Andy's DIY Tomcat...

We’ve received an email with some very useful tips & info on making a DIY Tomcat so wanted to share this with our readers - Andy who is based near Raleigh, North Carolina in the USA, loves our products but decided to make his own version of our Tomcat to avoid the dreaded shipping costs & his DIY piece looks fantastic.

Andy used 48” long 12” diameter tube formers for the structure & a basket type weave rug for the external finish, which Brim (Andy’s cat) has no issues in climbing up but is a bit tentative climbing down, which is pretty normal for most types of carpet while cats are finding their feet - the internal surface has been lined with carpet tiles but Andy has said these didn’t stick to the tube in places so had to be bonded with extra adhesive.

The unit has internal climb-through shelves that are also covered in carpet tiles - the wall fixing uses a simple L-shaped steel brackets fixed to the underside of the wooden mount.

The cost of materials was around $275 (£215) but Andy did have to purchase a couple of tools to help with the fabrication process - it took a couple of weekends to create, around 15 hours in total excluding the purchasing of materials & planning.

Hicat®December 16, 2023