that a homeowner has come home from work to find their favourite curtains together with the curtain rail in a heap on the floor after the cat has tried to climb the curtains. So if you have an indoors cat you have a little dilemma to solve. If you can't dissuade him from climbing what do you do? Luckily the answer is very simple. You buy him a piece of dedicated cat furniture which gives him a place to climb away to his heart's content, where he can find all sorts of nooks and crannies to investigate, where he can sleep in the branches and all of it is done without any damage to your furniture. It's called a cat tree. Sometimes you'll see it referred to as a cat tower or gym, but basically it's a piece of furniture designed specifically for him to climb and play on, where damage is immaterial. As you can see it's unrealistic to hope that your cat will forget about climbing. Simply buy him a good cat tree and he doesn't have to forget about climbing, and he won't be ruining your furniture or curtains. Peter has a website all about Cat Trees [1] where you can get more advice about finding great Cat Furniture [2] to keep your cat happy and healthy. [1] http://www.cattrees.com.au/ [2] http://www.cattrees.com.au/