I have seen quite a few small wooden ladders leading onto apartment balconies, designed, I assume, for cats to come and go as they please. Does anyone know where you can buy such a thing, or have they just been made by particularly handy pet owners?

Alternatively, anyone know a cat sitter in/near Egg?
Thanks

Normally cat ladders are self made, easy enough with a bit of wood from Jumbo / Coop and some nails

If you can screw screws and cut wood, you can make one. I am sure someone could send you some plans or ideas.
What height?

For some cats, a long plank of wood for them to dig their nails into is enough.. (or even fish net... look here) and this is supposed to keep them in!!

Add to that a flower box holder "Blumenkastenhalterung" to attach said ladder to the balcony securely and you're all set.

Flower box holders can be found in any garden center/DIY store like Migros Do It+Garden, Coop Bau+Hobby, Jumbo, Obi, Landi etc.

Oh, and put a stool on the balcony where the ladder ends, makes for less base jumps should Slinky miss the jump onto the ladder to get down.

Just a question on this topic, are there rules governing whether people can just install a cat ladder, whats the best process to go through to get permission?

if you renting, you need your landlord permission. When we rented our flat, the landlord made it quite clear that we would not be allowed to install this kind of ladders... but then, the ball of fat&fur that I call my cat wouldn't have used it anyway... walking up and down on it would have sounded way too much like actually moving from the sofa...

On top of this, I'd also suggest giving a kind word to your neighbors below (if you have them) that you're intending to install one. Maybe make some cat-shaped cookies to give them along with the information.


That earlier linked post reminds me of the contraption we're intending to build to keep our cat from being able to get off our balcony. I think the 5th floor is a bit too high for her to safely traverse a ladder.

We've picked up a couple of latices to form corners (I want actually 4 more) to wrap the net ends around and then across the top... so that the whole thing looks more like an arbor rather than a "cage."

Something like this - but real, and two pairs set at right angles at each outer corner and then another pair, one on either side of our door, to anchor the net against the wall. Hopefully I can find some hearty relatively non-invasive flowers to help it be pretty.



(Link to give credit to the artist of this picture)

Cute Peg!