Catify Your Home With the Sophisticated Wave Perch from Urban Pet Haus
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Marvin Watts
About Marvin Watts and Urban Pet Haus – While 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.
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!
Cats instinctively need high spaces to feel safe and secure. For more information, please read this fun and informative post:
I just moved into a new place that doesn’t have window ledges, and my babies are sad because they can’t see out the lovely windows. This would be perfect for the wall next to the window!
My kitties would love that wave shelf! I would put it next to the top of their cat tree.
We live in a renovated barn with 3 tiny windows we would love our guradian to install a wave perch for us so we have some height. The top of this cold box thing is getting old! Also crowded…
Oh wow would we love that! No doubt Mom would put it in the family room where we all congregate. With 6 of us we’re always looking for places to perch. We have 2 cats trees in there now but we’re not so good about sharing them. This would be a purrfect addition to the “high road” Mom has in process for us.
Wez would love a perch. Dezi loves to be off the ground and looking out over her kingdom. We would put this in the living room so she could look out the door and oversee her sisfur Lexi and mommy. thank you for the oppurtunity to win such a magnificent piece of furniture/artwork.
MacDuff got a glimpse of these perches and nearly flipped. He is sick of the “same, old, cat condo,” as he calls it and is bored with the couch. His sisters share his enthusiasm. “Please, please, Mom,” they shrieked, “can’t you win these for us.”
I told them I’m trying.
Angela Dah-ling, Sineady Cat, the Fraidy Cat, and MacDuff the Bold would purr for months if they had these to survey the land with. Oh, MacDuff has slimmed down to 19 pounds. I hope it will hold him, if we are so blessed as to win.
Thanks for offering this.
manee thanx Zee & crew az well az marvin for this rockin kewl perch give a way chance !
de best oh fishes two everee one who enterz !!! ~~~~~~~~~~~
I love this! It looks great and looks like Kizmet loves it, too. We would love one of these for our den, so Precious or Princeton could hang out with the peeps, but up high.
Hope you guys have a great Thursday!
XOXO
Very Cool! My cat would love that!
My kitties would love one of these! They’re constantly looking for places to lie, and I’d put it right beside my computer desk so they’d relax and chill on that instead of my keyboard 😉
I’m positive my cats would all love the wave perch and they would take turns on it….what am I thinking ? Taking turns? – probably not! I think it would be first one up there claims it. Just watching the antics of the cats wanting to get there would be hilarious. I have one 14 yr. old rescue cat that has been totally blind his whole life. I would let him sit on in prior to being installed on a wall. That way he could have his turn first.
I can’t decide where I’d put the wave but it would definitely be where I could watch the cats enjoying it. I told the cats all about it so they are already “drawing straws” to be first in line. I’m pretty sure it would either be Thai, Balinese cat or Boots, a rescued feral since they are the largest. of the cats. But on second thought probably while they are figuring it out Izzy might just slip up there first.
Anyone that is lucky enough to win this wave perch will have many years of enjoyment watching their cats. Of course the cats will be thrilled to have such a wonderful perch. I wish everyone luck .. me too!
My three fur babies would be in heaven if they had one of these! My spoiled boy especially! Napoleon likes to be up at eye level with me and always curious to what I’m doing!
I have a 16 year old boy that loves nesting in high places and he would love this … with some stairs to help his old body up to it, he would be in absolute heaven to watch the world pass by in the window and the activity in the house. I have another old cat who is 17 but he prefers laps … and a young 2 year old girl who is not a cuddle monkey .. she enjoys a head stroke on her own terms. The Wave is such an amazing idea and creation!!
Wow, this is very nice. It’s the kind of thing that will make my kitties very happy. 🙂
I would put it over the TV so I could watch TV and admire my cats all at the same time. 🙂
MOUSES! That sure is one neat piece of furniture.
Purrs,
Nissy
Our cats would love that! They love being on the window sills and on other elevated surfaces. 🙂
Thank you so much Marvin and Deb for the opportunity to win this for my Angel. I am on limited income so I sure would not have the oney to purchase one even at the sale price. My Angel will be 13 on March 31st and it would be a great birthday present because it is always hard to buy her anything she likes to play with. She has a scratchy post that sits on the floor similar to this and tends to curl under it sometimes to try to get the feathery toy. She was my daughter’s cat for the first 5 years and now I “grammie” has had her for the past 8 years and it was just us two from 2006 until 2009 and she loved sleeping with me, playing with me, getting on the massage bed with me and then I spoiled it by getting her a sister, miniature silkie yorkie Bella, who was 10 months old. Bella liked chasing Angel and barking a lot so Angel began having anxiety and hiding under the bed and she became introverted most of the time. She is just recently gotten used to walking around Bella, but my Angel lost herself when I got Bella. I invisioned them curling up next to each other when they slept or when I was gone but that didn’t happen. I would put this perch in the living room so she can be next to me when she is not sleeping. She currently sits on top of the television company receiver (for the heat) under the window so I would put this on the north living room wall where I currently have family photos. I would put her as close to me as she could get while allowing her security from Bella. Such a cool idea; thank you. I hope I win so I can give my special girl Angel a great birthday gift as well as closeness and security during the rest of her senior years; I will send pictures:-)
What cat would not LOVE looking down on their human? 🙂
Wow! what a wonderful perch! Like you I have one cat that should never be allowed off level ground and another that must have been with the Flying Wallendas in another life! She would love it I’m sure!(and even if I don’t win your contest I think I’m going to have to go order one! They’re beautiful, Rosie will love it,and they are quite reasonably priced too! Win-win-win!!)