I think I’m going to have a heart attack, this is the coolest thing I have ever seen! As you may be aware, the Japanese treat their pets like children, and since they are also masters of good design, it’s no surprise that some Japanese housing builders are now designing homes with special features for pets. These amazing images are from Asahi Kasei’s Plus-Nyan house. Obviously a great deal of research went into the design of these beautiful spaces, from the perspective of both the cats and the homeowners.
Features include open air cat walks, climbing steps, nooks throughout the house for cat hide-outs, cat doors in every door, extra space in the bathroom designed especially for a litter box, an enclosed deck area, and special fences to prevent cats from escaping.
They have even gone so far as to use pet-friendly construction materials that resist scratching and are easy to clean.
Thank you to Sachie at My Cat Goma for finding this and for translating the Japanese descriptions for us!
I want to live in Japan!
October 8th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
This is truly awesome! Those of us in the U.S. could incorporate these design ideas into our own home if we custom build one – for these types of reasons I’d like to build my own home someday – not because I want a huge mansion but so many details get overlooked in standard american homes. My (future) cats would be delighted in this japanese home
Thanks so much for posting, and your site is fabulous!
October 9th, 2008 at 7:22 am
LOVES IT! I just bought a home. I hope to do some of these things for my 6 furbabies.
October 9th, 2008 at 7:48 am
That is so cool! I wish I could have something like this for my cats
October 9th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Wow! Thanks for featuring an article from mycatgoma.com! I recieved a daily update from Moderncat with familiar titles “Unbelievable Cat-friendly House Design from Japan” When I saw this I was soooo excited that you found this interesting too!! A pet-friendly house in Japan has been a huge hit! Not only Asahi-kasei who designed house, other major house builders are designing similar house as well!! Very interesting!!
October 9th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
WoWsers!!!!
My guys are totally jealous and wondering if we could take a trip to Japan to see how the other half lives!! **grins**
Thanks to Moderncat for all the greaT caT finds!!
Unbelievably awesome!!!
e.
October 9th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
That’s a dream of every cat lovers!!!
October 10th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
That’s great! Only, my kids would probably prefer more cushy places to nap than appear to be available in that super-cool house. But a bathroom with a built in cat box spot? Awesome!
October 10th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
finally someone recognizes the need for pet friendly homes.
October 10th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
There was a bookstore in Seattle that had similar features and cats a plenty including snoozing in the display cases, up on top of the bookshelves, and across the beams that connected the tops of the bookshelves. I think somebody told me they went out of business but it was so adorable that I had to go in and check it out and tell the owners how cool I thought it was.
October 10th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Too cool. I want it just a bit bigger: for my boy. Child-fun house!
October 11th, 2008 at 1:39 am
great! i got 4 cats.. i am thinking about moving to the countryside for them.. but this houses would be perfect for them.. even in the city
October 11th, 2008 at 5:21 am
I love this. Just moved into a new apartment and we have no room for a litter box. We only have one cat at the present time.
October 11th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Wow, this house is so wonderful!
It looks fun to live in.
October 11th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Wonderfull solutions for frenzy cats.
October 11th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
That is the best looking house for cats that I’ve ever seen. I’m inspired by the caring and creativity that has gone into cohabitating with the feline species. –Cheryl Janis, author of Planet Pink n Green (.com).
October 11th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Love all of this! It’s funny, when my family and I talk about building a custom home, the conversation usually starts around what we want most for the cats rather than ourselves in the house.
October 12th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Hey I just wanted to say this is really cool! It looks like it would be so much fun for cats and kittens of all ages!
October 12th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
This makes me wish I was a cat. Or at least very small.
It looks like the funnest place ever.
October 13th, 2008 at 1:40 am
well, my greek cat would also love that! and I d love to watch her relax at her spot and not walk all around and all over me in MY bed!
October 13th, 2008 at 6:15 am
this is truly awsome!!!!!!!!!!!! = )
October 14th, 2008 at 3:57 am
I use a plastic tub like a baby bath for my cat litter box. The advantage is the high sides!
Any cat owner would know that all these surfaces (ramps, shelves, stairs) for cat climbing and resting need to be covered in carpeting to prevent cats slipping on the shiny woord. Actually a few partially closed carboard cartons also do the trick. Being curious and super-intelligent, cats like their toys and environment to be changed periodically to provide interest, learning opportunities, mental stimulation and fun.
October 14th, 2008 at 8:45 am
I have a friend with a couple of these features accidentally (open beams accessible from his balcony and a shelf along the other side of the room. His cats love it. The downside for him is that he now has to sneak up on them to get them to the vet or the groomer because they figured out almost instantly that there was no way he was going to CATCH them with or without a ladder.
October 14th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Nossa! Este apê é muito bom, meu gato, Ike iria adorar!!! bjs
October 16th, 2008 at 5:47 am
These designs are just awesome!!! Such great ideas for our furbabies!!
October 16th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
wow my cats would be in seventh heaven with that….
October 17th, 2008 at 6:16 am
OMG that is the best thing I have ever seen. Its really what I would for my two cats.
October 18th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
OMG, I want this house!! I wish I could build something like this. Wow! Thanks for the pix.
October 18th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
wow. this is amazing. my kittens would adore this, as would my big cat. the house is not only a gorgeous one, but a functional one. i like to exist in the best manner possible with my furbabies, and that house would be perfect. i know it’s inspired me in construction for my future home… mm. fantasies. :]
October 20th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Unbelievable. I love it! Some day I will do this. Some day…
October 21st, 2008 at 2:43 am
I want it!
I want it… now.
October 21st, 2008 at 7:56 am
This is so Awesome!!!!!!! Its the best cat house ever but people live there to its so cool
October 25th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
omg i wanna be a cat in japan!
October 27th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Very impressive indoor features, but it amazes me that so many ‘cat-lovers’ have failed to state that cats need free access to the outdoors in order to exhibit natural behaviour. With the new Animal Welfare Act (2007) it could well be argued that it is now ‘illegal’ to keep a cat indoors.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Great Nippon architectur ! Great Miau-thanks to Pacific Ocean. We must do it also here in Finland, Scandinavian. My friend Liisa has builded in her cottage and city-home in Helsinki something like that in a smallscale: over ten meters shelf where Taneli and Rosa can lift themselves climbing up textail wallpaper.
Timo Kulhia
November 10th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Personally I am more of a Dog-person, but I must admit that those designs makes you want to have a cat ..
November 27th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Hi my 41 kitties would love to just go crazy in a house like this. What is the name of your arcitect? I may be building a new house soon and my little famiely would like it to be happy as your cats are. How many cats do you have?
December 27th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I am gna get a cat… woohoo…. and to ‘43 jeffrey new’ should you have 41 kittens?
February 27th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
any ideas on how to build anything like this? id love to do it when i move in june!!!!! im so excited.. thanks so much for the pictures… i just spent about an hour searching for a house like this… if nyone knows anymore links please PLEASE let me know
March 17th, 2009 at 11:15 am
If you did not see the cats you would notice that this is a very well designed house. All of those “perches” could be bookshelves.
Simple,Unique, Creative and Green House Plans
Spreading the word on great home design
March 26th, 2009 at 1:22 am
Bon Jour!Salut!
Amazing! That house design is fit for the people who really love cats. I wish someday I will have that house for my cats too!
May 17th, 2009 at 12:30 am
Paul, maybe you would like to talk about easy access to the outdoors with the fifteen+ indoor/outdoor cats I lost to cars, pests, animal abusers, and poison before I turned 18 and could get my own place . . . where my rescue stays safely indoors.
There are ways to make outdoor access safe, but where I live there ain’t no way to make it cheap. Outdoor cats incur greater vet bills and are at greater risk, and a lot of places (apartments, condos, rental properties, etc) don’t really allow customization of the landscape because you don’t own it. Some neighborhood associations don’t allow it, either. A lot of cities have laws against cats being let to roam . . . wrong as they are, they are still empowered to take the cat away and fine you . . . assuming they know who you are to notify you, and you are able to get them from the pound before they are put to sleep after 72 hours. Also, not all neighborhoods are safe for cats, especially bad neighborhoods with really bad kids. And people who breed pit bulls for fighting. And train them using live cats. That they find outside. Just as a for instance.
Surely you don’t expect only wealthy homeowners in upscale neighborhoods and pet-friendly cities to own cats? We should all be responsible, but rich and dreamily suburban in Pleasantville, USA? Please.
How about we just say it’s a good thing that people have cats and love them and just occasionally save them from misery, and that this is a better thing than either leaving them to unhappy fates or not having cats in our lives.
May 21st, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I have been wondering how to do something like this in my bedroom. this gave me some ideas that are easy. my siameses samsam and saphire will love this especially to tease the puppies! haha Also, the photos are of such a clean design. love it.
May 24th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Blaze,
No, I wouldn’t expect a person who doesn’t live in an area which is safe for cats to own one. I wouldn’t expect someone who wasn’t able to properly exercise a dog to keep one either. Owning a pet isn’t a right – it’s not something you should do if your situation doesn’t allow it, no matter how unfair that seems.
Take care,
Andi
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:33 am
For another house built for cats take a look at http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/multimedia/080215houseforcats/index.html
Bob Walker and Frances Mooney have transformed their house in the San Diego area into a wildly colorful playhouse for their cats, and their collection of Mexican folk art. Totally unique, they have had tours in the past as fundraisers for animal rescue organizations. Dick has also written 2 books, the first one is The Cat’s House http://www.amazon.com/Cats-House-Bob-Walker/dp/0836221834
July 29th, 2009 at 4:30 am
Is a beautiful house!
August 20th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
pretty cool. would be hell to clean though…imagine if one of the cats sicked up on one of those ledges in the middle of the room. you’d never know it!
paul (#40)- in addition to blazes (#57) comments, cats with access to the outdoors live much shorter lives than indoor only cats, along the lines of 5 vs 18 years. theyre exposed to many more disease causing agents (rabies, fiv, flv, worms, etc), as well as the risk of getting hit by cars or attacked by dogs, coyotes, or other cats. also, cats are a huge problem with regard to the songbird population. it has been shown that even well fed cats will hunt and kill smaller animals, even though they’re not doing it for food.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:54 am
so wonderful! No one I know can resist the temptation to make comments on the image of a spinster, studio apartment, 3 cats etc. My position that my cats are dear little kids has vindicated….with great design!
Thanks so much.
September 16th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Crazy cat lady goes totally modern and cool. I love it!
September 27th, 2009 at 5:52 am
Hi everyone,
That is really cool modern metarials.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
nice stuff.. especially for cats but the house looks too beautiful and the cats have greatly enhance the appeareance of it… NICE