New Cat Condos: Make Your Cat Happy While Decorating Your Home
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Cat trees, or as some like to call them, new cat condos, aren't just about pleasuring your felines. These structures are often essential in a house, especially if several animals live there. They are also used as a solution in the treatment of several behavioral problems, such as aggression between cats, urine marking, and even generalized anxiety. But how can a simple cat tree be so beneficial?
New Cat Condos: Cats seek height
You have certainly noticed that your cat is always trying to climb everywhere. Whether on the kitchen table, the armchair, the bookcase, the top of the cupboards, or the fridge, he likes to be high up. Height is one of the aspects that define the life of a cat. In nature, the cat is at the center of the food pyramid, meaning he is both a predator and prey. Perched high up, he can monitor its territory to identify potential prey and a dangerous predator. In addition, as many of his predators cannot climb trees, the cat feels safe when it is high up.
Although he doesn't have to worry about hunting prey or protecting himself from a predator in your home, your cat's instinct tells him to stand high up to better monitor potential dangers. If you have a dog who shares the territory with him, he will be happy that you install new cat condos in the main rooms of the house to secure him. He will know that he can take refuge there if necessary, whether he is afraid or needs peace, knowing that the dog cannot reach him very well. You will have a less anxious cat who enjoys walking around the house, wherever he wants. Also, a nervous or fearful animal could consider the cat tree as a safe place that allows him to see coming what he perceives as dangerous for him.
Your Little Kitty is Both Predator and Prey
The fact that your cat is both predator and prey is not the only reason why he likes to be perched high up. In an environment where several felines coexist, the dominant cat will most of the time seek to appropriate the highest height in a room (provided that its physical condition and age allow it). The second cat in the dominance scale will take the next height. If there aren't enough height increments available for all of your cats, they may have to fight or bully each other for a given territory.
The new cat condos, therefore, become particularly important when several cats share the same territory, for example, in a small apartment, because it then makes it possible to enlarge the territory in height considerably. This gives each cat the chance to occupy its landing. You will then see the altercations and fights between your cats decrease significantly.
Best Cat Condos For Your Cat
Choosing The Right New cat condos
Now that you understand the importance of new cat condos for your cats, it is essential to choose them well to ensure that it meets their needs. How to do it? The first quality of a cat tree is its height. The higher it is, the better your cat will be able to monitor his territory. In addition, since large cat trees have several levels, several cats can occupy them depending on their rank on the dominance scale.
The best cat trees also offer different options or paths to reach the top tier. A good model will therefore allow a cat to reach the upper level, even if a cat occupies a lower level, without having to dislodge or disturb him, thus avoiding unnecessary altercations.
The stability of the cat tree is also a sought-after quality. A cat must feel safe there and know that if he has to run away, the cat tree will not fall on him. Therefore, it is necessary to look for a base large enough to allow the structure of the tree to be well supported. Also, wooden cat trees and cat condos are advantageous becase they are less likely to fall.
Many cat trees also have posts covered in rope, which allows your cats to scratch. By choosing this type of structure, you will also have a scratching post that your cat will particularly like. Your tree will therefore fulfill two functions!
Find the right place for new cat condos
Once you have acquired your cat's new cat condos, they must be placed in the right place so that it plays its role effectively. It must be placed in such a way as to offer your felines the best overview of the room with a view of its entrance. Windows and patio doors are always popular locations because they allow cats to observe what's going on outside.
In fact, by placing your cat tree in front of a window or patio door, you may even be able to solve problems with urine marking or redirected aggression caused by your cat's frustration at seeing a cat outside. Your pet, being up high, will feel in control of the situation.
Get your cats used to their new cat condos by placing a little catnip on the different levels and placing their food at the foot of the tree or even on one of the levels. If a cat tree remains unused for more than five days, you have not found the right place for your cats to adopt it. Change it around until it is used.
To sum up, if you have several animals in the house or your cats are always looking for height or are anxious, the cat tree could represent a gift that your whole family will appreciate: your cats, dogs, and yourself!
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