How to clean a cat tree without damaging it

Knowing how to clean a cat tree comes down to a quick vacuum once a week and a deep clean two or three times a year. The real issue isn't the method: it's what you should not use. White vinegar, bleach and essential oils are the three products people reach for instinctively, and the three that cause problems — the last one being downright toxic to cats.

The three products you should never use

• Bleach. To a cat, its smell is reminiscent of urine, and finding it on a surface can prompt them to mark over it. You get the opposite of what you wanted.
• Essential oils. Cats metabolise phenolic compounds very poorly: what pleasantly scents a room is a real burden on their liver. On a piece of furniture they rub against and then lick while grooming, they're a no-go.
• Neat white vinegar. It works well as a degreaser, but its harsh smell drives many cats away from the treated furniture — and a tree that's shunned after cleaning is a failure.

What does work, on the other hand, comes down to two products: lukewarm water with a little Marseille soap, and bicarbonate of soda for odours. That's it.

The weekly routine: five minutes

1. Vacuum the whole tree with a soft brush attachment, starting from the top. A hard attachment pulls out sisal fibres and tugs at the fabrics.
2. Pick up embedded hair by hand: a slightly damp rubber glove run over the beds gathers up the hair the vacuum misses. A lint roller does the job too.
3. Brush the sisal posts with a stiff-bristled brush to dislodge debris caught between the strands — and, while you're at it, give the fibre back a bit of grip.

This is the step that saves you all the rest. A tree vacuumed every week never takes on a smell, and its sisal lasts noticeably longer.

Deep-cleaning, two or three times a year

The fabric parts

Many beds have removable covers: machine-wash them at 30 °C, without fabric softener — it masks the familiar smells your cat is attached to. For anything that doesn't come off, use a well-wrung sponge with lukewarm water and a touch of Marseille soap, dabbing rather than rubbing.

The sisal posts

Dry-brush first. If a post is really dirty, a barely damp sponge is enough — sisal hates water. Soaked, it swells, slackens as it dries, and the rope unwinds. Always let it air-dry, never with a hairdryer.

Wood and rattan

A soft, slightly damp cloth, then dry immediately. On woven rattan, work a dry paintbrush into the gaps, where hair builds up.

Drying

Let everything dry completely before your cat goes back on it — no exceptions. A bed that's still damp grows mould in the foam, and the smell never goes after that.

A hammock that unhooks for washing
Its stretched-fabric hammock unhooks and washes by hand, then regains its tension as it dries flat; the posts are wrapped in sisal from floor to platform. Discover the hammock cat tree →

Getting rid of a smell that's set in

Bicarbonate of soda sorts out almost every case: sprinkle it generously over the affected areas, leave it overnight, then vacuum thoroughly. It's neutral, safe for your cat and remarkably effective.

If the smell is urine, bicarbonate isn't enough: you need an enzymatic cleaner for pets, the only type of product that breaks down the compounds responsible instead of masking them. Anything that just adds fragrance leaves the marking in place, and your cat will go back to it.

And a urine smell on a cat tree is worth investigating: a cat who marks their own bed is usually expressing stress — a new animal arriving, a house move, a territorial conflict. In a multi-cat home, it's often a problem of resources being too concentrated, which we cover in cat trees for two or more cats.

The mechanical check, twice a year

This is the maintenance nobody does, and yet it's the one that does most to extend the furniture's life.

• Tighten all the fixings. The wood settles and the joints work loose. A tree that creaks or wobbles after a few months is almost never faulty: it needs a turn of the screwdriver.
• Check the anchor points of the hammocks and hanging parts, which take repeated strain.
• Check the condition of the ropes. Frayed sisal still holds; sisal that's unwinding needs replacing — the loose strands catch on claws.

When should you replace a post?

Sisal is a consumable: allow 12 to 18 months of heavy use before a post is truly worn out, less if two cats share the same post. On a well-designed tree, replacing the rope costs very little and restores the furniture's main function — it's one of the things we recommend checking when you buy, along with the type of fibre: see sisal or carpet for the scratching post.

And if the tree is really at the end of its life

A structure that wobbles despite tightening, panels swollen with damp, sagging platforms: at this stage, no amount of maintenance will save it. Don't swap it out abruptly — set the new one up next to the old one for two to three weeks, with a piece of fabric from the old bed placed on it, while the smell transfers.

Our three cat trees are made from solid wood and rattan, two materials that develop a patina instead of deteriorating, with natural sisal on the posts. To choose between them, our guide to choosing a cat tree goes through the criteria in order of importance.