June goes up anything tall. That is the whole reason we ended up with a cat tree in the den. She is three, she is small, and she treats the top of the refrigerator as a personal achievement. Biscuit is nine and about fourteen pounds, and he has started taking the stairs a little slower than he used to. One cat needs altitude. The other needs something wide and solid to lie on. Buying for both of them at once is harder than it sounds, and most of the trees I looked at were built for one or the other.
We bought the Heybly Heavy-Duty Cat Tree in March and put it in the corner of the den in the back addition, near the woodstove. It is five levels and a little over 64 inches tall, and the listing puts the whole thing at 35.49 pounds. Ray and I assembled it on a Saturday afternoon in about an hour and a half. Ray also ran a plain furniture anti-tip strap from the top section into a wall stud, bought separately at the hardware store. That strap is not part of the product and Heybly does not include one. Here is what I would want to know before buying, in roughly the order it mattered to us.
Five levels, seven sisal posts, one Saturday afternoon.
The Heybly tree we put in the den corner in March, with the platform dimensions and materials straight off the listing so you can measure your own corner first.
Amazon See the Heybly listing on Amazon →A 35-pound frame on a widened base does not walk across the floor
The first thing I read on any listing is the footprint. Heybly describes a widened stable structure, and the base measures 21.65 by 17.72 inches. When Biscuit drops onto the lower platform from the cedar chest, at a speed that suggests he has forgotten he is nine, the tree rocks slightly and settles. It has not crept across the floor in eight months. I still strapped the top to a stud, because a 64-inch tower on a wood floor with two cats in the house is a thing you secure, not a thing you hope about.
Five levels means both cats can be up at the same time
Five levels is the number that made this work for us. June takes the high route and Biscuit takes the low one, and neither of them waits for the other to come down. With a single tall post, one cat owns the whole thing and the other sits on the rug looking betrayed. That is not a behavior problem to be trained out of a cat. It is a furniture problem, and more levels is the fix.
The top square perch is the best seat in the room
The listing describes the top level as a square perch for panoramic views. June claimed it in the first week and has not given it up. From that corner she can see the woodstove, the doorway into the kitchen, and the window over the side yard. I am not going to tell you your cat will do the same, because I have been wrong about that before. Ours did, and I think it is because the perch sits high enough that she is above everything without being jammed against the ceiling.
The 17.7 by 21.7 inch platform is where a heavy cat actually lies down
This is the part I did not expect to matter. Plenty of tall trees have round perches that a fourteen-pound cat drapes over the edge of rather than lies on. Heybly lists the second top level as a pentagonal platform measuring 17.7 by 21.7 inches. Biscuit lies flat on it, all four feet tucked, and sleeps there most afternoons. Wide and flat beats tall and fancy for a cat his size.
Seven sisal posts and a scratching board spread the wear around
Seven sisal scratching posts and one scratching board. In our house that means June can scratch at several heights and on more than one side, so the wear is not concentrated in a single spot. On our tree the sisal is showing wear on one side only so far, which tells you she has a favorite. The point is that when one post goes bald there are six more and a board, instead of one post and a decision about whether to replace the whole tree.
Biscuit lies flat on the 17.7 by 21.7 inch platform, all four feet tucked, and sleeps there most afternoons.
The condo gives a cat somewhere to be that is not underfoot
The listing calls this an all-in-one play city with a cat condo, pom-poms and sisal rope toys. I care about the condo. Biscuit naps in it some afternoons when the den is busy and there are people moving through. I would not sell it to you as a hiding box for a frightened cat, because that is a different job and I am not qualified to advise on it. It is a covered spot that a cat can be in rather than under the table.
The pom-poms get more use than I expected
June bats the pom-poms. I assumed they were the thing every cat tree has that no cat touches, and I was ready to be resigned about it. She hits them on her way past, most days, usually right before she goes up. The sisal rope toys get less attention in our house. That is the honest split, and I would not buy this tree for the toys alone.
Two people, one afternoon, and a level
Assembly took about an hour and a half on a Saturday in March. I read the sheet, Ray drilled, and I held the level. The materials are engineered wood, faux fur and sisal, and the pieces arrive labeled. None of it was difficult. It was just long, and it goes faster with a second person holding the upper section steady while the first one gets the fasteners started. If you are doing it alone, plan for longer and do not start it on a day when you are already tired.
The listing states the materials, and the materials are what arrived
Engineered wood, faux fur, sisal. Floor mount, indoor use, five levels, numbered hardware. I have bought cat furniture where the listing was vague and the box was a surprise. This one was not. The platforms are covered and the scratching surfaces are sisal, and after eight months of two cats the frame is still square when I put a level on it. For the money and the afternoon it took, that is the whole review.
It fits a corner without eating the room
It is 64.17 inches tall and 21.65 inches deep at the base. That fits the corner of our den beside the woodstove without blocking the doorway, which was the actual constraint. Tall does not have to mean wide. I measured that corner with a tape before I ordered, and I would do it again, because the one thing you cannot fix after delivery is a footprint that does not match your wall.
What I'd Skip
If you live in a small apartment with one cat who is content on the back of the sofa, you do not need five levels and 35 pounds of furniture. A single tall scratching post does that job and takes up a fraction of the floor. If your cat has stopped jumping, a tree is not a solution for that, and I would not pretend otherwise. Ask your own vet what your cat can and cannot do safely, because I am a middle school science teacher, not a veterinarian. And if you are not willing to secure a 64-inch tower to the wall, I would pick something shorter. The tree has never tipped in our house, but it is strapped, and I would not describe the unstrapped version as the same piece of furniture.
If you have one climber and one lap cat, this is the tree we bought.
Five levels, a widened base, seven sisal posts and a board, and a 17.7 by 21.7 inch platform wide enough for a big cat to lie flat. Ours has been in the den corner since March and both cats use it every day.
Amazon See the Heybly cat tree on Amazon →