New Zealand Made Custom Cat Steps: A Review

If your cat is having trouble reaching their favorite spots, such as the bed or sofa, custom cat steps may be the solution. These hand crafted New Zealand made steps are designed to fit your cat’s needs and abilities, letting them climb up and down without effort. With these hand crafted cat steps for older cats, your cat can continue to enjoy their favourite spots well into their senior years, and maybe still wake you at 3 a.m!

This is NOT a sponsored post. We purchased our own steps for Jack. We are very happy with Beloved Pet’s cat steps.

Our sweet Jack is a ginger boy with a chunky physique. He is beginning to slow down a little and the family realised that he was finding it difficult to climb the small set of senior cat stairs we had put together ourselves. Changes had to be made but where would we find steps to suit Jack that were well priced and well made?

As someone who values craftsmanship, I wanted to see and inspect the steps myself, rather than relying on measurements and guesswork from an online purchase that might not fit my requirements.

Beloved Pet Furniture

Enter Bes and Stu at Beloved Pet Furniture, a small Kiwi business providing practical bespoke step furniture, crates and bedding, handmade in New Zealand for New Zealand’s pets. Beloved Pet Furniture focuses on top quality service and great workmanship. Bes and Stu can advise you on everything from accurate measurement to ensure a perfect fit, to delivering your steps safely, well-wrapped in recycled packaging.

My partner and I first met Bes at the Wellington Pet Expo in the Te Rauparaha Arena near Wellington. She was setting up the display of cat and dog ramps and steps and gorgeous crate covers. We liked what we saw and chatted about the kind of cat steps Jack and future senior cats would need. We asked if Bes and Stu could work with our, quite specific, requirements and she said yes.

Bes told us that all Beloved Pet’s furniture is all hand crafted by her husband, Stu, and with the measurements we provide, they could create a set of perfectly sized steps for Jack.

Once I got home, I looked at the company’s website and checked the impressive range of products for cats and dogs. Let me list a few, because I know you will want to take a look yourself:

• Wall Mounted Cat Shelves and Hammocks
• An elegant Litter Tray Villa
• Cat Sofa Ramps and Cat Steps
• Gorgeous Surrounds for Cat Crates
• Round Beds with a Wooden Frame

We love working with natural materials that are sourced locally and sustainably.  Materials we use included plywood, natural wood and wool. 

Beloved Pet’s FAQ

Tips for Measuring Cat Stairs

If you are worried and need help measuring email Beloved Pets.

I admit that without my partner’s help I would not have had been able to work out the number of steps and fit them into the amount of space we have. Measuring and numbers intimidate me so, on my own, I would have definitely emailed Stu and Bes for help.

Beloved Pets prides itself on the quality of its workmanship, so accurate measurements are important. Never hesitate to call them for help. It will save you time, and money.

• To get an idea of what you need, check the list of tips below.

How To Measure

1. Decide on the location of your cat stairs. Are they going to be placed beside a bed, a sofa or beside a window?
2. Work out how high the stairs need to be for your cat to step off onto the bed or sofa and how much space you have to fit them in.
3. NOTE: If you look at my photos of the pet steps profile, you will see the unit comes half way along the side of our bed leaving me plenty of space to get into bed.
4. Not enough room along the side of the bed? Rethink your location. Would they work at the foot of the bed?
5. When in doubt, I suggest emailing Beloved Pets with your questions. They would prefer lots of questions to an ill-fitting set of steps (or a ramp that is too short).

Jack’s Cat Steps Arrive

Every day until the steps arrived I was telling Jack that ‘his steps were coming‘! OK, I admit I was more excited than he was, so when the courier van pulled up with a bulky parcel I could not wait to unwrap it. Then all I had to do was unfold the step support and put the finished set of steps beside the bed. Voilà!

• Jack took a little longer to admit his steps were exactly what his senior bones needed. One week to be exact! The narrow cat sized steps were, he realised, perfect for him for an independent senior cat.

We tempted Jack with treats on each step. We put his food on the top step to encourage him to climb up. We praised him every time he put a paw on the steps, and this gentle encouragement worked. Now Jack walks up and down the steps with complete confidence. I suspect that watching the other cats go up and down the steps, as though it was the most natural thing in the world, helped a little too. No cat wants to be left out!

Are We Happy With Our Custom Cat Steps?

Yes, most definitely.

We were given a clear time frame for the creation of the steps and an approximate delivery date. Had we lived in Wellington we could even have collected Jack’s steps ourselves but we decided on home delivery which was prompt. The parcel was securely wrapped against any damage and the steps are now very much a part of all of our cats’ lives!

Beloved Pet Furniture ship through New Zealand (also further away, depending on the cost and your location) and they can be contacted here for the best pet steps NZ has to offer:

• Website Beloved Pet Furniture
• Email Enquiry Form