Image by Andrew Marttila. This submit accommodates affiliate hyperlinks along with Amazon Affiliate hyperlinks*
Proper right here’s a pleasing DIY Ikea hack that we made recently for The Kitten Woman herself, Hannah Shaw for her new kitten nursery! Hannah is a whole dynamo animal rescue guru, specializing in neo-natal kitten rescue. For many who ever need to know one thing about bottle feeding and caring for kittens, you need to go to her website KittenLady.org and her YouTube channel the place you may see every helpful useful resource it’s advisable help save these helpful little lives, which can be typically disregarded throughout the shelter system on account of they require so much care. Hannah is influencing a whole new expertise of cat lovers and I’m thrilled to have been ready to help her with this mission!
Hannah and her boyfriend Andrew Martilla recently moved from the east coast to Southern California and they also wanted to set-up the ultimate phrase kitten nursery of their new residence, so I helped by designing this custom kitten climber using some straightforward provides and just a little bit creativity. I’m going to share the small print of how we created this kitten jungle well being membership so anyone who must assemble their very personal can see how we did it.
I started with two main picket youngster altering tables from Ikea. One amongst our aims was to supply the kittens a method to look out the window, and the altering tables are the fitting peak. Sadly, this particular model is on once more order at Ikea, nonetheless fortuitously I was able to find a pair on OfferUp. On a regular basis confirm OfferUp and Craig’s Document for points that you need to use for DIY catification initiatives! You under no circumstances know what you may see and it’s typically a reduction!
The trickiest components of this mission, and the weather that required primarily essentially the most expertise, have been the custom-made ramps that we constructed so the kittens could merely attain the upper ranges of the altering tables. My husband, Mark, is a luthier so he has all the talents (and devices!) for a mission like this. After heading to the home enchancment retailer to choose some boards, Mark set to work setting up the ramps, which match utterly over the perimeters of the altering desk. The ramps are easy to remove for cleaning, plus they make a unbelievable “runway” for the kittens!
The following job was to paint and seal every the ramps and the altering tables. We used good top quality indoor paint so it may very well be safe for the little ones, nursery paint is an excellent chance. Hannah wanted a color pallet of sunshine yellow, aqua, tender pink and gray for her nursery so it may have a cultured however “babyish” actually really feel.
We moreover sealed the entire piece using a variety of coats of water-based polyurethane so it might be totally sanitized between litters of kittens with a function to forestall the swap of any germs. This was one different truly important goal in designing the kitten climber, all of the items must be washed and sanitized generally, plus it should be sturdy adequate to withstand use by a variety of energetic kittens.
Sooner than sealing the picket with the polyurethane, I added some custom-made vinyl decals. I had these decals made just for this mission nonetheless you may discover each form of cute vinyl cat-themed decals on Etsy. That’s the half the place you’re going to get truly creative and make one factor utterly distinctive! Have pleasing with it!
Subsequent obtained right here my favorite half, a go to to the fabric retailer! I found so many unbelievable cat prints in tender fleece I couldn’t think about it! And they also have been all throughout the color pallet, glorious for a nursery. I set to work making pads for the altering tables, plus I made hammocks for beneath the underside stage of the altering tables. I used extra thick batting throughout the pads in order that they may be cozy for the kittens to nap on and I sewed the batting in place so it obtained’t slip spherical all through washing. These are every fairly easy initiatives that anyone with a sewing machine may make.
The finished climber fits utterly under the window and the second we let the kittens into the room to investigate their new jungle well being membership they beloved it!
As you’ll see, we added a non-slip flooring to every ramps to cease slipping and allow the kittens to climb up merely. I used the outdoor carpet from Dwelling Depot, which is obtainable in pre-cut gadgets or on a roll that you could have scale back to measurement. It’s low-cost and easy to cut, plus it doesn’t fray on the perimeters. Use double-sided carpet tape to hold the carpet in place, which helps you to merely pull up the carpet and substitute it as wished. It moreover makes an superior scratching flooring!
Proper right here’s Hannah’s foster kitten, Jumbo Slice, exploring the tender fleece pads. Check out that tail!
Listed below are the hammocks in place beneath the altering tables. I added woven straps on the corners of the fleece hammocks that hook up with the legs with metal carabiners and eye hooks. They’re easy to remove and may very well be tossed throughout the washer and dryer, merely deliberate to take away the hooks sooner than washing.
As a of entirety we added have been some hanging toys beneath the prolonged ramp. These could be discovered from the Hauspanther on-line retailer or you may also make your particular person using bungee wire and any pleasing toy. I related the toys to the ramp using eye hooks to permit them to moreover get changed as wished. The kittens immediately found the toys and commenced batting away at them!
Make sure that to watch Hannah’s video below to see the custom-made kitten climber in movement! Jumbo Slice and Deep Dish are having the time of their lives whereas getting practice and performing out all of their cat instincts as they play, leap, climb, scratch, look out the window and at last crash out for a nap. What a life!
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Completely different devices you see throughout the nursery embody the sunshine pink cubes from Kitty Kasas, our TriPod Cat Lounge and Cubitat Multi-level Cat Mattress & Hideaway from the Hauspanther Assortment by Primetime Petz, the SmartCat Ultimate Scratching Put up from Pioneer Pet, and the Primetime Petz Designer Pet Lounge. These are some lucky kittens!
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*FTC Disclosure: This submit accommodates affiliate hyperlinks along with Amazon Affiliate hyperlinks. For many who make a purchase order order after clicking on the hyperlinks, Hauspanther will get a small price. We’re dedicated to discovering the nice merchandise for cats and cat lovers and we under no circumstances counsel one thing that we don’t love.