I don't know how many of you have cats but at some point in time you may have bought them one of those cat trees with the carpet on the outside and the little round support posts wrapped with the rope. The pieces screw into each to make a series of levels that can be quite elaborate and tall.
The cats in my household seem to enjoy the cat tree. They can be found lounging on the different levels throughout the day. The cats can be rambunctious and race up and down the levels vigorously which causes the tree to sway. On bottom level I have place several 20-pound containers of kitty litter to help stabilize the structure.
The problem is that over time of steady use the connectors in the posts start to give way and the sway gets worse to the point of scary. I had to do away with the top level that sat on a single post because it was wobbling badly and I couldn’t tighten it. When I took it apart, I saw that the nut was embedded in a thin plastic end cap and that the plastic was cracking. I tried a couple of different ways to reinforce the nut and nothing really fixed the problem.
Over the last couple of weeks, I notice the second level of the cat tree was really starting to sway, so I tried tightening the various pieces. It helped a little for about a week and then it started swaying again. I was really considering replacing the cat tree but they are not cheap. The price for something decent can cost over $100 USD.
Then I decided to try one more thing. I had a left-over piece of flat wood molding that was about 46 inches long and 1 ¼ inches wide. I pre-drilled the holes and used wood screws to attached the wood to the side of the cat tree hoping it would act as a brace. I held my breath the first time one of the cats ran up the tree. It worked! The cat tree is stable and the cats are happy.
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