Great Cat Tower Deal

I just got this new cat tower for my kitty, who is named Katrina. I think it's a great deal and every cat owner should know about it. Please note that I do not receive any commission on the sales of this product (I do receive money if you click on the ads next to this article).

I have seen some cat towers that cost over $200.The Frisco 72-inch cat tree is six feet tall, yet it is available on Chewy.com for only $66 (As of 12/29/18). Since I'm thrifty (some would say cheap), this looked like an excellent deal. I read through the reviews, which averaged an impressive 4.9 out of 5 stars. The only complaint I found was that the two mice that are attached to the second level platforms sometimes came off. I didn't expect that Katrina would be that interested in them anyway. She seems to prefer playing with string rather than mice.

Chewy.com offered free 2-day shipping, so the only additional cost for me was the Indiana sales tax. It arrived the day before Christmas, and I put it together the day after Christmas.

Before you order this cat tower, make sure that it will fit in your living space. The base is 24 inches wide and 22 inches deep. There is a lower ramp to the floor that sticks out an additional 10 inches on one side, and a platform that sticks out 5 inches on the other side, making a total width of 39 inches. If you're tight on space, I think you can leave the lower ramp off to reduce the tower's width to 29 inches. The tower is six feet tall.

The tower has a variety of features to entertain any cat. These include:

• 3 platforms at the top for kitty to sleep or sit on.
• A mouse on a bungee string under the two lower platforms to play with.
• There are two boxes, each with two arched openings. The lower one is larger, measuring 12 by 20 inches, and 12 inches tall. The higher one is 12 by 12 inches and 10 inches tall.
• For scratching there are two ramps and 10 posts
• There is a piece of rope and a ball on a bungee string for additional play

Assembling the cat tower took me about an hour. There were no written instructions, just diagrams. All the pieces are numbered, so it was fairly straightforward. I did run into a few issues:

• On the first level above the base, the platform needs to be assembled so that the longer end sticks out from the center of the tower. Initially I had it inward which leaves a gap where a cat could get stuck.
• On the smaller, upper box, it was a little tricky inserting a bolt. I had to line up the bolt to go through the bottom of the box, the platform and into the corner post. It took me a while to get them all lined up so I could tighten the bolt.
• In the photo, it shows all of the platforms at the top with there openings (the little angled cuts without a railing) oriented in the same direction. I decided that the openings should all point toward the center of the tower

One thing that I would recommend before beginning assembly is to get a piece of paper, write down the appropriate letters for each piece of hardware, and put the pieces next to the proper letter. The bolts can get a little confusing as you go through the assembly process, since there are several sizes.

All tools necessary for assembly are included. All the holes are pre-drilled, and there are two allen wrenches to tighten all the bolts..

Optional hardware is included to attach the tower to a wall. Since I have only one cat and she's just a little over ten pounds, I decided not to use it. If you are concerned about toppling, there is also a Frisco cat tree just like this one except it has a larger base. On Chewy.com it's only six dollars more, Whatever you do, don't wind up like the guy in the video below, The interesting action doesn't start until around the 50 second mark. Fortunately, no cats were injured.

After three days of use, here's what Katrina thinks:

• She loves playing with the mice!
• The rope and the ball on the bungee string don't seem to interest her.
• She likes sleeping on one of the second level platforms rather than the top one.
• She has slept in the larger box but not the smaller one.
• I haven't seen her scratch on any of the posts or the ramps.

So far, the mice have held up just fine, and Katrina has been pretty rough with them.