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Tuft and Paw Review

Derek Hales

Written By: Derek Hales

Updated on:

Cat Furniture for the modern home

Tuft and Paw review

Tuft & Paw

Tuft and Paw is known for their high end cat furniture. For the purpose of this review we focused on their cave and tepee, which are both designed to be sleeping areas for cats. Both pieces are modern, seem to be well made, and look great among contemporary decor. As with any cat furniture, the hardest part is getting the cats to use them (more on that below).

Pros

  • Built from high quality materials
  • Both are able to house both small and large cats
  • Modern and clean stylish look across all Tuft and Paw cat furniture

Cons

  • Definitely on the more expensive side
  • Hard to know for sure if your cat will like a furniture piece until you already have it

Tuft and Paw Design

Tuft and Paw’s cat cave and teepee both seem to be well made. Their designs are not too complex, but do offer more of a modern look than most other cat furniture I have seen.

First up, the cat cave:

The cat cave offers a basic design. The name pretty much sums it up. It is built in the shape of an oval and contains one cut-out, which is where the cats enter and exit the “cave.”

Tuft and Paw cat cave
Tuft and Paw cat cave

Aesthetically speaking, the cave is gray and white. The front portion of the cave is a darker gray while the back is a much lighter gray. Between these two grays is a white stripe, which does a nice job of breaking up the grays and creating a nice contrast.

Next, the teepee:

The Tuft and Paw teepee contains a pretty cool design. Four pine wood poles and a ribbon hold up a canvas fabric, which also contains small studs running along the front of the fabric.

At the base of the canvas’s body are holes that allow users to tie back the entryway of the teepee to the wooden poles, with ribbon.

Tuft and Paw cat teepee
Tuft and Paw cat teepee

With regard to the look of the tepee, I’m a fan. This teepee looks modern, yet native. The studs running down the entryway of the teepee add some flare, while the natural wooden poles create more of the traditional aesthetic.

What are these pieces of cat furniture made out of?

The Tuft and Paw cat cave is made from 100% wool. The wool feels sturdy and is able to hold its shape without folding on top of itself.

The teepee is built from pine wood, canvas fabric, a polyester cushion, and suede cushion cover.

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Size & Dimensions

These two pieces of cat furniture are vastly different in size. The cat cave is smaller, measuring 21″ long, 9″ tall, and 18″ deep.

  • Length – 21″
  • Width – 9″
  • Depth – 18″
Size of the Tuft and Paw cat cave

The teepee is a bit larger, coming in at 32″ tall and 19″ wide.

  • Height – 32″
  • Width – 19″
Size of the Tuft and Paw cat teepee

Accessories

The Tuft and Paw cat cave only included one extra accessory; a small bed for the inside of the cave. That said, the bed does seem well made and fits perfectly inside of the cave.

Having this insert will help make it easier to wash and maintain the cave over time.

Bed included with the Tuft and Paw cat cave
Bed included with the Tuft and Paw cat cave

On the other hand, the Tuft and Paw teepee did include a few extras, which included:

  • strings to tie down the entryway of the tepee
  • bed for the inside of the tepee
  • small chalkboard sign to hang on top of the tepee
Bed included with the Tuft and Paw teepee
Bed included with the Tuft and Paw teepee

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Performance

To test the Tuft & Paw furniture we called in the experts, enlisting the help of my friend Lyle and his 2 cats, Sylvester and Lola.

Tuft and Paw review

In addition, they also had a guest cat (“Scaredy Cat”…yep, that’s his actual name), who was around during some of the tests.

Our cat testers, Lola and Sylvester
Our cat testers, Lola and Sylvester

We asked Lyle and cats to try the furniture for a couple of weeks and then let us know what he thought. Here are the results:

How do the cats interact with the cave? How about the Tepee?

“The cats instantly gravitated towards the cave. They are actually very possessive over the cave. However due to their size, they don’t fit in the cave. Instead they decided to lay on top, squishing the lid. #fatty

At first glance the cats were skeptical of the tepee. The tepee does not get used very often. One of the cats takes an occasional nap in it.”

Cats laying on top of the Tuft & Paw cat cave
Lola laying on top of the cave

Do you feel like these are quality pieces?

“Both are very good quality. The texture of the cave makes it easy to accumulate hair.”

How do you like them in terms of general look and decor for your home?

“Tepee is a little over the top. Looks cool, but is not practical. I would not recommend this piece of cat furniture.

The cave is slender and can be put practically anywhere. I would highly recommend the cave seeing its dual purpose of being it or on top.”

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Usability

Usability with regard to the Tuft and Paw cat furniture is interesting, as we are not necessarily using the furniture ourselves. That said, the setup and maintenance of the furniture does fall on the user, not the cats.

How easy is the furniture to set up?

Setting up the cat furniture is quite simple. Once you have removed each of the pieces out of the box, there isn’t much more to the set up.

Cat outside of the Tuft & Paw tepee
Cats hanging out outside of the tepee

The Tuft and Paw teepee involves sliding the wooden poles into the respective slots on the fabric and propping the teepee up. From there, users could tie open the entryway if they wanted too, but that was not really part of the overall set up process.

The cat cave was even easier. Once it has been removed from its packaging, just pop it up to its full shape, slide in the bed, and you’re good to go.

Next up, maintenance:

Maintaining the Tuft and Paw cat furniture seems straightforward. The cave can be washed in the washer and air dried, and the teepee canvas requires the same treatment.

Cat inside of the Tuft & Paw cat cave
Hanging out inside the cave

There is no specific time frame for washing these items, as it really depends on how often the cat(s) use them and how you feel about their level of cleanliness.

Is Tuft & Paw a good value?

Tuft and Paw is a high end can furniture maker, so it’s not inexpensive. However, the quality and style definitely feel like a cut above. Overall, the Tuft and Paw cat cave and teepee offer a good value.

Tuft and Paw cat furniture

The quality of both the cave and teepee are top notch.

What’d the cats think?

Our test cats were sort of hit or miss. They seem to love the cave initially, until another cat sat on them. However, we would expect them to use it more as they get more comfortable with it.

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Who Should Buy Tuft and Paw Cat Furniture?

At the end of the day, it’s hard to know for sure what your cats are going to like. They are as likely to enjoy the box it comes in as the furniture itself.

So the decision to buy a nicer set of cat furniture really comes down to if it meshes with your other decor. The hope being that you’ll find something that both you and the cat like.

I would recommend Tuft and Paw if you’re looking for the following features in cat furniture: 

  • Want modern cat furniture: Tuft and Paw has designed a complete set of modern and contemporary styled cat furniture. Their pieces are designed to blend into the natural decor of your home and won’t be eye sore in the corner of a room.
  • Want high quality cat furniture: During our tests, both the cave and tepee seemed to be well made. We haven’t tested the entire product line. However, we would expect to see a similar level of quality across the board.
  • Aren’t restricted by a budget: There is no denying it, this is expensive cat furniture. If you’re going to dive into Tuft and Paw you’re probably going to have to spend a decent amount of money.

For more information on the Tuft and Paw cat furniture, check them out on TuftandPaw.com

High End, Modern Cat Furniture
  • Design - 95%
    95%
  • Performance - 95%
    95%
  • Quality - 94%
    94%
  • Usability - 95%
    95%
  • Value - 92%
    92%
94%

Summary

The Tuft and Paw cat cave and teepee are two of their most popular cat furniture pieces. Both of these items are well-made, provide a modern look, and seem to be thoroughly enjoyed by cats. They certainly aren’t cheap, nevertheless, the will mesh well with most modern and complementary styled homes.

About Derek Hales

Derek HalesDerek Hales is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ModernCastle.com. He has been featured in Fast Company, Reader's Digest, Business Insider, Realtor.com, She Knows, and other major publications. Derek has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Kansas State University. Hales has been testing and reviewing products for the home since 2014.