Best Cat Trees for Maine Coons: Large Cat Tree Options

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Maine Coons famously love heights, and the higher the better. Let’s look at the best cat trees for Maine Coons.

Cats love to climb, jump and observe their territories from a height. That makes a cat tree essential for life with a Maine Coon. But the other unique feature of Maine Coons is their astonishing size. So, what are the best cat trees for Maine Coons?

We’ll walk you through the large cat tree options available to you, and help you know what to look for to keep your Maine Coon cat as happy as possible.

The Benefits of a Cat Tree

But first, what are the benefits of large cat trees for Maine Coons?

Exercise

It can be difficult for indoor cats to get enough exercise. This is particularly true of generously proportioned cats like Maine Coons. Not all houses have enough space to wear your cat out by a mad half-hour of weaving between the furniture.

Large cat trees are a clever and innovative way of circumnavigating that problem. They don’t offer more floor space, but they expand your Maine Coon’s territory upwards.

But finding the best cat trees for Maine Coons is about more than ensuring they can indulge in appropriate amounts of play without lacerating the furniture. They also provide exercise and ensure your cat doesn’t become overweight.

Security

Another benefit of climbing trees is that they offer nervous cats security. Historically, cats have been both predator and prey, something even big cats like Maine Coons never forget.

Climbing allows your cat to monitor prey from a lofty height, but it also enables them to take cover from potential predators. If they can watch the world pass by from an elevated vantage point, even better.

Managing feline anxiety seems like a minor thing, but an anxious kitty can result in:

Inappropriate elimination
Destructive behavior
Overgrooming

Scratching Opportunity

Another benefit of cat trees for Maine Coons is that many come equipped with sisal. Sisal is ideal for scratching, and scratching is a necessary part of feline life.

That can be hard to accept when the thing being scratched is a Persian rug or an antique sofa. But cats have scent glands in their paws, and scratching furniture is how they assert ownership and mark their territory.

It’s also an integral part of shedding and regrowing claws and keeps them dull if your Maine Coon cat can’t or doesn’t go outdoors regularly.

Best Cat Trees for Maine Coons: Buyer’s Guide

So, that’s why Maine Coon cats need to climb trees. But what makes a tree the best cat tree for a Maine Coon? To answer this question, there are several things you need to consider.

Type of Tree

When trying to find the best cat trees for Maine Coons, start by considering the type of tree you need.

The cat condo is a cat tree designed to accommodate multiple cats. Typically, it includes several cave-style sleeping spaces and a variety of exposed perches.

Cat trees with toys are climbing trees for cats that integrate toys for playing. They are well-suited to Maine Coons who are active or have a high prey drive. Some of these trees integrate scratchers.

Keep in mind that not all cats are vertical scratchers. You may find they enjoy the rest of the tree but leave the sisal sections alone.

Cat trees with towers are ideal for Maine Coons because they encourage them to climb. These climbing trees can be expensive, but they are also easily customizable.

You can buy them in sections and expand them depending on your cat’s needs and available space. A good cat tower incorporates not just perches but also:

Ladders
Hiding cubes
Horizontal/vertical scratching posts
Toys

Material

When looking for the best climbing tree for your Maine Coon you also need to consider what material it’s made of.

The most common materials are a combination of sisal for scratching and carpet. But you may also notice that climbing trees with perches incorporate softer material for sleeping on.

Cats’ taste in material is as variable as your taste in food. One Maine Coon might like the feel of sisal for scratching, while another might prefer the feel of upholstery.

If the latter sounds more like your cat, it can be helpful to tack scrap upholstery to a new climbing tree to foster their initial interest.

Size

Maine Coons are famous for their gentle giant status. That means that when looking for an adequate climbing tree, you need one sturdy enough to hold its considerable weight.

You also need the perches to be big enough to comfortably accommodate a Maine Coon. Cats can be surprisingly compact, but that’s no reason for your cat to feel squashed.

This is especially important when looking at towers and trees with enclosed spaces. Ideally, your Maine Coon should be able to stand up and turn around inside the cube comfortably.

Cost

Finally, the expense is a deciding factor when deciding on an appropriate climbing tree for your cat. As a rule, the larger the tree, the more it costs.

We recommend investing in a moderately-sized tree until you are confident your Maine Coon uses the tree regularly. Once you establish that, you can expand the tower as much as you like.

Cleaning Tips

Once you have the best cat tree for your Maine Coon installed, how do you keep it clean?

We favor using a lint roller over the surface to remove excess fur, especially in shedding season. If that doesn’t pick up everything, lightly sponging the fabric with a damp paper towel should pick up the rest.

It’s tempting to try and ‘neaten’ a favorite scratching area. But you want to resist doing this. No one adopted a cat for their aesthetic sense, and for better or worse, they prefer a scratching post that’s broken into over a brand new one.

Lastly, we always finish a routine cleaning of our climbing tree by spraying it with a catnip spray. It keeps our cat engaged with the tree even when that hair she’s spent so much time accruing on the surface vanishes.

Conclusion

What constitutes the best cat tree for Maine Coons varies depending on the cat. We recommend a tall tree to encourage climbing, with perches and cubbies big enough to accommodate their singular size and shape.

You need to balance that against the amount of space available and how difficult the tree is to assemble. If you do that, you’ll soon have a cat tree that provides security, stability, and stimulation for your Maine Coon.

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