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:
High-energy Magellan is literally running around out house trying to climb the walls – this amazing perch will give him a safe way to do so!
Not sure where I’ll put it yet but I will definitely find the perfect spot for it!
Thanks for hosting this fabulous giveaway Deb!
I’ve seen those before and think they are awesome! I have so many places I’d put one.. somewhere in the living room anyway because I’d want to watch them use it, lol!
Hi..
I have many 1X12 plank shelves for my kitties, but this one looks like it would be the CAT’S MEOW for my 14 rescues…..
Thanks for considering me!!
Oh, that is SOOOO cool!!! I have just the place for the Wave in my house. We have an atrium in the middle of the house that has glass doors so you can see it from every room in the house. It is my official kitty room and has a comfy recliner, table, toy basket and litter box in there…I consider it a bedroom for my kitties.
I’d hang the Wave in there so the kitties could sit on it and be a piece of artwork in their atrium.
Thanks for the opportunity to win this awesome piece of functional art!!
I love this. If I won, I’d probably put it in my home office. I spend a majority of my day in there & so do my 3 cats. Where Mom is, you usually find at least one, if not all 3 of my boys! Great giveaway item! Thank you!
At first the woman had no idea where to put it and then I said it didn’t matter. She could always build a new wall for my perch! How hard is that?
I’ve been lusting after these for months…I’d install in my living room to give the 3 cats somewhere high to hang out to escape Toby the over-rambunctious GSP!
I THINK IT WOULD BE PERFECT IN MY BEDROOM THAT I SHARE WITH MY KITTIES.THIS PAGE IS JUST AWESOME.
We love being up high…so we would LOVE this perch!
I have 3 cats – a Maine Coon male, a DLH male, and a feral Manx female. I try to offer plenty of high places for everyone, especially the female. The wave would be a perfect place for my little girl to hang out with her favorite brother. And ideal for the Maine Coon to stretch out all by himself.
Ooooh! I’d love this! Really I would. I don’t know how Pop would like it but Uncle Vince alrady said he’d put shelves on the wall for me. We can take down that dumb mirror they have on the wall to reflect the NYC skyline. Then I alone can enjoy the skyline view as I lay on the shelf. Ahhhh! The life of a cat!
Sherpa the Farm cat would love this since he spends most of his time UP. He loves to be UP. He goes UP on the walls and UP on the publicist’s shoulder. She says she would have the male person put it UP on the wall so Sherpa would have a place to rest in the computer room
Wow that looks pawesome. We would either have Mommy hanging it over her desk so we could spy on her while she blogs or if there isn’t enough room there or studs or whatevers we would put it in the Family Room. Daddy would have to install it cause Mommy is clueless when it comes to levels and things.
I would love to put this in my office. I have a Bengal that climbs on everything so he will have so much fun with this.
this would be great in my living room, den, bedroom or even my hallway. the hallway is where my cats hangout while i am in the bathroom getting ready for work. they currently sit on a tall kitchen stool and a large box in the hallway. both items are there just for their sitting pleasure. you can tell i am trained well. 😉
My 7 kitties would love this. They all like to sit up high so I think the family room, where they hang out the most, would be the perfect place.
Love this wall shelf. My two cats would love it. I would put it on our wall in our stairway.
My Babies would LOVE IT. Everytime I spend time on the sewing machine or crafts they feel left out as there is no where safe to sit and watch me sew, they want to help with the project. This would put them above the machine, so they could be out of reach of any dangers.
Oh this is gorgeous! My Minnie Purrl would love this as she is a “tree dweller” who loves to look down upon her minions! I am looking at the perfect place in front of my computer which has natural “steps” she could use to navigate. ooo! I hope you pick us! Ana, Purrl and Mister Meow. Thanks!
We’ve been a fan of this beautifully designed perch for a long, long time!
Katie & Waffles would LOVE a comfy & stylish perch to watch Bird TV. There’s a purr-fect window just waiting for one. Ok, maybe they don’t care how stylish it is…but I do!
; ) GG