Do You Cat Wall Shelves for Your Ragdoll Cat?

Charlie on Urban Pethaus Wave Perch
Charlie on Urban Pethaus Wave Perch

First published Jun 4, 2014 @ 08:08

A Floppycats reader wrote me recently and asked me about cat wall shelves, wanting to know: “about how far apart, how high and how wide to be safe for big Ragdolls.  I’ve seen really cute shelves for sale and they are always recommended by “My Cat from Hell” but if I want to make a cat wall, what do I really need to do?”

I didn’t know what to tell her, other than to suggest reaching out to the manufacturer and asking them.  There were too many factors in my opinion to consider:

  1. Walls and studs in my walls – where everything was located
  2. Cost of shelves and how many I was going to buy
  3. Manufacturer’s recommendations

But, she was more wondering, “how far apart for a cat to safely move and how wide, long for a ragdoll to take a good nap and not roll off.  I see all kinds of set ups, including some that go higher than I would be comfortable with.  At my parents’, there is a loft with a railing and our cat used to pull herself along on in.  One day we watched her actually roll right off.  Luckily big enough fall to do that cat turn over thing. She was fine.”

So do you have cat wall shelves?  What did you do and how did you do it?  Do you have photos you can share?  I would be happy to share your set up and your experience in a future blog post.

Below are two videos of our cat wall furniture we got and reviewed from Urban Pethaus.  I just followed the manufacturer’s instructions and eyeballed it as to where I wanted the shelves to go.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/O8MuB-DoIdA[/youtube]

[youtube]http://youtu.be/8xYDTCHj24c[/youtube]

If you are interested cat wall shelves you can buy them online:

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Hi, I’m Jenny Dean, creator of Floppycats! Ever since my Aunt got the first Ragdoll cat in our family, I have loved the breed. Inspired by my childhood Ragdoll cat, Rags, I created Floppycats to connect, share and inspire other Ragdoll cat lovers around the world,

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22 Comments

  1. Teresa Reid says:

    Love these but don’t have any YET! They have been on the wish list and it would have to be sometime when I can put nails in the wall myself because my husband has a breakdown when I begin to hammer ANYTHING in the wall. Don’t get me wrong, we have lots of photos up, but they just got there somehow! He he he! The ones I’ve been drooling over for my girls is here on Etsy:

    https://www.etsy.com/listing/223769138/wall-mounted-shelf-cat-furniture-cat-bed?ref=listing-shop-header-1

    1. Patti Johnson says:

      Wow! Those cat shelves are AWESOME, Teresa!!! 🙂 <3

  2. Veronica Thompson says:

    I would like to mention the importance of spacing the shelves far enough apart for a full grown ragdoll to climb up and down without hitting their back on the shelf above them. I installed gorgeous shelves in a climbing patternn. They were great for when I first got my Ragdoll kitten. I’ve had other full grown cats before but none of them were as long as my Ragdoll has gotten! Now that she’s 2, she’s VERY long and her back hits the shelves when she’s climbing.

  3. Patti Johnson says:

    Great repost, Jenny! I must have missed this one the first time around. Lurved the videos! Always enjoy hearing you speak Spanish. 🙂 <3

    Unfortunately, we don't have any cat shelves in our small apartment. Not that Miss Pink Sugarbelle would be interested in any as she's not much of a climber (like most of our previous kittehs). And…trying to hang schtuff on these apartment walls that bear a lot of weight is risky (even with a stud finder!)!

    Looking forward to any shared stories, though!

    Big hugs!

    Patti & Miss Pink Sugarbelle 🙂 <3

    1. i was watching my cat from hell last night and one of the homeowners had soooo many cat shelves. it was cool, but all i could think of was getting that ready for resale!

      1. Patti Johnson says:

        lol…so funny where our thoughts take us as we get older…plus, you have to clean/dust those shelves, too! Yikes! 🙂 <3

          1. Patti Johnson says:

            Of course! Speaking of Lily Brushes, Miss Pink Sugarbelle is in lurve with the smaller Lily Brush I have. She likes me to “groom” her with it…lol Hilariuos! 🙂 <3

          2. oh, how sweet is that? love it!

  4. I love these shelves but they are a bit pricy for me. I installed regular “invisible” shelves for my cats but now wondering if they are too steep and they don’t have carpet on them. I will have to revisit this project.

  5. It is really a nice cat 🙂

  6. Dementia Boy says:

    No camera, so no photos.

    I have cat shelves and/or catwalks in every room except the kitchen and bathrooms. They’re either homemade or custom-made of 2″ padded and carpeted pine. The shelves in the greenhouse/catio are slatted and not carpeted. They range in width from 16″ to 24″.

    The catwalks and stairs end three feet from the ceiling. The shelves are staggered – very important so that the cats can leap up or down without falling. Don’t place shelves directly beneath each other!! The cats can also leap from the shelves to trees, condos and gyms.

    I do not know whether my cats are tree dwellers by nature or nurture. William, my Ragdoll, would follow the other cats up the stairs to the catwalk and shelves, but he didn’t fly like the other cats did. He jumped and hopped.

  7. We have cat shelves! And we didn’t spend a ton of money, but we built them ourselves.

    I had seen an IKEA hack that I’d really liked (which you can see here: http://www.stilsucht.de/04/2013/unalibreria/), but it was a bookcase. However, it inspired me to do the same treatment with shelves.

    We did a set of 5 shelves that act as stepping shelves, and then we did 2 high up for Miso to lounge on. We used EKBY VALTER unfinished brackets in the 7 1/8″ size for the stepping shelves, and then the same bracket, but in the 11″ size for the lounging shelves. The shelves themselves are EKBY TRYGGVE. We bought 2 of the 31″ length and 1 of the 46″ length.

    My father-in-law cut the shelves for us and basically cut 3 shelves out of the shorter TRYGGVE planks (we ended up with 1 extra) and then he cut the longer TRYGGVE plank in half, giving us nice sized shelves for her to lounge on. I painted the brackets with acrylic paints and I still need to seal the wood planks and possibly put carpet on them, but Miso doesn’t seem to mind!

    You can see the finished product here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/flnppyyd5k191h9/20140605_124133.jpg

    10x EKBY VALTER (7 1/8″): $30
    4x EKBY VALTER (11″): $16
    2x EKBY TRYGGVE (31″): $8
    1x EKBY TRYGGVE (46″): $7
    Craft Paints: $15

    TOTAL: $76

  8. No, I don’t have any yet, but maybe some day. That said, my older Maine Coon, Mari, is the only one who really likes to get up high. Both Ragdolls, Grace and Illaria like being lower. I guess I could put up some that are low as well, but that kinda takes the purpose out of it here since they have a lot of places in this house upstairs and downstairs to go. Plus, I would have to do it when my husband was not home because he has an aversion to me driving nails in the wall – which I happily do when he is not home, he, he, he!!! He will come in and never notice a new photo until a month later and by then I just say, “oh THAT? It’s been up for a really long time!” I don’t know if I could get away with hanging a cat shelf though, so…….♥

  9. I just ordered some really neat stuff off of Etsy. I just did a search for cat shelves and tons came up. I ordered several different kinds and am going to put them in my home office. I have a ragdoll and a Siamese mix so do not want to go to high. That being said my ragdoll Neko goes almost to the ceiling on my cat towers and never jumps from the top. I will post a picture when it is done.

  10. I’ve been researching DIY floating shelves for a little while and I’m trying to figure out the best way to do it. I don’t want big funky brackets hanging on the walls holding up unfinished plywood or MDF. The manufactured ones are, to me, cost prohibitive for what they are. Some are really really nice, but for the sizes I’d want, I’d have close to $500 tied up in shelves…not that high of a priority for me. I echo Sheila’s experience. Our cats have pretty much free reign over where they can go, explore, and lounge (kitchen counters and dining room table are strictly off-limits). We have a cat tree they both use and wide window ledges, etc. It’s not like we don’t provide a cat friendly environment for them. I’ll get them some cool shelves to climb on, but not to the tune of $500.

  11. i don’t have any.. yet but i know people that have elaborate sheleves and perches and walkways up high for their cats. i think they are awesome. one woman i know that has 19.. yes 19 indoor cats (yes she has a big house and no it doesn’t smell like cat pee) and she has the coolest shelves for her cats and they go all over the house. she did all the work herself. some are skinny, some are platforms for them to sleep on, some are walk ways. she just got wood and painted them all different colors, some she padded, put carpet on, made scratchies. i think if you are crafty and have some basic knowledge about hanging any kind of weight bearing shelve you could do it. cats are very agile and i don’t think that space apart and all that really matters that much. of course you don’t want them so far apart that the cat has to back up and run to get to the next one but i don’t think it’s that big of a deal.

  12. Ha ha. This is funny (to me anyway). Mew Mew is first and foremost a “cat”. A cat who cost me more money than all the pets I adopted. And I love her like crazy, as she is now my only pet, and probably my last. But…shelves? Expensive furniture?
    She goes whereever she wants…couch…windows, coffee table, book shelves, on top of the unit that holds my TV and other stuff…right between the cable box and the VCR box…nice and cosy. My dresser, my night tables, more windows..I have wide sills, the bathroom mat…under the bed for quite time…of course my bed, sometimes the bathtub, on top of this lap top, under things, over things, under me, over me, and all around me. I do not have furniture…I have a cat who lets me live here.

  13. Unfortunately, I can’t be much of a help here, because 1: I don’t have any cat shelves, and 2: I don’t have info on that kind of stuff. However, I recommend researching about the kind you have and maybe you’ll find some info on that, or if I were you I’d just experiment with it; you can only truly find out that way! Good luck.

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