Why Do Cats Need Modern Cat Trees for Their Health?

When people begin to raise a feline friend, they may think about one question: Why do I need to buy this or that? Is it necessary to buy my cat toys and furniture to win cat love? In today’s blog, we will show you how cat trees benefit your kitty's physical health.

Encourages Natural Stretching and Exercise:

A well-designed cat tower offers various levels, platforms, and perches at different heights. These features help your cat do natural things like climbing, stretching, and jumping. This keeps their spine flexible and prevents stiffness, promoting healthy joints.

• Varied Textures for Paw Activation: 
  Cat trees often incorporate different textures like carpet, sisal, or faux fur. These textures stimulate cat paw muscles and promote gripping and stretching, creating a complete body stretching experience.
• Incorporation of Interactive Features: 
  Some cat trees have interactive features like hanging toys or dangling strings. These additions encourage your cat to play and move, creating an environment that promotes playful activities and flexible spines.
• Customizable Climbing Routes: 
  Modular or customizable cat trees allow for the creation of unique climbing routes. Different activity routes keep the cat physically active and offer mental stimulation as they navigate different pathways, contributing to a more comprehensive exercise routine.

Promotes Healthy Posture:

Large cat trees often feature vertical elements, like scratching posts and vertical platforms, benefiting cats to stretch their bodies. This vertical stretching aids in maintaining proper spinal alignment and muscle tone, ultimately contributing to a healthier posture.

• Angled Platforms for Optimal Posture: 
  Tall cat trees with platforms set at varying angles promote diverse postures as cats move between levels. This design helps cats move their bodies often, avoiding fixed positions that could hurt their spines.
• Inclusion of Cozy Perches: 
  Elevated, cozy perches on a cat tree for large cats provide a comfortable space for them to rest. The perches are strategically placed to help you sit comfortably and reduce stress on your spine, promoting good spinal health.
• Observation Platforms for Spine Alignment: 
  Platforms that allow your cat to observe its surroundings facilitate a head-up posture, aligning the spine naturally. The observatory perch supports healthy spinal alignment and mental well-being. It is cat innate to monitor its territory.

Enhances Muscle Tone:

The diverse surfaces and textures on a wearable cat tree, including scratching posts, allow cat muscle-strengthening activities. Scratching, climbing, and jumping strengthen the muscles around the spine, support the skeleton, and prevent muscle weakening.

• Incorporation of Vertical Scratching Surfaces: 
  Vertical scratching surfaces on a floor to ceiling cat tree engage the muscles of the kitty's front limbs, shoulders, and back. This activity helps strengthen muscles, especially around the spine, when the cat stretches to scratch.
• Sisal Rope for Resistance: 
  Cat trees tower with sisal rope components provide a resistive texture for scratching. This resistance makes your cat scratch harder, strengthening and toning their shoulder and back muscles.
• Balancing Elements for Core Strengthening: 
  Some unique cat trees feature balancing elements like narrow beams or suspended platforms. These elements help your cat use its core muscles for balance. This, in turn, helps tone and strengthen its muscles. These muscles include those that support the spine.

Stress Reduction:

Elevated platforms and hiding spots on cat tree furniture serve as safe and secure spaces for your cat. Create a stress-free environment to prevent physical issues with the spine or muscles.

• Hideaway Spaces for Security:
   Cat tree houses often include hideaway spaces, providing secure and enclosed areas where your cat can retreat. These spaces make them feel safe, reducing stress and anxiety. If your cats experience long-term stress, it can lead to physical symptoms in their spine.
• Integration of Calming Materials: 
  Some cute cat trees incorporate materials known for their calming properties, such as soft faux fur or plush. These materials create a soothing environment that relieves mental stress.
• Strategic Placement in Quiet Areas: 
  Placing the small cat tree in a quiet space in the home will provide your cat with a peaceful retreat. Avoiding loud noises and disturbances helps create a calm environment, preventing stress that could affect the spine.

 

Prevents Obesity-Related Issues:

Regular physical activity, facilitated by a cat tree, helps to maintain a healthy weight. Obesity is a significant factor contributing to spinal problems in cats. By encouraging movement and play, a cat tree aids in weight management.

• Incorporation of Exercise Elements: 
  Cat trees for big cats with play elements, such as hanging toys or interactive features, motivate physical activity. Regular engagement in these activities helps burn calories, promotes weight management, and prevents obesity-related strain on the spine.
• Calorie-Burning Play Opportunities: 
  Elevated platforms and perches encourage jumping and climbing, providing calorie-burning opportunities. Jumping and climbing contribute to a more active lifestyle, reducing the risk of obesity.
• Integration of Feeding Stations: 
  Some cat trees have feeding stations on elevated platforms. Feeding in an elevated position engages the cat's muscles during meals, promoting activity and preventing obesity.

Simulates Hunting Instincts:

Many cat trees incorporate interactive elements such as hanging toys and dangling ropes. Engaging with these features stimulates your cat's hunting instincts, promoting agility and coordination. These activities, in turn, contribute to the overall health by keeping the cat physically active.

• Interactive Toys for Stalking and Pouncing: 
  Cat trees with dangling toys simulate prey-like movements, triggering a cat's instinct to stalk and pounce. These toys provide mental stimulation and engage the muscles along the spine as the cat moves in a hunting-like manner.
• Suspended Platforms for Prowling: 
  Cat trees with suspended platforms mimic the experience of perching on branches. Cats can sneak around and use their muscles to stay balanced and coordinated.
• Incorporation of Hiding Spaces: 
  Some wood cat trees feature hiding spots or cubbies where your cat can hide and observe its surroundings. This imitates how cats hunt, using their instincts and keeping their spine healthy with different movements.

Environmental Enrichment:

A cat tree gives cats vertical space to see their surroundings from different angles and enriches their environment. Climbing up and down is important for the mind and can stop boring actions that harm the spine.

• Variety of Textures for Sensory Stimulation: 
  The diverse textures on a cat tree, including carpet, sisal, and faux fur, provide sensory stimulation. Cats use their paws to explore and interact with different textures, which makes them feel good and happy.
• Vertical Exploration for Territorial Satisfaction: 
  Vertical spaces on a cat tree allow your cat to establish territory in a three-dimensional environment. Their instinctual need for territory marking is satisfied.
• Incorporation of Puzzle Elements: 
  Some cat trees include puzzle-like elements, such as hidden compartments or movable parts. These additions benefit your cat's mental abilities and complement their natural instincts for climbing and exploring. They help your cat think and solve problems, promoting mental stimulation. Additionally, they enhance their ability to navigate and explore their surroundings.

Joint Flexibility and Range of Motion:

Cats must jump and move on a cat tree to keep their joints flexible. This helps them maintain a good range of motion. This dynamic movement helps prevent stiffness in the spine and supports the flexibility of the entire musculoskeletal system.

• Multi-Articular Engagement: 
  The act of jumping, climbing, and navigating the various levels of a cat tree engages multiple joints simultaneously. The movement targets the spine. It also involves the shoulders, hips, and limbs. This promotes a wide range of motion in the cat's body.
• Dynamic Stretching during Play: 
  The dynamic movements involved in play on a cat tree, say, leaping between platforms, encourage dynamic stretching. Dynamic stretching is important for flexible joints, preventing stiffness in the spine, and keeping joints flexible and healthy.
• Prevention of Joint Degeneration: 
  Regular activities promote joint flexibility, preventing degenerative joint conditions. A cat tree helps cats move easily, keeps their joints healthy, and reduces the chance of spine problems like arthritis.

 

 

Strategic Placement of Scratching Surfaces:

Most cat trees have scratching posts at accessible heights. Regular scratching maintains healthy claws and encourages a full-body stretch. This stretching action extends to the spine, preserving spinal flexibility and preventing issues related to sedentary behavior.

• Comprehensive Stretching Posture: 
  Scratching posts incorporated into cat trees are at various heights. When cats scratch, they stretch their whole body, from their toes to their ears. This full-body stretch supports spinal health and ensures the cat's entire musculature.
• Maintenance of Healthy Claws: 
  Scratching serves the dual purpose of stretching and maintaining claw health. A cat tree prevents problems such as ingrown claws or long nails that can harm a cat's back. If not properly maintained, these issues can cause pain for the cat.
• Expression of Territorial Marking Behavior:
  Cats scratch for physical reasons and to mark their territory. Adding scratching surfaces to a cat tree allows your cat to scratch. This is beneficial for their mental health and overall well-being.

Tailored to Vertical Living Preferences:

Cats are natural climbers and prefer vertical spaces. Giving a cat tree lets cats do what comes naturally: climbing, sitting up high, and watching everything around them. This way of living helps cats' backs by lessening gravity's effect and encouraging a more natural and comfy position.

• Natural Climbing Instincts: 
  Cats are instinctual climbers. And a cat tree ensures they exercise this natural behavior. Climbing up satisfies cats' natural instincts and makes them feel secure and confident by fulfilling their desire for height.
• Reduction of Ground-Related Stressors: 
  Providing vertical spaces through a cat tree reduces stress related to ground-level encounters, where potential threats may occur. High perches provide a safe spot for cats to watch their surroundings, boosting their mental and physical health.

If you decide to select a perfect cat tree for your furry friends, Tangkula is here to help! Check the following links to get more info!

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• What To Prepare When Adopting Pets on International Pet Day
• What Kind of Enclosure Will Your Pets Like?
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