Did you know there are lots of products at Ikea which are not meant to be for cats but make great cat products? They are reasonably priced and they will merge into your house decoration without screaming ‘cat stuff’! (Not that there is anything wrong with that!) Plus, since these items are not made for cats, it can serve other purposes too!

1. Step stools

Steps are great for cats who might have difficulty jumping up to their favourite windowsill or climbing up to the sofa or bed. Elderly cats, cats with arthritis or cats start to lose their sight will find these very helpful. Since these are not special cat stands, you can use these for other purposes! Getting the books on the top shelves? No problem!

BEKVÄM Step stool

MOLGER Step stool

BEKVÄM Stepladder

2. Childproof items

I don’t actually childproof for my human child. I started teaching him about safety since the moment he started to crawl. As a result, he managed to navigate the stairs since he was 10 months old. However, I do have a few childproof items at home for the cats!

PATRULL Window catch

Window catch will be particularly handy for people who live in apartment and worried about their cat jumping over the window.

PATRULL Multi latch

I use this for the fridge because my cat Fafa can open the fridge and steal everything in a few seconds. It can also be useful for other cabinets.

PATRULL Drawer/cabinet catch

Same as above, you might want to put this on food cabinet if you have a thief cat like I do.

PATRULL Fingerguard for doors

These are super useful in making sure to leave a gap for doors that you want your cat to have access to. e.g.. the room where they have their litter trays or their favourite room where their cat beds are, etc. These fingerboard will leave a big enough gap for your cat to push the door open and go through.

PATRULL Door stop

These could serve the same purpose as the fingerguard too, but I prefer the fingerguard because you don’t need to leave the door open forever with the fingerguard. With these, it takes more effort to remove them so to close the door. Not handy for places like bathrooms where you need to close a couple of times a day.

3. DUKTIG Doll’s bed

These make really cute cat beds!

Here are some examples of happy cats using these beds…

4. Shelves

Ikea’s various wall shelves are super handy for any catification projects you might have.

Like this one, for example. You can see you can use shelves with different length to suit the situation in your house. Plus, IF your cat don’t use it, you can always put books! (We always need a Plan B when it comes to cat stuff since they very often don’t like what we buy them! UGH!!!)

5. Kallax shelving units

Yes, these square things…classic Ikea item. They are super handy to make a cat tree. The advantage of this is its versatility. If the cat is not using the square, you can always put books and other stuff. You can even change things up whenever you want!

Here are a few examples how you can catify these units.

A simple cat cave…

A personalised cat tree…

A complex cat tower with feeding area, steps, cat beds, cat litter, everything!

Don’t forget to check out many more cat projects using Ikea products on Ikea Hackers. If you type in ‘cat’ on the search, you will get 1950 results of cat related Ikea-hack projects! Some of the cat parents out there are really really creative! Check it out!

Have you got any Ikea item that you use for your cat? Comment below! I would love to see your idea!