Felt Cat House with Scratcher Roof

She sleeps under the bed and scratches the sofa arm, and neither spot was your idea. Cats want a private place to sleep, something they're allowed to claw, and a perch to watch the room from. One house can be all of it.

This felt cat house is three things in one shape: the cave is the retreat, the sloped roof is the scratching board, and the top is the lookout. It's the scratching roof that gets the sofa left alone.

Three jobs, one footprint:

• Sloped scratching roof: a surface she's allowed to work her claws on, at the angle she already uses on the sofa arm
• Enclosed cave: walls, a roof and one triangular doorway, which is the shape cats pick for themselves
• Perch on top: reinforced panels take a cat landing and sitting up there
• Snap-in buckles: together in a minute, apart in a minute, no tools
• Three colors: green, blue or gray, so it reads as furniture rather than pet gear

High-density felt, safe and odorless. The panels are thick pressed felt that holds its shape rather than sagging, takes daily scratching and climbing, and stays soft on the inside for sleeping.

Sleep inside, watch from the roof. The triangular doorway is small enough to feel like a hiding place and wide enough to see out of, the combination cats settle into. From the top she gets the height most of them prefer.

It comes apart to clean. Unsnap the buckles, brush or wipe the panels, let them dry and snap it back together. Nothing to unzip, nothing to wash and reshape.

The roof is meant to wear down. A scratching surface that never marks is one a cat has decided not to use. The felt roof will show claw tracks after a few weeks. That's the sofa arm being left alone, somewhere you don't mind.

Getting the size right

One size in three colors: 18.1 x 15 x 15 in (46 x 38 x 38 cm). That's roughly the width of a sofa cushion, big enough for an adult cat to turn around inside.

It's low enough to sit beside a couch without blocking the room. Two cats will use it in turn rather than together.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 18.1 x 15 x 15 in (46 x 38 x 38 cm)
• Material: high-density felt, safe and odorless
• Assembly: snap-in buckles, tool-free, comes apart to clean
• Colors: Green, Blue, Gray
• Suitable for: cats of all breeds and sizes
• Use: indoor only

Safety note: Check the buckles are fully snapped before a cat climbs on the roof, and put it against a wall rather than in open floor space. Replace it once the roof is clawed through rather than leaving loose felt fibers a cat can swallow.

Set it against the wall beside the sofa she has been working on, and she gets somewhere to hide, scratch and sit above it all in the space one cat bed would have taken.