About Climbing Kitties

Why this site exists

Search for a cat tree and you get a hundred listing pages that repeat the same three adjectives and never mention base width. Search for an outdoor cat house and half the results recommend putting a blanket in it, which is the one thing that makes a shelter dangerous in freezing weather.

Climbing Kitties exists to publish the numbers instead: post height in centimetres, sisal diameter in millimetres, insulation thickness, entry hole size, adult weight by breed. Numbers are checkable. Adjectives are not.

How the guides are put together

• Specifications first. Where a measurement decides whether something works, we lead with the measurement and explain what happens either side of it.
• Behaviour over marketing. Recommendations follow how cats actually use vertical space and shelter, not which features photograph well.
• Registry data for breeds. Breed entries are compiled against the standards published by the Cat Fanciers' Association, The International Cat Association and the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy, with weight ranges given as typical adult figures.
• Corrections welcome. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and it gets fixed rather than quietly buried.

How the site is funded

Climbing Kitties may earn a commission when a reader buys through a link on this site. That never changes what gets recommended, and there are no paid placements, sponsored reviews or brand-supplied copy anywhere on the site. Where a product category is genuinely a coin toss, the guide says so instead of inventing a winner.

What this site is not

It is not veterinary advice. Anything involving a cat's health — weight loss, breathing difficulty, cold exposure, the cartilage issues associated with folded ears — belongs with a vet who can examine the animal. The guidance here covers furniture, shelter and breed selection only.

Questions or corrections: see the contact page.