The cats side of the story: We were just sitting around, well, actually we were just napping around, contemplating how many grueling hours it would be before we would eat again (three meals a day plus snacks…how’s a cat supposed to survive?) when it happened. It being a loud knocking noise on our front door, followed by an even louder thud. Moments later, our male human opened the door and dragged in what our door had apparently hacked up – a HUGE box!!

Oh my cat! It had been ages since our door hacked up a box and we couldn’t believe how our ho-hum, ordinary day had suddenly become extraordinary! Our male put it on the floor of our Florida room (a beautiful room with a window that has a glorious bird/raccoon/possum/lizard watching TV channel) and we all took turns sniffing it, jumping up on it, and napping on it. Oh box, how we love you. Best. Day. Ever.

A box isn’t a box until it’s been tested by a cat. Rolz is first in line…wonder what the verdict will be?

The verdict is in! This is the best box ever! Jazmine seals the deal by settling in for an afternoon nap!

The female human’s side of the story: It was several years ago that I was introduced to the concept of how important vertical space is to the instinctual well-being of a cat. Jackson Galaxy of Animal Planet’s My Cat From Hell was who I learned it from, and in a multi-cat household like mine, it’s all the more important. Cats need personal space to in order to define their territory and one of the ways to do that is to provide them with access to high areas that they can claim ownership to. I talk about it all the time, it’s a huge part of my book Makin’ Biscuits – Weird Cat Habits and the Even Weirder Habits of the Humans Who Love Them, and I’ve written several articles on the subject.

That said, over the years I’ve seen many products for cats to accommodate those needs – cat shelves, cat bridges, cat condos and more. And trust me, my house is filled with them. But one of my all-time favorites is the cat tree house line from Pet Tree Houses. It’s like they literally take a real tree from the outdoors, turn it into a gorgeous piece of furniture that appeals to a human’s sensibility, but make it super awesome to cater to the wild side of a cat, all while being practical to keep kitty safely indoors! They’ve been featured in the BlogPaws Cat Lounge for several years where I’ve drooled over them, enviously wishing I could have one for my gang, and I just saw them again at my recent trip to New York City for Cat Camp, where I again wistfully dreamed of having one of my own.

Laura Zaccardi and I at the Pet Tree Houses booth while at Cat Camp NYC this past March. Little did I know I’d soon have one of these gorgeous trees in my own home!

Well, as luck would have it, my dear friend Ingrid King of the Conscious Cat recently celebrated her 8 year blogging anniversary and was hosting a giveaway with one of the prizes a KIT-TY Tree Deluxe Tree with Topper from Pet Tree Houses! When I got the email notification from her that I won, I couldn’t have been happier!! So, when I heard the knock at the door, followed by the thud, I knew I would soon have seven very happy kitties, and not just because of the big box it came in!

The box came on a Monday and Dan and I decided to put it together on the weekend. Unlike many of the cat trees Pet Tree Houses offers that come fully assembled, the model we won didn’t, so we knew we had quite the project ahead of us! The KIT-TY Deluxe Tree with Topper comes with a base and three carpeted platforms, foliage for each level, and a topper of foliage. The box contents were carefully packed, with clearly labeled boxes of what tree trunks went to each level and we had a wonderful feline staff to help us unpack.

Starting to take the pieces out of the box. Rolz seems perplexed – are we meant to nap inside the box, he wonders?

Once all the pieces are out of the box, Mia decides to jump in! Will Jazmine be next?

Mia looks on – it seems the goings on OUTSIDE the box are much more interesting now!

And in jumps Jazmine…

There were A LOT of parts, but Dan is quite the craftsman, having completely renovated several homes, so I was confident putting it together wouldn’t pose much of a problem. Unfortunately, in the beginning stages of assembly, that wasn’t the case and we struggled a bit to understand what we needed to do first! But, once we figured it out and got into the groove, everything went smoothly and we had a great time putting it together. Dan recommended more visuals on the directions to help those that might not understand the process, and if any of you decide to get a tree for your cats, I recommend you find someone to help you with the assembly, as it’s a big, heavy project that would be hard to do alone.

Each level of the tree house is coded by different colors. This is because each of the trunk pieces are hand cut and not interchangeable. The yellow sprigs are where the foliage will eventually be placed.

The cats are inspecting the wooden platforms and carpet pieces.

Here everything is in one glorious, unassembled mess!

The tree is starting to take shape – for ease of assembly, make sure you have an electric or cordless drill handy!

The last step was inserting the foliage into the tree trunks, and then voila, just like that, seven cats instantly converged on the tree and were happily stretching, exploring, playing, and more! Clearly they were indulging their inner primal instincts, their senses bursting with energy, and it was a joy to watch them interact as if they were wild cats in the jungle! I honestly can’t thank Pet Tree Houses enough for engineering this beautifully crafted product. It’s extremely sturdy – not even a single wobble when one of the cats jumps up onto it (we have several cat condos that I can’t say the same about). It’s aesthetically pleasing to the decor of our home, and most of all, it gives our cats additional vertical space options that are so important to their health and well-being (in layman’s terms, it lessens the hair-flying cat fights that can happen in multi-cat homes).

We’re heading to the home stretch as Mia sits on the top tier, waiting for the foliage to be put in!

Not to be left out, Kizmet and Jazmine also supervise the foliage process! I love how Kizmet’s claws interact so naturally with the wood trunk, too.

Cat trees from Pet Tree Houses are crafted by hand of organic tree left in its natural state and are adorned with high quality silk leaves (you can even get them in beautiful fall colors if you so chose). They come in a variety of options – from assembly kits, to ultra-deluxe luxury models, to small cat scratchers and more. They are not inexpensive, but honestly, considering the quality of materials, it’s a product well worth the investment and they do come with a lifetime warranty. I can attest to the pride in workmanship. Each tree is 100% unique and the attention to detail is impeccable. And for those more budget conscious folk like me, you can always opt for an assembly kit to save on shipping costs.

The curiosity of having a tree in the house begins! Zoey is on her tippy-toes and her little nose is sniffing out the new smells!

Top to bottom – Zoey, Kizmet, Mia, and Zee. It’s official – the cat tree has no vacancies at the moment!

All I can say is that my gang gives the tree a 5-paws up rating. There is not a moment of the day that I don’t walk by to see one or more of them lounging on the tree. If you’d like one for your cat(s) or would like to see the full Pet Tree Houses line, please visit them at www.pettreehouses.com.

Closing comment from the cats: New Best. Day. Ever.

UPDATE: The folks at Pet Tree Houses have just informed me of an exclusive offer for Zee/Zoey readers – FREE SHIPPING (Continental US only) on the KIT-TY Tree (similar to our tree, just without the additional foliage topper). That’s a $75 value! Please use code ZZSHIP at checkout and offer expires 6/30/17.

This beautiful cat tree is multi-functional – it keeps kitty happy and healthy – but it’s also a beautiful piece of indoor furniture.