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Got a free Cat Tower. Best way to make it safe for my cat?

SniperGuySniperGuy SniperGuyGamingRegistered User regular
edited October 2012 in Help / Advice Forum
I have an indoor cat, and I assume this is from an indoor cat as well. I live in a fairly upcale suburban neighborhood and pass the same area everyday. Today, there were two of these outside, so I snagged one for my cat. It looks fairly clean and well kept except for this little black dots which are on one single side of the top square of the thing. Picture included.

So, best way to make this safe? Or is it a "screw that, burn it" type deal?

Pictures!
Entire thing
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Close up (With bonus random deer)
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Closer up
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Posts

  • Twenty SidedTwenty Sided Registered User regular
    edited October 2012
    You have a cat.

    It will be safe on that almost as a matter of course.

    Twenty Sided on
  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    Safe from what? Give it a clean with a carpet cleaner I guess if you're paranoid but I'm not sure what you're worried about.

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  • DaenrisDaenris Registered User regular
    Personally, I wouldn't trust a random cat tower. You don't know if the previous owner was a healthy cat or if they had parasites/diseases that could be spread indirectly. Or even just fleas which could still have eggs in the carpet of the tower. If it were me, I'd just throw it out. You can get a new one of about that size pretty inexpensively online.

  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    Oh yeah fleas I guess. Though as long as your cat is treated with whatever toxic blood thingy you choose and you give it a good hoover I can't see that being a major issue.

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  • SniperGuySniperGuy SniperGuyGaming Registered User regular
    Daenris wrote: »
    Personally, I wouldn't trust a random cat tower. You don't know if the previous owner was a healthy cat or if they had parasites/diseases that could be spread indirectly. Or even just fleas which could still have eggs in the carpet of the tower. If it were me, I'd just throw it out. You can get a new one of about that size pretty inexpensively online.

    I should point out that this is the kind of safe I meant. Give it a good hoover and hit it with flea dust or something?

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  • FoomyFoomy Registered User regular
    vacuum it, than I'd just soak it with some diluted bleach. it doesn't really matter if you ruin the colour of it.
    than give it a good rinse with a hose outside and let dry.

    I doubt anything harmful could survive that.

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  • JaysonFourJaysonFour Classy Monster Kitteh Registered User regular
    More like "take it outside and kill it with fire and torches".

    Random cat towers can be infested with fleas, ticks, bedbugs, roaches... and that's just the insect possibilities. That black stuff reminds me of mouse poop, and that carries risks, too.

    Just buy a new one and leave the old one for the trash. Dropping a little cash on a cat tower is better than dropping a large wad on having your house de-bugged and a visit to the vet to heal your cat.

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  • EshEsh Tending bar. FFXIV. Motorcycles. Portland, ORRegistered User regular
    Burn it. There's no point in taking the risks. All sorts of fun stuff can live on that and get your cat (and potentially you) sick and/or infested with vermin.

  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    ehhhhhhhhhh

    There are things you could probably do to clean it, but personally I don't think it's worth the risk. It will probably be just as expensive to buy a new one as it will be to get that one properly cleaned. If you knew the cats in the house it came from that would maybe be a different story, but even then, I'd say toss, personally. Those black spots make me think a lot of dirty litter, and that can have all kinds of nasty things.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • SniperGuySniperGuy SniperGuyGaming Registered User regular
    Wouldn't the diluted bleach thing/carpet shampoo/maybe even some flea spray pretty much kill off anything that might still be living in it?

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  • EshEsh Tending bar. FFXIV. Motorcycles. Portland, ORRegistered User regular
    SniperGuy wrote: »
    Wouldn't the diluted bleach thing/carpet shampoo/maybe even some flea spray pretty much kill off anything that might still be living in it?

    One thing that cats haaaate is the smell of chemicals. Best off just buying a new one. They're not expensive by any means.

  • SniperGuySniperGuy SniperGuyGaming Registered User regular
    Esh wrote: »
    SniperGuy wrote: »
    Wouldn't the diluted bleach thing/carpet shampoo/maybe even some flea spray pretty much kill off anything that might still be living in it?

    One thing that cats haaaate is the smell of chemicals. Best off just buying a new one. They're not expensive by any means.

    Er. The thing in my post is like, 80+ dollars at any petstore in my area.

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  • iRevertiRevert Tactical Martha Stewart Registered User regular
    Or like $20 in parts if you do it yourself

  • EshEsh Tending bar. FFXIV. Motorcycles. Portland, ORRegistered User regular
    SniperGuy wrote: »
    Esh wrote: »
    SniperGuy wrote: »
    Wouldn't the diluted bleach thing/carpet shampoo/maybe even some flea spray pretty much kill off anything that might still be living in it?

    One thing that cats haaaate is the smell of chemicals. Best off just buying a new one. They're not expensive by any means.

    Er. The thing in my post is like, 80+ dollars at any petstore in my area.

    For a giant cat toy/house, $80 is pretty cheap. Look, if you want to possibly infest your house, go for it. Otherwise do without or buy a new one. Those are your options. You seem pretty deadset on trying to keep the thing though. But if I saw what was possible vermin refuse on a piece of furniture for my house, you'd be damn sure it wasn't coming in or getting "cleaned".

  • DunxcoDunxco Should get a suit Never skips breakfastRegistered User regular
    Yeah, get rid of the thing. So do not trust those black spots in the close-up. It's not worth the risk of buying something that could, as pointed out, bring along all sorts of nasties into your home.

    You've looked around on pet stores - have you considered shopping online for something, or is that not a possibility at this juncture (maybe for whatever reason if you got something delivered you'd be unable to sign for it yourself or having someone sign it for you)? Had a couple of friends buy stuff like this from Argos, even Amazon, and it worked out pretty swell for their cats. If you can't find something like that I'd suggest either suck it up and pay the extra for a clean, new one, or go without.

  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    If youi're set on it maybe you could re-upholster. I just don't think it's worth it though.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    iRevert wrote: »
    Or like $20 in parts if you do it yourself

    Find a carpet store or an installer and they'll likely give you carpet remnants (leftover pieces/scraps from previous jobs) for free. Couple that with some scrap wood and you'll have a fun project on your hands.

    Ideally you would use carpet glue strips to secure the carpet to the wood and a carpet iron to join seams, but you could probably get away with using a prodigious amount of hot glue instead. You can also get rope or twine to wrap tightly around a post like the one you have at pretty much any craft supply or hardware store.

    If you build one, just make sure that your base is large enough to keep the thing stable.

  • SniperGuySniperGuy SniperGuyGaming Registered User regular
    The thing is, I wasn't in the market for one. It was a lucky find on my way home. I don't want to spend cash to get a new one, because I wasn't shopping for a new one. I just got this as a lucky random chance. So I just want to make sure it's safe. Step one is going to ask the people that put it at the street why they had it out there, because it could be that their cat just died or something and it got some dirt on it or something.

    Otherwise, it seems like a thorough flea dust/spray followed up with a thorough carpet cleaning should eliminate any possible nasties. At that point, the only thing would be making sure my cat still liked it if it smelled a bit like carpet shampoo, right? Keeping in mind I do not have 80+ bucks to blow on a new one like this, nor the time/desire to build one myself. Maybe in the future, but that's not what I'm wanting at this point.

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  • EshEsh Tending bar. FFXIV. Motorcycles. Portland, ORRegistered User regular
    SniperGuy wrote: »
    The thing is, I wasn't in the market for one. It was a lucky find on my way home. I don't want to spend cash to get a new one, because I wasn't shopping for a new one. I just got this as a lucky random chance. So I just want to make sure it's safe. Step one is going to ask the people that put it at the street why they had it out there, because it could be that their cat just died or something and it got some dirt on it or something.

    Otherwise, it seems like a thorough flea dust/spray followed up with a thorough carpet cleaning should eliminate any possible nasties. At that point, the only thing would be making sure my cat still liked it if it smelled a bit like carpet shampoo, right? Keeping in mind I do not have 80+ bucks to blow on a new one like this, nor the time/desire to build one myself. Maybe in the future, but that's not what I'm wanting at this point.

    A gross piece of wood with carpet stapled to it that's covered in some sort of unknown matter is not a "lucky find". Just take it inside. You already made up your mind before even starting this thread.

  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    Okay, first of all, that's not what I'd call a lucky find. It's what I'd call somebody's garbage, and for the look of it it's for good reason.

    Second, if you were going to ask them why they put it outside the time to do it would have been THEN and not post-trash pickup. What are you going to do, go back there tomorrow and say "Yeah, I picked up your cat thing out of your garbage yesterday, just wanted to know if it was out there because it's dirty or if your cat died or something. Oh, and if you could tell me what he died of, that'd be awesome, because if it was something disgusting I don't want it either."

    Third, if you weren't in the market and hadn't considered one anyway, why are you acting so certain that you want to bring this into your house?

    Fourth, if you already had the answer you wanted in mind, why did you ask?

    Unfortunately I am rapidly losing interest in the answers to all of these questions, so I'm going to lock this thread. There's no point in leaving it open if you are not actually interested in the advice. You've got a couple 'sure, why nots' from the top of the thread, I'm sure you can use those to justify whatever it is you want to do.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
This discussion has been closed.