Back in 2006 my wife Amy had 2 kittens she had gotten from the animal shelter. So me being handy I made them a cat tree and they loved it. So I made more of them and we sold them at the Sunday market in wentzville MO.
I started thinking about other toys for them and started working on a exercise wheel, without ever knowing that they already made them. But my idea was a free floating carpeted wheel without any sides. The cats could play on it and run it. It took 1 1/2 years and 8 prototypes before I came up with the present design.
Our cats loved to play on it but would not run in it. I looked on the internet and most all the video's on YOUTUBE had Brown Spotted Bengals running on their wheels. SO we just HAD to get a Brown Spotted Bengal kitten, and she HAD to have another Bengal kitten to play with.
And wouldn't you know it they started running on that wheel like crazy. Don't ask me why, but the spotted Bengals love the kitty wheel more than any other breed.
People have asked if I would sell the plans for the kitty wheel, but it's not so much the plans as it is the parts. The drum that I use I have to buy 3 fifteen ft. pieces at a time that's 45' at $65.00 a ft. and the aluminum bearing brackets are handmade. The wheel has over 340 nuts, bolts, screws, and bearings. There are five 2X4's, 2- 4'/8 'sheets of 3/8"plywood, 4 ft. of 1X6's oak, 7.66 yards of carpet, and a quart of carpet seaming glue, and about 24 hours of work to make one. There is alot that goes into the wheel, but it's worth it when you see them running and playing on it.
The kitty wheel weighs 145lbs and the shipping weight is 165lbs
