I’m not a cat, but I’m pretty sure those carpeted towers and tree condos with plush houses and scratching posts are akin to million-dollar listings in the feline world. They’re living proof a fat cat has arrived. Mount a tiny plasma on the wall, insert a dish of tuna, and it’s a five-star hotel, baby.
But in the design world, those hideous towers are strictly for the birds…and the fleas. I hate to be a snob, but they are just so tacky in certain rooms, even if they delight your kitty.
My Audrey, a brilliant 15-year-old tabby, will be content with any prop I stick near a sunny window. So why should the mod urban dweller settle for a ratty hideaway on a stick?
The green pet market is growing new contemporary options for our precious kitties. See if these don’t make ya purrrrr!
The Hepper Podium Pet Bed, $135, comes in four crazy shades at Muttropolis including green, earth, herringbone (pictured here) and pink. Constructed of friendly fleece and molded foam, it even holds fat cats up to 50 pounds. I wouldn’t mind stationing one of these raised beds in my house one bit, even in my bedroom, where Audrey could laze by the window for hours supervising PG&E workmen down below.
A similar design forged of recycled, industrial strength corrugated cardboard (the latest material in groovy green cat structures), the egg-shaped Kitty Pod is up there in price ($330) at Modern Tails but so clean in its design you could use it to toss a salad at the table. Audrey would dig the maple x-shaped base.
Another cool cardboard cut out, the Prrrounge from The Sophisticated Cat is $335 and a stand out for its Bauhaus chic and claw-friendly form.
At My Cat’s Heaven, a modern take on the condo tree is available in chocolate or white in the form of the Lotus, a sleek and organic design made of medium density fiber board (MDF) with a protective finish.
Other soon-to-be released options are the Everest cat perch and Catemporary Cat Tower and Cat Shelf from The Refined Feline. The shelves (of which not everyone is clawing to get their mitts on) can be mounted on the wall so your cat can work off some poundage while leaping to and from her modern abode. And jet-setting furballs can take up residence in their very own modernist cube rooms – for a hair raising price of $600 (shown at top).
