Kitty castle!

This took me longer to make than I thought it would, and was scaled down from what I originally wanted, but I think it worked out fine. We'll see what the cats think as they check it out on their own, I guess.

I got the idea from this site. There were some boxes left over from when my parents moved, so I used one of those to make the supports and the floors. I was originally going to have three floors, but it proved to be more work than I thought it would, and I didn't want to spend the whole day working on this.

I first cut the cardboard into strips 2 inches wide and about 18 inches long, 2 inches wider than the box. I cut a few longer than that for the "balcony."

Then I cut the slots for the floor supports to go through.

The floor supports are all in. In the lower left corner is where there will be an opening for the cats to go from the ground floor to the second floor. I cut a door in the side so they can get to the first floor.

And here's the floor...

Test kitten.

Test cat. It seemed to hold up pretty well, even under Keaton's weight. 

I cut a little archway for the second floor. I used the longer floor supports and used the cutout from the archway for the balcony, along with another scrap piece.

Keaton tries it out.

I cut the top flaps shorter, and gave them a turret kind of look. There are floor supports for the top floor as well, but I didn't make an entry from the second floor. 

Alex on the tower.

Keaton did not seem amused when I put her there to try it out. They can get down from the top floor by the ladder. I put a piece of thin plywood on top of the bottom box for a bit more stability.

Alex checks out the balcony.

It's certainly no wonder of engineering, but if the cats get at least a couple months of enjoyment out of it, then it's worth it.