Catify Your Home With the Sophisticated Wave Perch from Urban Pet Haus

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Peter Cohen, co-founder of the general contracting company, Trillium Enterprises of Santa Barbara remodeled his house into a feline paradise for his 18 rescue cats and as a result, inspired all of us to create a paradise for our own cats!

Marvin Watts, creative entrepreneur and co-owner of Urban Pet Haus, a pet products company devoted to creating designer pet products that balance the needs of our furry friends with our human lifestyle has just the product to help out – the aesthetically designed wave cat perch!

I happened upon Marvin at a Cat Writers’ Conference – he was one of the prize sponsors and I wrote to thank him for his participation. He asked if I would like a large perch sent to my gang to try out and despite that I have just about everything in the world you can think of for them, what they do not have, is a comfortable shelf mounted to the wall. With the recent trend I had been seeing lately of people catifying their homes with custom created catwalks and the like, I just knew I had to say yes.

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When the box arrived it was quite large (the perch is 44” long and weighs 13 pounds) and I knew it would not be a simple project I could tackle on my own. Not that it is necessarily difficult to put up once you get going, but if you are a novice when it comes to a project that requires a level, finding 2 wood studs in the wall, and using a drill, then it might be difficult for you to put up and I strongly recommend you find someone that does have the proper experience and tools to help you in order to ensure the perch is installed safely and securely for your kitty.

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This is my office and typically I am surrounded an assortment of my cats sitting on the floor while I am on the computer – I thought it would be nice for them if they also had a perch on the wall to hang out on.

But have no fear – the installation is explained in detail in an easy to understand pamphlet and the perch also comes with a template for marking your wall once the studs are located. Before you begin, however, you really need to think about where you are going to put your perch. When I first told Marvin to send it to me, I imagined in my mind it would go on one of the walls in my office and didn’t give it much thought after that. I’ve always been a caulk and duct tape kind of girl and sometimes I forget that there are certain rules to securing heavy objects to a wall that need to apply. I wasn’t really thinking in terms of something as practical as where the studs were located and that really pinpoints pretty quickly where the wave can and cannot go.

The other thing you have to keep in mind is the cats themselves. While cat are jumpers by nature, you still have to make sure the cat can jump up to the wave and back down again without too much trouble. After Dan (my go-to person with experience) had figured out where the perch could go and secured it to the wall we had cats at the ready to climb it. The trouble was, the book shelf that was underneath it was not conducive to letting them jump with ease and I had to devise a set of steps with a clever arrangement of books, boxes, storage totes, and things of that nature to help them out.

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The wave has barely been on the wall for a minute and it is already being tested out by Rolz, Peanut, and Mia! You will notice that I have not yet perfected the steps for them to jump up and down yet.

The perch has been up for about two weeks and just like I hoped, the cats love it – especially Kizmet. Sometimes when I get a new product to review, the cats like it for a day or two and then they are bored with it. Not so with the perch – without fail, every night when I am on the computer Kizmet is tucked into the dip of the wave, completely sound asleep and happy as a clam. Sometimes two of them will be on it together – usually Peanut and Kizmet and the only cats who have not been on the perch are Harley and Zee and I am not about to encourage them either. Lazy and clumsy do not make the best mix for high-style perching if you ask me!

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The wave is a particular favorite of Kizmet and Peanut. You will note an image of Harley in the background… that will be as close as she ever gets to the perch! You can see that I now have carefully arranged steps for the cats to easily jump on and off the perch.

All in all I give the perch a huge paws up of recommendation. My cats that chose to use it love it and I love having them share my office time with me. It comes in a beautiful real wood veneer with a dark zebra finish that will complement any home lifestyle. It also has a durable felt padded top for your pet’s added comfort and safely holds up to 30 pounds of cat. The perch is also available in a small size (22” wide). We only have the one perch, but if you can afford it, you can purchase a whole assortment of perches to create the ultimate creative catwalk for your cats! The large wave is at priced at $144.99 and the small wave at $89.99.

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Marvin Watts

About Marvin Watts and Urban Pet HausWhile working his way to earning a BFA at the University of Arizona, he had the opportunity to learn the craft of woodworking and fine-furniture making. Unfortunately, after five years he had to cease wood working due to health issues but his design portfolio was ready so he hit the streets and landed a job as an art director. After spending 20 years working on advertising campaigns, he migrated to market research and now product design.

Urban Pet Haus was created by the collaboration of Marvin and a modern furniture designer out of his own life experience – after renting a room in Santa Monica with his two feral rescue cats in tow, Layla and Louie, and no furniture, the wave perch was developed as a modern piece of furniture for urban living that was smaller, balancing the needs of space, functionality and elegance for both human and felines.

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Marvin’s rescue cats and inspiration for the wave – Layla and Louie!

This was the first of many new modern pet furnishings from Urban Pet Haus and Marvin launched his ideas with Kate Benjamin of Hauspanther in 2010 (previously Moderncat) because he wanted to get feedback on all his cat designs to determine what should be manufactured first. Kate held contests for each category – sleep, perch, step, dwell and the feedback from cat lovers was wonderful. The rest, as they say, is history!

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Cats instinctively need high spaces to feel safe and secure. For more information, please read this fun and informative post:

The Nature of a Cat – Tree Dweller or Bush Dweller?

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  1. I would love one of these for Galadriel! I want to catify the new house!

    Christie

  2. Clarissa says:

    I LOVE this!! My cats would be over the moon about winning this! 🙂

  3. kelly mcgrew says:

    my cats would LOVE THIS!!

    we would put this in our cat room! – food bowls, beds, jungle gym for them!

  4. Sue says:

    What a cool unique design. I am sure Tayler would love to sprawl out on it!

  5. Jenny S. says:

    This is the coolest thing. I have 3 rescue cats (including a “failed foster”) .. Sammy 12, Bella 4 and Chandler Bing 2. I think I would put it in my foster room so everyone could enjoy it (when I have foster cats, they can and when I don’t ..my kids can). Really a great thing!

  6. Debbie says:

    We have the perfect wall (leading to a high spot on a large cabinet) for holding one of these perches! My cats–both resident and fosters–would love this! Thanks for the opportunity to win one!

  7. Ms. Phoebe's Mom says:

    I would love one for my boy who as a former feral is still a bit skittish and loves being high to feel safe and look down upon we human minions.

  8. Andrea Dorn says:

    My cats are all retired ferals or the offspring of ferals so my house is a very active one. I have several trees on both levels of my house but more perches would be great. I’m sure my cats would be like yours and be up on the perch as soon as I finish hanging it.

  9. Carmine would love this perch! He loves to be in high places where he can supervise everything 🙂

  10. Michelle S says:

    My really timid girl, Tori, would LOVE this! She loves to be up high, and I think that I would put it in my bedroom to give her a perch where she can watch everything and feel secure. The front bedroom window is the equivalent of cat TV with the bunnies, squirrels, raccoon mama in the tree, and birds.

  11. Jelena says:

    I have some IKEA shelves for my cats at home, but I think the wave idea takes this to the next level both in design and function! My girls love to be above it all.

  12. Phoenix says:

    My large wall-climbing cat could use a perch to slow him down when he’s zooming around.