Review on 🐱 Ivory Armarkat B5701 57-Inch Cat Tree: Ideal for Your Feline's Play and Rest by Keely Simmons

This scratching post is fantastic! We got our cat as a kitten and had no idea how big she was going to be (adopted, didn't know about her when we got her). She was small when she was born so we decided she would stay small. My husband said we could have a cat if it was short haired and fairly small. Well, she eventually became part of the Maine Coon and weighs almost 18 pounds at 2.5 years old. Long haired and bulky. Oops. At least she's a woman? The scratching post arrived quickly with Prime shipping and was so easy to put together. Overall this cat tree is amazing. There are a few minor downsides that I'll talk about later. Advantages: 1. Stability. Like I said, she's a big girl, so I was worried about stability. This scratching post is probably the sturdiest I know. It still wobbles a bit, but not to the point of semi-fear, and it's almost perfect in the corners. If the base was made 1-2 inches wider it would generally be perfect. The bottom single ledge post (no idea what the actual term is, on a single sisal scraper) causes the tree to drop off the wall about 1-2 inches on one side. I'll probably have my husband cut out a piece of wood to push it in there to make it even sturdier. If she were a small cat I wouldn't be concerned at all and the average cat doesn't typically reach or exceed 18 pounds. Materials - I like the fleece piece instead of the ugly orange-brown shiny carpet that cat trees are usually made out of. It's a light pink color and I think it's actually quite attractive (for a scratching post). It's cute without being girly. Looks a lot better than the typical materials used. It doesn't stand out, which I appreciate.3. Assembly. As I mentioned before, it was incredibly easy to put together. A few large screws, a washer, an Allen key and 30 minutes (maximum) later and you're done. My two daughters (1.5 and 3.5) helped my husband to assemble it. He put the first bar back in front (not the base) so I partially disassembled and repaired it and overall it took about 10 minutes from partially disassembling to attaching and reassembling. He said he got it right initially but it looked weird so he changed it. Looks a little weird at first, but check out the picture on Amazon. The rope behind it should be hanging straight down and not resting on the shelf. This provides a platform the cat can use to get into the house on the next level. Of course some cats will be brave enough to jump up, but for larger cats this can cause the tree to wobble under their weight/height and startle the cat. Then your scratching post is useless because the kitten can't get to it. The platform also makes it easier for kittens to climb the tree. So make sure it's the right way, especially if your cat didn't climb the tree first, as I noticed a mistake.4. Purpose of use. My cat has had the same small scratch since we got her when she was about 8 weeks old (http://www.amazon.com/Best-Choice-Products-Scratcher-Furniture/dp/B008GG9FSS/ref=sr_1_53) . ?ie=UTF8&qid=1434488930&sr=8-53&keywords=cat+scratch&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011 - just like that, only instead of a basket with a lounger, additional frames and balls). The base was the glossy carpet material typically used for cat scratchers and it has a sisal half dome that she loves to scratch. He used to have a scratching post and 3 mini ball scratchers, but she destroyed the thing very quickly. She is obsessed with it and scratches it violently every time I clean her litter box or feed her. The sisal eventually started to peel off the canopy half (I'm actually very impressed with the quality of this part of the scraper) so I knew it was time for a new one. I went to Revane to buy her a large scratching post for a good price and found this scratching post. Reviews are plentiful and it has 4.5 stars at the time of writing this review. Revain also stocked a tree with no flaws for about $55, so I pounced on it (pun intended as a father joke). My cat loves this tree. She was very insecure at first, even before she accepted it. After about 10 minutes she started rubbing the corner of her face. I left her alone and came back 10 minutes later and she had already killed one of the toys upstairs so I knew she had at least tried which was reassuring. There's nothing worse than trying to get an unwilling cat to try something new. She hesitated for quite a while until I took it to my bedroom and adjusted the lower platform. While she chewed through the toy's rope, I tied a couple of thick hair ties together and slipped them through the loop provided. (As you can see in the picture, I still tied the ball to the ground). She is obsessed with hair ties and plays with them (to an annoying level). That immediately caught her attention and she wanted it. Cons: 1. Foundation. As I mentioned above, the base is 1-2 inches shorter on one side. This small addition would not have cost the company too much and would have made the scratching post perfect. That knocks the competition out of the water, but the incredible stability would really set them apart.2. Toys - Lord, toys. I don't know what they were thinking with those thin threads. Basically, they made an amazing, durable scratching post that could withstand the brute force of multiple cats, and then added these little toys. Seriously, a newborn kitten can chew on one of these while still blind. I think the company added the toys as extras but they didn't care what people thought because even without them the scratching post is great. And since there's a built-in loop, the owner can still hang their cat toy on it, which is pretty cool. Most scrapers have a toy attached. So if a cat destroys a rope in 1 second, it's useless unless you want to put another industrial-size shackle in the scraper (which you know will last 1 second before being destroyed). At the same time, the bullets persuaded my cat to climb a tree, so they should like them. She is rather insensitive to such toys as I have two babies and she spends all day with toys. Apparently there's something about them that she likes. I'll find a way to attach them with something more permanent. Thicker hair ties are great as they can stretch quite a bit without breaking. If you do this PLEASE CONTROL how your cat plays with it. Check hair ties for breaks and use thicker ones. Do not use children's hair ties as they break easily after minimal use. If one of them breaks, it can cause choking or blockage if swallowed. Despite some flaws that this product has, I rate it 5 stars. This scratching post is attractive (for a scratching post), affordable, durable and popular with a Maine Coon cat whose only scratching post (which she loved to death) prior to this tree was a small floor scratching post. I'll update the durability once we've had it for a while as it's the first day of use.