About 9 months ago I had to euthanize my last cat. It was very difficult and I needed to take some time before I brought another kitty into my house. Once I decided it was time I had to get ready for our new roommate.
Here are some basic instructions for the cat tower I decided to make so my cat would have a place to retreat to when the world got a little crazy or the grandkids came over.
I had never done anything like this before, I got some ideas from the internet and then decided to just wing it from there. It definitely isn’t fine woodworking but my new cat is just fine with it.
Here’s the finished tower.

Finished Cat Tower
Cat Tower Materials:
3/4″ OSB, 2″ PVC piping, 2″ wood dowel, sisal rope and 2 part epoxy.
I used the OSB for the 3 shelves (bottom, middle and top)
The bottom and middle are 24″ x 24″ and the top is 24″ x 18″.

cat tower materials
I then created the box that has 2 sections with 3 entry points. My intention is to get a 2nd cat eventually.
The box is 24″ high and 18″ x 18″ square.
I first cut the 4 sides, then marked the placement of the 2 holes in 3 of the 4 sides.

marking the holes and drilling a starter hole for the jigsaw
I then cut 2 holes, using a jigsaw, into 3 of the 4 sides

Cutting the holes with a jigsaw

4 sides of box
I then assembled the box using triangle pieces cut from scrap 1 x 4 placed in the middle of the sides to provide the base of the upper box.

Placing corner braces to support upper box base.

Corner braces and 2 sides attached

Corner braces and 3 sides attached
I cut the shelves to size and cut off the corners.

Box with top and bottom and 2 supports.
I used 24″ long 2″ diameter PVC pipes for the support posts. I glued 6″ lengths of wood dowels into the ends to have something to screw into when attaching to the shelves. I then wound sisal rope around the PVC for the cats to use as scratching posts.

Gluing wood dowels

Inserting dowels into PVC

Covering posts with sisal rope
I then covered everything with carpet that I found at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for under $15.

covering base with carpet

Base covered with carpet
Then I assembled all together.

Finished Cat Tower
Hi, Judy
I am so sorry. I was saddened to hear the news of your cat – it’s never easy, is it? But, then tickled to read about the building of your ‘cat tower’ for your new kitten. What a lucky kitten. Best of summer to you.
Tomiko Takeda
Tomiko,
It is so nice to hear from you. Thanks for the kind words. My new kitten “Tonks” is just the sweetest soul. I am luck to have her. It was a fun project. I have a few things I would do differently if I were creating the tower again. I’ll have to do another blog post about those.
I hope your summer is going well.