Despite this there where lots of people with their eye on the bed but Leigh-Ann from Caversham in the UK was first to nab the unit & collected it from the studio before Christmas - Leigh-Ann is delighted with the unit as shown on our Thumbs Up page & we are double delighted that foster cats Eva & Snow are making the most of this Hicat® reject.

Advanced Orders will be fulfilled on our return in March - online purchases received during our closure will be attended to on our return as well.

Please get in touch if you would like us to hold this piece for collection or we can arrange UK delivery for £8 - if you’re not UK based we are happy to post but the shipping cost might be a bit of downer.

UPDATE - Chris from Usk in the UK has nabbed this piece & is going to create some DIY cat furniture over the holidays.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

As shown on Instagram one of the pieces is a Cat Nap Bed™ with a zero price because of some below par & heavy handed finishing but it was too good for the bin so we thought we’d offer it up as freebie - there’s also a few of our new Twist Pile Cat Nap Bed™ units in Black & Cotton colours that are super comfy & touchy feely.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

We’ve had a few practices at different finishing techniques to try & make the seams as discrete as possible & think we’ve got to a version that has a fewest & neatest cuts - there will be a couple of these new Cat Nap Bed Bed™ pieces available as December Christmas Stock including some seconds.

As usual we’ll update everyone next month on specific cut off dates for Standard Orders before our break noting that Stock & Accessory items can still be despatched before we break up at the end of January - orders & online purchases received during our closure will be attended to on our return.

Thanks for bearing with us while we take our break.

We’ve added the new Poke Hole & Retro Polecat Wall Fixing Kit options to the Bespoke Features page - the Poke Hole will cost £12 to add to a Full Shelf or Recessed Top & the Retro Polecat Wall Fixing Kit will cost £48, slightly more than the other versions because of the extra hardware needed for the install.

Press Up Polecat & Two Piece Polecat have been added to the Bespoke Units page - pricing & install instructions for these units is still being worked on & will be updated ASAP.

Our Mimi Special Edition darts have been added to the Accessories Shop - we have around 20 sets in stock at the moment & it’s doubtful if we can get our hands on more of these darts.

Ballast & Deep Nest options are available to order as bespoke Catapilla™ options as shown on our Blog page - our Price List & Catapilla™ Assembly pages have been updated to included these units,

AVM availability has been updated to the separate product pages - we have plenty of stock of AVM Moon Wool, a limited supply of Tar & Iron with only a few of cuts of Smoke suitable for Polecat, Fatcat & Catapilla™ units.

The Bobcat page & Bespoke Units pages have been revised to now show the storage version of Bobcat as a separate order option - the Tall Bobcat version has also been updated with regards to Climb-Through Shelf options noting that the MDF Lid is only for the Storage Bobcat units.

Squarespace Payments has now replaced Stripe as our default payment processing provider - like Stripe this platform keeps your financial information safe with PCI-compliant servers, payment data encryption, secure checkouts, & accepts all the same major credit cards as Stripe.

PayPal & ClearPay have been removed as payment options at checkout as neither of these have proved popular - we’ve have some purchases made using these services but the admin associated with managing these additional payment options is basically too onerous for the number of transactions made.

We are still testing our two-piece modified Polecat at the studio but it looks like this option will make both previous install options obsolete - as noted previously this type of install option is the last resort for those who are unable drill into their ceiling, for example people in rented accommodation, so would always recommend the single hole mechanical install for Floor-To-Ceiling units.

The ballast chamber on SixToo™ was developed from our Bobcat unit & is filled through a hole in the base then sealed with a plug - it occurred to us that we could have a larger filling hole in the shelf in the lower Access Hole Compartment which could be covered with a removable Twist Pile Insert.

The improvements over the existing filling arrangement are that if you do get a rogue bag of kiln dried sand that has some light moisture in it there won’t be any problems with clumping as you can the scoop sand into the larger filling hole, instead of using a funnel, then cover the shelf with the Twist Pile insert saving lots of time & mess - also loading the ballast in an upright position is a huge benefit instead of having to wrestle with the +70kg unit & the icing on the cake is being able to easily add more ballast if required instead of having to invert, fill, right & then test the unit for stability.

We are going to implement the new ballast filling changes straight away noting that the last remaining AVM Wool SixToo™ Stock Item has the old ballast filling detail - we may also look at using this new ballast detail on our Bobcat units & are also testing various silicon bungs to put in the filling hole to keep things safe & finish things off neatly.

The handle needs to have some material removed around the end so that it’s more comfortable to grip but the big change is with the way the wand connects into the handle - we’ve spent lots of fabrication time trying to add a 2mm thread to the rod & handle to make it interchangeable but we are simply breaking too many dies & taps during this process.

Instead of a threaded rod we are going to simplify things & have one that is glued into the handle with a felt end that can be stripped & replaced when it becomes worn - we’ve done this with our cat toys over the years, which only takes a minute or two to sort &, although customers would need to invest in a glue gun, the replacement cost of felt fingers & the opportunity for customers to add & design their own wand ends makes this the best eco & cost option.

The 500mm long rod feels just about right in terms of flex but we can obviously make pieces that are slightly longer if required - the 100mm long stainless steel handle also feels about right in terms of size but we won’t be able to lengthen the handle as we will be buying in these pieces in cut lengths.

The Stick Thingy-Me-Jig would still come with a choice of felt end designs along with a Thumb design that customers can cut into their own bespoke design - we are thinking of offering a starter kit that includes a 7mm glue gun with black hot melt glue sticks with felt spares for those who want to take their play to the next level.

Please get in touch if you would like us to hold this piece for collection or we can arrange UK delivery for £8 - if you’re not UK based we are happy to post but the shipping cost might be a bit of downer.

UPDATE - Eleanor from London has reserved this piece to make a wardrobe cat ladder.

This type of install uses a Velcro fastener between an adjustable foot & ceiling as opposed to drilling a hole in the ceiling for a connector to locate into - like our standard Floor-To-Ceiling Polecat the unit can be installed either way up to help with managing wear & tear over time.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

It’s not the best example of what we do as it was made as test unit for our cats & has a horizontal seam close to one end & has also become very discoloured from being on window display at the studio for years but someone might quiet like the “distressed” look - there’s also a burn at one end of the unit next to the seam where a bulb has rested on the unit but the cosmetic issues won’t stop the unit being enjoyed as a climber & a Cat’s Cradles can be added to mix things up in terms of play & rest.

Please get in touch by the end of November if you would like your name put in to the hat for the December draw noting that collection would be from our SE1 studio or we can arrange UK delivery for £78 (this includes the £48 +2.4m TNT delivery supplement) - if you’re not UK based you’re still welcome to enter the draw noting that shipping would probably be expensive because of the length.

The unit is in as new condition with 40kg of ballast added so it will weigh around 70kg in total – it’s finished in Natural Coir with Black Twist Pile internals & has a Worm Hole Shelf between compartments plus Peep Hole & comes with Hicatch Toy. 

If you are interested in buying the unit & able to arrange collection from Edinburgh then please get in touch & we can forward your details to Isabel to discuss logistics & price directly.

The Rebelle edition of darts are marketed at female Nerf customers but they can be thrown & retrieved by all cats as we don’t have a gender play gap here.

We’ve just received stock so will switch to this new finish as soon as existing stock runs out noting that existing Stock Items will obviously have the old style of Black Twist Pile carpet - we are also pleased to say that we’ve shopped wisely & procured this finish in roll quantity so there is no price increase.

As noted in the original blog this Classis range also has a Cotton Twist Pile colour, which we have used & will also look to switch to once our current Vanilla Twist Pile stock has been used up but this colour will be at a premium as we won’t be buying in roll prices - there are also other colours available in this range, which we can look to source like other Bespoke Finishes but these will also come at a premium as again we won’t be able to buy in rolls.

AVM Smoke Wool stock is now down to a couple of cuts, enough to fabricate a Polecat & Fatcat sized units - we’ve updated the website noting that we have plenty of stock of AVM Moon Wool with limited amounts of AVM Tar, AVM Iron & Vanilla Twist Pile .

Please get in touch if you would like us to hold this piece for collection or we can arrange UK delivery for £8 - if you’re not UK based we are happy to post but the shipping cost might be a bit of downer.

A stainless steel 10mm diameter 100mm long handle will mean that’s it’s easier to hold & grip - it will also undoubtedly help with precision play to perfect those shimmying, flicking, parrying, waggling moves.

We are fabricating a sample & will be experimenting with different design felt wand sections that have various combinations of fingers & thumbs - the standard two finger end will feature along with three & four finger variants but thumbs have also been created, which can be cut into customer created designs as shown in the examples below.

This R&D piece was prompted by Thomas, from Rimini in Italy, & he & his cats Duma & Loki will be helping us with product testing in between playing on their recently acquired XL SixToo™, which they attached themselves to as soon as it came through the front door.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

The stainless steel frame for our Cat’s Cradle has increased in price by a whopping 50%, which has added £12 to the supply cost of the frame - we’ve added this net cost to the price of the product without a margin.

The MDF CNC machining for Scraaatch™ has increased slightly so this has added a couple of pounds across some pieces in the range - the superior sisal rope that’s used on Scraaatch™ has also increased but we’ve been able to limit any impact on the product cost through purchasing arrangements.

Postage has been adjusted slightly to cover increased Royal Mail pricing & International shipping also tweaked to reflect pricing adjustments to SixToo™, which actually reduced as we’ve found a third party agent that can beat our DHL account pricing - shipping is still very much a moving target with international orders but we have managed to negotiate a much better non-express service rate for Europe with DHL so if you have received a delivery supplement quote in the past for a European shipment, which you thought was too high, it’s definitely worth asking us to quote again as the price will be substantially less using the economy service.

Maff did an excellent job in cutting out & adding in the new coir section but after another two years of love & intense use Maff got in touch again to see if we could recover the whole of the unit - we have never recovered a Polecat before & although the estimated cost to recover the worn unit, along with shipping back & forth, was a lot less than buying new Maff decided on a brand spanking new Polecat for his cats.

After Maff made his purchase we were still deliberating on how easy & how much it would cost to recover a Polecat so rather than dispose of the worn unit we asked Maff if he would mind if organised for the Polecat to be shipped back to us so we could use it as a test sample - best case Maff would have a unit that he could think about purchasing at some point in the future at a much reduced price, worst case we would have a unit that we could offer to charity or as an Up For Grabs unit.

The stripping & recovering of the Polecat went really well & it basically looks like new so we can think about offering this recovering service as an option for customers who have a unit that’s been loved to bits - the cost for the recovering this 220cm Natural Coir unit works out to be around half the new unit cost excluding delivery noting that this recovering service would only apply to Polecat units & not pieces with Access Holes, like Tomcat, Fatcat, SixToo™ & Catapilla™, as these features prevent the unit from being stripped & recovered.

We’ve already thought about the customer kit that will need to be used to carry out the assembly, which would include the collar, glue & brush, but need to think a bit more about the finishing where the sections are joined - we also use a cloth tape binding around the joint on our extended +3m units but didn't do this for our Polecat adaption as it won’t be possible to add with the home assembly but this doesn’t seem to have impacted on the strength of the joint.

Fat Pads & Stick Thingys are the usual giveaways but we’ve stock piled some bags of kiln dried paving sand at the studio, which we can send out instead of the usual freebies - adding a couple of 20kg sand bags to this type of door-to-door delivery service doesn’t attract any surcharge & it can save the customer a trip to the garden centre or a separate delivery charge for sand.

These freebie arrangements also sometimes apply to online purchases or Stock items delivered to local address where packaging isn’t required or delivery is lower than expected - obviously if a customer is local & would prefer to take advantage of possible savings in delivery cost they are welcome to get in touch before making a purchase so we can advise on any savings or even think about a studio collection.

We do still recommend a mechanical fixing to the ceiling for the Polecat over this Press Up version so this type of install would only get used in situations where there is basically no other option & it will need more safety checks than the standard install - unfortunately, the two piece design that we have also been testing on the same unit isn’t a runner so we still won’t be offering a two piece Polecat for the time being.

We’ve already made a pair of mounts for Kerstin, a customer based in Cologne, Germany, who was struggling with a Floor-To-Ceiling Polecat install on an oiled hard floor so got in touch to see if we could help - the kits have been installed & Kerstin has reported that they look great noting that you can’t see the wires at all.

We will be adding this Retro Polecat Wall Fixing Kit to the Accessories page in the online shop noting that it can be fabricated to an offset between 8-22cm like the standard Wall Mounted Polecat & will be available in a standard painted White or Black finish - it will be priced at £48, slightly more than the Wall Fixing Kits, because of the additional hardware & fixings.

Laura from Lady Dina’s corrected the wear & tear stats that we published in the previous blog a while ago but we forgot to do this update - the Polecat was actually climbed by around 45 cats since it’s install, 30 of which have been up & down the post in the last two years but it’s been the last 18 cats that put the unit through the grinder along with most of the other furnishing by the sounds of it.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

Please get in touch if you would like us to hold this piece for collection or we can arrange UK delivery for £6.95 - if you’re not UK based we are happy to post but the shipping cost might be a bit of downer.

Dima, as he’s affectionately known, weighs 9kg & Kat was wondering whether to specify a Worm Hole Shelf between compartments but decided against it because she felt it would be a bit of a squeeze for Dima - we suggested that a small hole in the shelf might be fun to poke & tickle Dima through so wanted to mention him as the inspiration for this new feature, which we’ve named the Poke Hole.

Poke Holes can be centred in Full Shelves, including Recessed Tops, but can also be placed in any position on any type of shelf & you can have more than one at each level, just like Peep Holes - they will also be a similar size as Peep Holes but because they are cut into a horizontal shelf they can easily be sized up as well.

After lots of consultation with those in the know we are going with a stainless steel rod, because it’s whippiest, with deeper cut firm felt fingers fingers, because they wear better & have more movement - this design combo will be used for all of our Stick Thingys but if you would like a different combo of materials then please get in touch & we will always do our best to accommodate your request.

If wall mounted a Lid or Recessed Top can be added to help stop the coir wrapped end detail on the top cap from fraying if your cat is able to climb on top of the unit after it’s been installed in it’s new home - if you want to install as a floor-to-ceiling unit you could look to add a base pedestal or extension to take the unit up to a new ceiling height or if the gap is just a few centimetres we can provide a longer connector or feet to take up a few centimeters difference in height.

It’s around 8 years old but still in really good condition with some slight signs of wear & tear - it’s been specified with Climb-Through Shelves & has double Peep Holes at the back of the unit.

Please get in touch by 30 September if you would like your name put in to the hat for the October draw noting that collection would be from our London SE1 studio or we can arrange UK delivery for £78 - if you’re not UK based you’re still welcome to enter the draw noting that shipping to Rome would be £88 & £298 to New York for example.

We’ve already fabricated a beefed up end cap collar that has an adjustable stem built into it & this will tension the 400mm spreader plate up to the ceiling so that no holes need to be drilled - the spreader plate will have felt protectors to stop the ceiling getting marked & we plan on fabricating a Polecat to test the design in our studio display area next month so will keep everyone updated on progress.

A customer sent us a short video of their Bengal kittens playing with Dotti’s recently but we can’t seem to lay our paws on this video - if you sent it please would you get in touch as we would love to share this on our Thumbs Up page.

If you have a testimonial that you would like us to post on the Thumbs Up page, or update with fresh piccies or video, then feel free to get in touch.

Peep Holes on AVM Wool units that had a black membrane between ribs like Moon, Iron & Tar, were being finished with our standard natural coloured hot melt glue so finishing these features required several layered attempts to get a dense looking build up of glue & fibres - we did fabricate a stock item that used just black hot melt glue to form the Peep Holes, which was an improvement but by adding black fibres to the glue whilst forming the hole gives a much softer & better finished hole to spy, pass treats or play through.

Dotti was being cut by hand using a metal washer as a template but we are now using a leather punch to form the disc - we’ve also updated the face on Dotti to a new joyful smile to match its new clean cut image.

Magic Freestanding Fatcat units were being fabricated with an internal MDF Painted Lid or Climb-Through Shelf with the aperture positioned to the front to allow the ballast chamber to be filled from inside the bottom compartment - these units will now be specified as standard with a Worm Hole Shelf that has an oversize hole in it to enable larger ballast to pass through it & then covered with MDF/Twist Pile Inserts.

We have previously fabricated a Tomcat that had a Climb-Through Shelf in the Recessed Top but did not recommend this feature as the seam where the internal Twist Pile carpet met the external finish that wrapped into the Recessed Top could be prone to fraying if climbed over - we’ve recently completed a Magic Freestanding Fatcat & because the top Access Hole Compartment is directly below the Recessed Top there will be no climbing involved in getting on to the Recessed Top from inside the unit, just a short hop, so we think the seam won’t be exposed to any real wear & tear & will now offer this as a Bespoke Feature.

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There’s a couple of tickets for the show worth £60 that we will be putting into an Up For Grabs draw in August so please keep an eye on our CHAT Blog & newsletter for updates - alternatively if you don’t want to miss out, get your tickets now at thecatshowlive.co.uk/tickets.

We will only be displaying a SixToo™ & Scraaatch™ Stand Pipe so if you would like to chat through a specific product then please get in touch beforehand so we can prepare specifications, diagrams & quotations before we meet on the day.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

Please get in touch if you would like us to hold this piece for collection or we can arrange UK delivery for £5.95 - if you’re not UK based we are happy to post but the shipping cost might be a bit of downer.

UPDATE - Jill from Marina de Rey, USA has reserved this piece to make some cat shelves.

We will only be displaying a couple of pieces so if you are planning on attending & would like to chat through a specific product then please get in touch beforehand so we can prepare specifications, diagrams & quotations before we meet on the day.

There’s a couple of tickets for the show worth £60 that we will be putting into an Up For Grabs draw so please keep an eye on our CHAT Blog & newsletter for updates.

We’ve also decided to rename our AVM BB Wool to AVM Moon Wool - the website has been updated but don’t be surprised if you still spot references to the BB name in Blog or Instagram feeds.

As things stand we still have stock of Moon & Tar with limited stock of Smoke & Iron - as previously noted there are no plans to import more Bone, Bark or Stone colours at the moment.

UK customers still have the option to pay by bank transfer - bank transfers are made directly into our bank account & don’t attract any charges so we make a point of including toys or accessories as pressies with the customers order as a thank you gesture.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

Links to Pinterest on our website have been removed along with connected accounts - although our account is officially offline Pins are still showing for some reason at the moment when you search for Hicat so we will keep an eye on this.

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]]>Bobcat Definitely Rehomed...PromotionsHicat®Fri, 07 Jun 2024 07:13:58 +0000https://www.hicat.co.uk/chat/off-cut-up-for-grabs-may-2024-diy-cat-shelf52c15df7e4b04b560cae0f98:5624f776e4b01226f11a6aca:6658aaad73a086295759e1d0We have a cut of Crucial Trading Alaska Silver Squirrel Wool that’s up for grabs if someone wants to roll their sleeves up & start a cat DIY project - the piece is only 120cm long 54cm wide but would make a great cat scratching board or a couple of cat shelves.

Please get in touch if you would like us to hold this piece for collection or we can arrange UK delivery for £5.80 - if you’re not UK based we are happy to post but the shipping cost might be a bit of downer.

UPDATE - Jill from Santa Monica, USA has reserved this piece for a DIY cat project.

The label looks splendid perched on the end of a stick but the measure will be how it goes down as a wand toy & we think the contrasting colours might do the trick in grabbing your cat’s attention when flapped about - we are sending out samples to a few customers to gauge things & will let everyone know how it goes down.

Whilst closing our account the Amex representative asked if they could read the notes before cancelling our card & to their surprise read out that the packaging info was investigated & what was delivered weighed .001kg, not the expected 30-40kg weight of the 2.2m tall cat climber - the representative said that they had heard of this type of scam before & Amex had set up a procedure for tackling it when Amex customers made a purchases for a television for example but received a pen.

They were very apologetic for missing this & said they would investigate - sadly Pinterest still have numerous dodgy adverts & offers for the same product on their website so the penny hasn’t dropped yet with them or they don’t seem to care.

This will be the biggest diameter piece we’ve made to date & we’re also planning to make 2XL versions of our Tall Bobcat & Cat Nap Ring™ - tube diameter sizes used in fabrication so far are 152mm for Polecat, 305mm for Tomcat & 400mm for Fatcat, Bobcat, SixToo™, Catapilla™, Cat Nap Rings & Beds noting that we’ve also used a 450mm tube for OOAK XL versions of Fatcat, Bobcat & Cat Nap Beds.

We are at the final finishing stage with this extra-extra-large SixToo™ & will probably make it available as this month’s stock item - it’s finished in AVM Moon Wool with Black Twist Pile internals & has been specified with Worm Hole Shelf between compartments, Worm Hole Recessed Top, multiple Peep Holes with a finished external diameter of 540mm with an internal diameter of 485mm.

The narrowly woven looped pile weave meant that we had to look at new ways to finish seams & after a test run with the Audrey finish we’ve just put the finishing touches to a Mississippi Wool version - this 600mm wide piece will be available to purchase as this month’s Stock Item but the Audrey prototype is not quite up to scratch so this will be on show in our studio display area.

In carrying out the prototyping we’ve also come up with a new construction process for the shelf that uses a single moisture resistant piece of MDF rather than three layers that are bonded together - this neater design means that it will be stronger & also more economic to fabricate as it takes less time to cut, form & bond the shelf core.

Camille from London was looking for a wool carpet that was un-dyed for her Bespoke Freestanding Fatcat units & chose this Brockway carpet - we had two offcuts left over from Camille’s order & one of these was used to fabricate a SixToo™ but unfortunately the carpet has not held up as expected as mentioned in our recent C&C Feedback blog noting that Camille’s units have not suffered the same issue.

Please get in touch if you would like us to hold this piece for collection or we can arrange UK delivery for £12.95 - if you’re not UK based we are happy to post but the shipping cost might be a bit of downer.

UPDATE - Sally from London has nabbed this piece for a DIY cat pole project.

Drum roll please….

The lucky winner of the draw is Julianne from High Wycombe - we hope her cats love the unit.

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]]>Bobcat Needs A Home Update...ProductHicat®Mon, 29 Apr 2024 15:00:00 +0000https://www.hicat.co.uk/chat/april-2024-stock-item-cat-tower52c15df7e4b04b560cae0f98:5624f776e4b01226f11a6aca:662cc411422230755af5b2a3This month’s stock item is a Bespoke SixToo™ finished in AVM Moon Wool.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

Twist Pile Supplies - comparing Twist Pile finishes normally gets covered on studio visits & the difference in pile heights between standard Black & Cotton finishes often debated so with our standard Black Twist Pile now being obsolete it looks like we will be moving to the thicker more luxurious version that we planned to move to in 2021 after the flood but had to cancel because of logistical issues.

Stick Thingy - we still haven’t settled on a definitive version of this wand toy so the metal vs glass fibre rods & soft felt vs. hard felt fingers debate rattles on.

Peep Holes - these have been revised lately in terms of fibre & hot melt glue finishing depending on the exterior carpet used as the main covering but a couple of customers have also suggested that we should highlight what a great value for money add on feature these little spy holes are & how they contribute to the overall enjoyment of the unit.

SixToo™ Ballast - we recommend 40kg minimum for these units on our SixToo™ assembly page but customers have adjusted this to between 30-35kg for 3-4kg cats & 45-50kg for 6-8kg cats noting that if you have a multi cat household these figures would need to be increased - we think that 10kg extra for each cat is a good starting point.

Checkout Options - we are still reviewing whether PayPal is going to be added as a payment option & also whether payment instalment plans offered by some lenders could be offered at checkout but we have made the decision to do away with Hicat® Gift Cards as the demand for these is practically zero.

MDF/Twist Pile Inserts - these pieces basically turn Climb-Through & Worm Hole Shelves into Full Shelves & have historically been included with orders free-of-charge as they were initially made from carpet & MDF offcuts but they are now being asked for on a regular basis & are drawing on our stock so we may start making a small change for these retro fit items.

Hicat® North America Partner - there have been a few more people approach us to look into partnering opportunities for North America but nothing has been progressed in terms of detail so with air cargo shipping still on the increase we will have another look to see if our Catapilla™, SixToo™ & Cat Wall™ pieces could be group shipped as stock by sea to take advantage of much better container load freight costs.

Hicat® Japan Partner - we are still in contact with Arata who is doing his best to look at generating orders & promoting Hicat® in Japan in between his other commitments but no orders so far however Koishi is still enjoying her Wall Mounted Tomcat along with Stick Thingy, which she transports floor-to-floor whilst making “big noises” on the stairs.

DIY Tomcat & Fatcat - our DIY Polecat guide has been around for years & lots of people have made use of this in conjunction with our DIY Polecat kit so off the back of the Tomcat DIY blog we penned after hearing from Andy we have drafted a version of this guide for our larger diameter units & may publish this later in the year.

Up For Grabs - lots of people are feeling a bit left out of our Up For Grabs as they simply don’t see the CHAT blog on the offer until it’s sent out in the monthly round up newsletter so we have introduced new Up For Grab draws which will now means that all interested parties will get a look in if more than one taker gets in touch that calendar month.

T&Cs Update - the Customer Notes that form our T&Cs are being reviewed & revised as there are some outdated terms with regards to ordering & delivery arrangements along with updates in installation & assembly, the latter seemingly always being discussed when we have a studio visit probably because of the impact of the pandemic on courier arrangements & pricing.

Bespoke Customers Own Material (COM) - a customer has recently been in touch to report that the external COM finish on her SixToo™ was delaminating & coming away at the seams. After reviewing photos it was apparent that the carpet, which was a COM off cut from a previous order, was coming away from the woven backing rather than debonding from the core so we will not be making any more pieces that use COM remnants. We have made a visit to this customer to repair the unit & are still happy to make units in COM for customers on the basis that we can test the carpet for bonding, seaming & finishing but can’t take any responsibility for the wear & tear or durability of the carpet itself.

USA Import Duties & Charges - after our CHAT Blog on whether US customs charges are being levied we have been following up with customers & everyone we’ve contacted so far has reported nil charges for their Hicat® import.

Retail & Online Sales - at some point during studio visits the subject of selling through retailers comes up as a missed opportunity but as explained to those who are looking out for us these business 2 business arrangements simply won’t work for us because of the bespoke nature of our pieces, & our non-bespoke stock pieces that could be held as stock are a non-runner as the margins that retailers want to work with are unworkable for us.

AVM Moon Wool - we ordered 100m2 of this finish last year so won’t be ordering any alternative AVM colours until this stockpile is used up. We are planning a few promotions that use the AVM Moon Wool finish on our SixToo™ as we still think that this unit is one of the best pieces that we’ve designed to date. We are are planning on making lots of Stock in this Bespoke Finish along with a SixToo™/Polecat combo for our future Hicat® R&D home based team (we mean our own kitties), which is why our home Hicat® units will be up for grabs soon.

Thumbs Up - we are really proud of our Thumbs Up testimonials page as it embodies why we started Hicat® but we are struggling to get our message across to new customers as our online presence, mainly on Google, Instagram & Pinterest, seems to be waning for some reason. We pulled out of Facebook years ago but not sure if this is related & did ask for some support from customers when we got our first Google review, which was a bogus one, so asked for some genuine ones in response & got amazing reviews volunteered by some real 5 star customers. Other than that incident we don’t solicit reviews & we have never paid for social media engagement but are wondering whether we should be doing more with our customers to see if you can help us spread the word via your social media activity along side the C&C feed back above.

Both units are finished in AVM Iron Wool & are showing signs of wear in terms of matting on the surfaces most climbed or scratched with fraying seams around Access & Peep Holes, which can be attended to as noted in our CHAT blog - the Cat’s Cradles will be re-used on our new setup so won’t be part of the rehoming but new perches are available to purchase online.

The Polecat has been made-to-measure for a 282cm ceiling height but can be modified as explained in our DIY Adaption Guide - the 222cm tall Fatcat has Climb-Through Compartments between Access Holes & has been installed using the original two piece Wall Mount design so would suggest replacing this with the current Wall Fixing Kit.

We will send out a rehoming CHAT Blog on how to register your interest when we have a replacement date lined up noting that collection will be from N1 London - if there are more than one takers then there will be a first name out of the hat affair.

To try & help with this we are thinking about adding PayPal as a payment option & have adjusted some settings on our merchant card console, which may help stop failed attempts but if you are pulling your hair out trying to make a purchase then please get in touch & we can investigate - UK customers have the option of a bank transfer & as noted in our Customer Information we include some freebies e.g. cushions or toys, when this payment option is selected as we don’t incur card merchant fees so this saving is passed on to our customers.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

Adding a Peep Hole type aperture at the back meant that the lid could be easily rotated & lifted off for cleaning - the scalloped shaped base meant that you needed less litter to fill the same toilet area.

As you will see from the branding we designed this more than 12 years ago & did register the design as we were going to look at getting a small batch made but the production cost was just to high for us to finance even in limited colours as opposed to the full range of 12 shown on the product sheet - you never know with advancements in 3D printing & injection moulding techniques it may be that one day this Littaball design might appear in our online shop at some point in the future.

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]]>More Potty Mouth CHAT...NewsPromotionsHicat®Mon, 18 Mar 2024 15:54:02 +0000https://www.hicat.co.uk/chat/bobcat-needs-a-home-march-202452c15df7e4b04b560cae0f98:5624f776e4b01226f11a6aca:65f569d2a1fab92b5ae9e353Gerald, a Hicat® customer from London, has generously offered his AVM Wool Tall Storage Bobcat for rehoming - the unit is finished in AVM Stone Wool with Black Twist Pile internals & was initially used by Gerald’s cat as a kitten but is no longer in favour as an adult.

It’s 80cm tall with a 20cm deep Storage Compartment accessed through a lid in the Recessed Top that can be covered with a Fat Pad or Twist Pile insert (both included) - the unit does have signs of wear & tear around the upper section but is still in good condition overall.

We are going to offer this unit as a prize draw so please get in touch by the end of April 2024 if you would like your name to go into the hat.

The lucky winner can collect the unit from the studio or we can arrange UK delivery for £16.95 noting that the Bobcat is already filled with approx 15kg of ballast & this need to be removed if sending by courier - if you live outside of the UK you’re welcome to be included in the draw but the shipping cost might take the shine off things noting that delivery would be around £88 to Europe & £145 to the US.

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]]>Bobcat Needs A Home...ProductHicat®Mon, 11 Mar 2024 13:54:00 +0000https://www.hicat.co.uk/chat/website-update-march-202452c15df7e4b04b560cae0f98:5624f776e4b01226f11a6aca:65ec6a12ada5d272935c4964Installation & assembly page along with FAQs page have been updated to reflect latest packaging & install changes - the two piece packaging for SixToo™ is now shown in the step-by-step diagrams & we’ve also updated a few diagrams on the Freestanding Tomcat & Fatcat page to reflect the recent felt pad additions along with Polecat install options noted in our recent Product Update Blog.

Please get in touch if you would like us to hold this piece for collection or we can arrange UK delivery for £6.95 - if you’re not UK based we are happy to post but the shipping cost might be a bit of downer.

UPDATE - this piece has been nabbed by Wendy in Perth, Scotland.

We’ve received a refund from our card issuer for our phantom cat climber but wanted to update everyone on some details - after disputing this purchase with our card company we think the scam is that the retailer sends an insignificant letter or package using China Post to a postcode that’s the same as the order address but with different street address details so that something gets tracked & delivered.

We confirmed with our card company that the retailer was unable to provide a commercial invoice for the import, there was no shipping weight or dimension details provided for the package or on the despatch information noting that a delivery on Sunday by the courier fulfilling the shipment for China Post was very unusual.

Despite reporting the scam to Pinterest the same product is still being marketed on their platform - the cat climber we ordered has now been reduced in price to a mind blowing £31.68 with an irresistible Buy One Get One Free Offer to boot….hurry, whilst stock lasts :).

Funnily enough, we’ve actually heard from a newsletter reader from Scotland who had exactly the same experience with Anboke Inc after purchasing a book - this reader unfortunately didn’t get their money back!

We’ve also heard from one of our customers, Maff from Northampton in the UK, who has sent us a link to the company who actually makes this cat climber - the non-phantom price is £1,810 & the company is called Mewcats who are based in China but sell worldwide to consumers as well as wholesale for those interested in making a purchase.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

The new Peep Hole finishing gives a harder rougher texture to the inside of the rim of the Peep Holes & although not as soft to the touch as the Twist Pile version they will be harder wearing & are closer in texture to the black backing on AVM Moon Wool.

As noted in our FAQs we have had a few customers struggle to stop their Polecats from sliding during play & climbing so have sent out extra foam pads & sometimes Velcro coins to place under units to stop this unwanted movement - the new non-slip mat is an easier retro fit than the Velcro discs & isn’t meant to be a replacement for the foam discs that come with the install pack just an option for customers that need some extra grip.

We thought it would be nice for people that are new to our newsletter & for those that simply missed these videos first time around to share the Instagram reels again - there are also a few customers videos that have been uploaded to our Instagram feed, some of which also appear on our Thumbs Up page.

Our gang of four are no longer with us in body but their spirited antics, both off & on their beloved Hicat® live on.

Access Holes had internal inserts added around the finishing pattern to line up pile heights, the Recessed Top was beefed up to match the thickness of the walls around the Access Holes whilst the bottom of the unit had a special reduced height end cap assembly for the external wrap, which is about half the pile height of AVM Wool & Coir.

Cassius & his team are currently testing the piece along with a special Stick Thingy that has four fingers at one end, eight at the other - the Bobcat has passed all of the initial quality checks & we’ll let you know if the same goes for the Stick Thingy.

Our 4m long bench was up to the job but the delivery would have been a challenge if Emma wasn’t local to us as the maximum length TNT will take is 3.6m for UK mainland deliveries - Pedal Me came to the rescue using their trailer service noting that weather permitting we are delivering our London orders unwrapped (with an OK from the customer) to save on using the plastic.

The extra tall piece is being installed in a warehouse apartment next to a mezzanine floor hence the +4m unit length - as noted on our Bespoke Units page we can fabricate units up to 480cm long in Natural Coir & up to 600cm in AVM Wool.

UPDATE - Teresa has received a thank you from Cats Protection saying it’s a lovely present - they also sent a photo of one of their centre guests Graham, noting that he gave the unit a little scratch before jumping on top & looking very foxy.

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]]>Website Update...Hicat®Thu, 11 Jan 2024 06:17:00 +0000https://www.hicat.co.uk/chat/cat-curiosity52c15df7e4b04b560cae0f98:5624f776e4b01226f11a6aca:655cf42db9d47d342a9730d0If you are a Pinterest subscriber like us you’ve probably seen lots of adverts for cat furniture, which we do click on from time-to-time out of interest, but a particular piece really grabbed our attention - the main reason was that this 2.3m high 6 cubby hole cat tree was selling for £48 so we couldn’t resist making a purchase.

Under £50 for a cat tree of this scale was an unbelievable bargain even if it wasn’t constructed to the highest standards or used premium materials so we were very curious to see what you get for your money.

To be honest we knew things looked a bit fishy before placing an order - the discounted price from £397 to £47 was the main concern but we have received price lists from manufacturers in places like China where the same cat trees are being sold for a 5-10 times their wholesale price by UK retail outlets so maybe this company was just cutting out the middle man.

We did try to do some background searching for Letcmv.shop, the company selling these products for reviews & company information, but couldn’t find anything.

We really got hooked on whether this was the real deal or not so placed our order.

After 3 weeks of waiting for our order & chasing Anboke Inc, the company who actually receipted the sale of the product, the order was showing as delivered to our studio in London but nothing actually turned up.

Sadly, it’s what we feared initially & this was simply a scam so wanted to share this with our readers just in case someone was tempted by the same or similar offer - we are going to report this to Pinterest as there’s advert after advert by various shops all branded & marketing the same products.

The text & images below do link to web addresses at the time of posting this blog but these probably won’t stay active for ever - it looks like links to the various stores promoting these products on Pinterest are already being closed down & new store fronts created.

Just to note we don’t do paid advertising on Pinterest, Instagram or Google so any Hicat® listings or search results shown are purely organic.

A badly woven & kinked coir edge which formed the Recessed Top on unit caused a few issues with the inset ring & lid sizing so we did some template adjustments by eye, rather than scribing, for a replacement piece thinking that this unit would end up in the bin but after some touching up with paint & touching in with fibres we think this Bobcat deserves a place in someone’s home or charity centre.

We were going to do a spot the difference competition between this unit & the one that we remade instead of a draw but decided against it as the differences aren’t that noticeable - if you do want to compare then have a look at the Instagram post.

The deadline for the prize draw is the 08 January & it’s open to anyone - please get in touch if you would like your name put in the hat noting that the unit is for studio collection or we can arrange UK Mainland delivery for £12.95.

If you’re not UK based we are happy to ship but the cost might be a bit of downer - as a guide shipping this piece to the North America would be around £140 & to Europe would be around £45 based on UPS/FedEx services but it will be sent a a gift so no import duties or taxes to pay.

Andy used 48” long 12” diameter tube formers for the structure & a basket type weave rug for the external finish, which Brim (Andy’s cat) has no issues in climbing up but is a bit tentative climbing down, which is pretty normal for most types of carpet while cats are finding their feet - the internal surface has been lined with carpet tiles but Andy has said these didn’t stick to the tube in places so had to be bonded with extra adhesive.

The unit has internal climb-through shelves that are also covered in carpet tiles - the wall fixing uses a simple L-shaped steel brackets fixed to the underside of the wooden mount.

The cost of materials was around $275 (£215) but Andy did have to purchase a couple of tools to help with the fabrication process - it took a couple of weekends to create, around 15 hours in total excluding the purchasing of materials & planning.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

The Freestanding Base for Tomcat, Fatcat & Catapilla™ units will now come with 3 felt pads to use as protectors when Hicat® units are sitting on hard floors - these discs are made from the same felt offcuts that we have leftover from making Soft Seat Cat’s Cradles & will replace the foam pads, which to be honest haven’t been that effective as the weight of the unit compresses them down to almost nothing (we found this out when our Freestanding Fatcat demo unit was returned).

We are now applying a bead of black hot melt glue along the back seam on AVM Moon Wool units if required & a similar glue treatment on other AVM Wool colours when the seam has an exposed cut - we have also been experimenting with applying a PVA mixture on Natural Coir seams & Peep Holes after fibres are applied to help with wear & tear, which may become the norm after some more testing.

All of our units now ship in cardboard boxes including our larger Fatcat & Tomcat Floor-To-Ceiling pieces - because of the maximum size & packaging weights that double walled cardboard can handle heavier & larger pieces may still need to be shipped in cradles & plastic.

The HS commodity code for our products is 9403890090 & this was assigned to us by US Customs - if you follow the instructions on our Delivery Supplement page & use the Simply Duty tool to calculate import cost you’ll see that there shouldn’t be any import fees or taxes due.

We’ve also looked into USA import value thresholds, known as De Minimis, for our products but unfortunately we are unable to confirm what’s what - if you check the US Customs & Border Protection website you’ll see that a zero rated import charge is noted for household effects under $1,600 whilst the DHL website also sets a zero rate but have a De Minimis of $2,500.

We have made a point of checking with US based customers on import duties & taxes to see if they are being levied - so far all of the people we’ve contacted have said that they didn’t pay any additional charges when purchasing a Hicat® so, so far so good.

Fabrication of our collection of Christmas Stock pieces is underway & these will be available to purchase on the 15 December - Stock & Accessory items can still be despatched before we break up on 12 January.

As before, thanks for bearing with us while we take our break.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

We’ve already made a Rainbow Stacked Scraaatch™ Stand Pipe as shown on Instagram & will be adding special Silver, Bronze & Gold Stand Pipes with Hemp, Jute & Sisal wound bodies to this bespoke piece - a 120º Offset SixToo™ finished in AVM Moon Wool has already been made along with a Cat Wall™ set that is best seasonally described as “Brussel sprout” in terms of colour .

We have a single cut of Black Fake Fur that will be used to make a Cat Nap Ring™ but the most Christmassy additions are planned for last - we hope to make, dress making skills permitting, Christmas Tree, Snowman & Holly shaped versions of our Stick Thingy.

Please get in touch if you would like us to hold this piece for collection or we can arrange UK delivery for £5.80 - if you’re not UK based we are happy to post but the shipping cost might be a bit of downer.

UPDATE - Gillian from Lower Peover, UK has manned this piece to make some furry friend wall shelves.

FYI if you are seeing Instagram icons rather than the video screenshots below or when you visit the Thumb Up page please refresh/reload your browser page to view content.

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If you have a testimonial that you would like us to post on the Thumbs Up page, or update with fresh piccies or video, then feel free to get in touch.

Some product pages have also had content amended to help with specifying & selecting pieces - the Catapilla™ page now has some diagrams to show configuration options, we’ve removed discontinued finish options from the shop along with some amendments to bespoke pages to take on board recent stock & product updates.

The FAQs page has been updated to explain our SixToo™ & Magic Freestanding Fatcat pros & cons in relation to arrival of our Freestanding Fatcat vs Catapilla™ deliberation in the Ordering section - there are also some additional notes in the Playtime section covering Hicatch darts & climbing behaviour, specifically what ensues when cats are introduced to taller Hicat® units & were pet parents are watching their cat having that “how do I get down” moment.

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]]>Website Update...TriviaHealth & WellbeingHicat®Sun, 29 Oct 2023 08:21:00 +0000https://www.hicat.co.uk/chat/talking-ones-amp-twos52c15df7e4b04b560cae0f98:5624f776e4b01226f11a6aca:651e64073531dc4c44842ba0We’ve not done any blogs on feline ablutions but after an email exchange between us & a customer on cat toilet arrangements we wanted to do some potty CHAT - we’ve tried a few litter trays over the years but a make shift toilet for our cats that we made 12 years ago has stood the test of time.

We were struggling to find a litter tray that was big enough to service our 4 cats & had the idea of using a translucent plastic catering storage container - it’s 450mm diameter meant that it was big enough for our 8kg Bengal cat Rudy & could hold enough litter for our three other cats Leroy, Tuco & Bello without having to constantly be on hand to do the clearance duties.

Being circular with a removal lid meant it was very easy to clean & our cats seem to really like the “no corners” approach when circling to pick their spot - we had to cut down the height slightly to get it to fit in our bathroom & added a Bobcat sized access hole along with a hole in the lid for ventilation, which was probably unnecessary but did make a nice design feature as it could be used to lift the lid one handed.

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]]>Talking Ones & Twos...ProductHicat®Fri, 27 Oct 2023 17:00:00 +0000https://www.hicat.co.uk/chat/september-2023-stock-item-cat-bed-mg53752c15df7e4b04b560cae0f98:5624f776e4b01226f11a6aca:653a397771444244e57dbb5fThis month’s stock item is a Bespoke SixToo™ finished in AVM Moon Wool with Black Twist Pile internals.

Please visit our Stock page for more information & pricing.

We’ve become very busy over the last week or so with a few large orders being placed & more in the pipeline so the above deadline may change - we have started to make a collection of Christmas Stock pieces & will do our best to get these fabricated as planned & in time for Christmas.

We’ll update everyone next month on specific cut off dates for Standard Orders before our break noting that Stock & Accessory items can still be despatched before we break up on 24 December - orders & online purchases received during our closure will be attended to on our return.

Thanks for bearing with us while we take our break in January.

Other Bespoke SixToo™ units, some of which are still available to purchase from our online shop as stock items, have Worm Hole Shelves in Compartments & Recessed Top, Peep Holes & Deep Recessed Top - we’ve also fabricated a unit with a Private Chamber accessed through a Worm Hole Shelf under the lower Access Hole Compartment, which was taxing in terms of handy work but a bit of a doddle compared to the offset Access Hole fabrication in terms of brain power.

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]]>SixToo™ Bespoke Features & Options...PromotionsHicat®Wed, 04 Oct 2023 16:29:48 +0000https://www.hicat.co.uk/chat/another-off-cut-up-for-grabs-oct-202352c15df7e4b04b560cae0f98:5624f776e4b01226f11a6aca:651d91221bd67c5008d8e626We have another cut of Natural Coir that’s up for grabs if someone wants to roll their sleeves up & start a cat DIY project - the 54cm cut is wide enough for one of our Polecat units but only 140cm but would make an excellent sized cat ladder or scratching board.

Please get in touch if you would like us to hold this piece for collection or we can arrange UK delivery for £5.80 - if you’re not UK based we are happy to post but the shipping cost might be a bit of downer.

UPDATE - this piece has been nabbed by Joan who is going to make a scratching deck for her adopted cat Edgar.