You have assembled it, positioned it, and the cat has walked past it four times without looking. This is the normal first day, and it is not a sign you bought the wrong thing.
Start with placement, because it is usually the whole problem
Before trying any technique, check the location. A tree in the wrong room cannot be fixed with treats.
It should be in a room your household actually occupies, against a wall, ideally with a window in view. Cats want to watch two things: the outside, and you. A tree that offers neither is furniture in storage.
The most common mistake is putting it somewhere out of the way to keep it out of the way. Cat trees are large and people instinctively tuck them into corners nobody uses — which is precisely the corner the cat has no interest in claiming.
Make it smell right
A new tree smells like a warehouse and packaging. To a cat, an object with no familiar scent is not yet part of the territory.
Speed that up: rub a soft cloth on the cat's cheeks and around the base of the ears, where the friendly scent glands are, then wipe it along the platforms and posts. Or simply put existing bedding on the top platform — anything that already smells of the cat.
Do not clean the tree with anything strongly scented, and skip citrus entirely. Most cats find it aversive.
Do not put the cat on it
The instinct is to lift the cat onto the top platform to show them it is good. It reliably backfires. The cat's first experience of the object becomes being held somewhere it did not choose to be, at height, with no exit it picked itself. Cats need to approach new territory on their own terms.
Let them get there themselves, even if it takes a fortnight.
The two-week routine
- Days 1–3. Do nothing except leave it there. Let it stop being new.
- Days 3–5. Put a treat on the lowest platform, once or twice a day. Walk away. Do not watch — many cats will not approach while being observed.
- Days 5–8. Move the treats one level up as each level is being used. Add a wand toy session that finishes on the tree, so the chase ends there.
- Days 8–14. Feed a meal on it, or move a favourite nap blanket to the platform the cat has shown most interest in. Reward any voluntary use.
Most cats are using the tree within two weeks. Some take a month. A few claim it in an hour and make the whole guide unnecessary.
Catnip and silvervine, used sparingly
Roughly a third of cats do not respond to catnip at all — it is genetic. Silvervine works on a larger proportion and is worth trying if catnip does nothing.
Use it once or twice at the start, not repeatedly. Constant exposure dulls the response, and you want the tree to be attractive because it is a good perch, not because it is drugged.
If you have more than one cat
Watch for one cat guarding it. A confident cat will often claim a new tree entirely and sit at the bottom preventing the others from approaching, which reads to a human like the other cats not being interested.
The fix is more entry points and more separated levels, and often a second perch elsewhere in the room so the guarding cat has something else to occupy. This is one of the strongest arguments for a taller tree in a multi-cat house — see how tall a cat tree should be.
If it still is not being used after a month
Work through these in order:
- Does it move? Push the top platform firmly. If there is any rock, the cat has already felt it and will not trust it. Tighten every fitting.
- Can the cat reach the first level? A large first step excludes kittens, seniors and short-legged breeds entirely.
- Is there a better perch nearby? Cats are practical. If the bookshelf is higher and closer to the window, the bookshelf wins.
- Is the room too busy? Beside a noisy appliance or a high-traffic doorway is too exposed for some cats.
Small adjustments here fix most cases. Browse the full timber cat tree range if you are still deciding.