Houses suitable for cats

Cat friendly house

There are so many - millions - of people today in Italy and around the world that are sharing their home with one or more cat.
Straight tails, stroking, playing, purring and mewing: there are countless advantages of owning a cat. But how to equip our house cat friendly, without neglecting the aesthetic?

Fortunately, today you can, because some companies have also thought about the needs of lovers of both cats and design, creating a series of significantly innovative products.

Gyms for cats

First, you need to equip a space in which your cat can do all the exercise of which it constantly needs to maintain good health: for those who have their own garden, perhaps with trees and stone walls, this is hardly a problem, but for those who live in an apartment it may be more complicated.

However, the Company HabiCat studied a series of gyms for apartment, consisting of vertical or horizontal structures, and equipped with shelves at different heights, steps, holes, baskets and Scratching Pads. The materials are non-toxic and natural (birch plywood and sisal fibers extracted from agave), while the finishes are specifically designed to withstand teeth and sharp nails.

The catalog includes several models, including for example:
- The gym Gattacielo, freely inspired by the Palace of the Civilization of Labor (built in the 30s and is still visible in the EUR in Rome), has dimensions of 45x45x156 cm and includes a series of shelves stacked reached through a series inner holes;
- The gym Cattush 2 (dimensions 60x80x195 cm), complete with kennel integrated into the base;
- The gym Maya, formed by a series of modular elements in the shape of cube into six possible dimensions (including between 33 and 48 inches on each side), assembled at pleasure in many different ways and supplied Scratching Pads, connecting walkways and holes of various shapes and sizes.

The joinery of Giovanni Ceria proposes instead the line Cat Wood Design, whose flagship product is composed of a series of modular cubes from the wall, with geometric decorations (circles, squares and triangles) or feline themed and customized at will in relations to dimensions, colors and any provision of a tailor-made cushion inside. Realized also in this case with birch plywood, painted with non-toxic and free of visible screws or other components sharp or pointed, these elements shall be hung (in groups or individually) to the wall with special plugs, able to withstand a load of as much as 20 kg (and therefore sufficient to permit its use absolutely safe even for giant Maine Coon and Norwegian Forest).

Design for human and feline

There is also a series of furniture arranged to be used simultaneously by humans and felines.

The Korean designer Seungij Mun - big animal lover - is in fact improving the sofa Cat Sofa Tunnel, backrest equipped with a built-in tunnel, which will surely be very pleasing to cats as the playing field (in fact any cat likes to hide and ambush).

The members of a collective of art, photography and design company based in Taipei (Taiwan) have instead created a wall system provided with shelves for storing books and other objects, and ramps and a real tree trunk just blank and debarked: humans will appreciate this bookcase on the entire wall, while cats can roam freely among the various levels (connected by ramps, not to clutter of objects to allow the use feline) or climb and make the nails on the trunk.

The designer Ruan Hao (Chinese group LYCS Architecture) proposes the CATable, a desk specially designed for those who study and work at home, but do not want to be deprived of the company of their cat: being in fact equipped with alcoves, tunnels and hidden layers, thanks to this piece of furniture while the human plays quietly their activities, the cat will be able to explore new ways every day, and maybe ambush sneak in a hand that leans recklessly ...

Solutions do-it-yourself

If, however, grown more ambitious projects (or have a lot of cats), by relying on an architect specializing in interior design, you can get a whole apartment suitable for cats.

In this case, the idea is to create an environment on two superimposed levels, exploiting the space also in height: on the ground floor (ie at the level of the floor) will place the normal human furniture, while the first floor (ie the space more near the ceiling) will be equipped with small bridges and walkways, so that the cats can rest peacefully, wander around and above dominate the environment to your complete pleasure. Some points of the walls could instead be equipped with small stairs, ramps and perches wood, or with a series of shelves to increase heights, to allow access to the catwalks causeways. Small tunnel, Scratching Pads, axes of balance and baskets suspended complement the very well together.

In this way, the overall style of the house will be very young and special, and playing on the choice of colors and decorative motifs (perhaps a feline theme, such as fingerprints, fish bones or silhouette of our little tigers) will also be possible to obtain solutions are absolutely unique.