Funky Hollow

When purchasing my first Burmese cats in 2010, I invested in a very special cat scratching post.  It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

I wanted my new feline babies to have the best of everything and I was equipping the house in anticipation of their arrival.  I knew that since my cats would be strictly indoors only, they would need a good scratching post to help keep their claws in check.  While searching online for cat supplies, I stumbled across an advertisement for a company based in the Dandenongs, a picturesque mountain range around fifty kilometres east of the Melbourne CBD.  The company was called Funky Cat Feline Furniture.  This name tickled my fancy from the outset.  Funky Cat!  How cute!

As I scrolled through their website, I was astounded by the range and quality of their various offerings.  The store was owned by a craftsman who manufactured products specifically for cats (or, if we’re honest, for fanatical cat owners with disposable income).  Most of the products were made from industrial strength cardboard (much stronger and heavier than it sounds) with carpet cunningly applied over the top.  The range of products included pet steps for elderly cats struggling to jump up on their owners’ beds, as well as logs, stumps, tunnels and hollows.  The website also sold modular pet parks that would enable cats to venture outside in a controlled manner within a specially prepared enclosure.  This would keep them safe, protect local wildlife and prevent them from roaming.

The Funky Hollow caught my attention.  On the surface, it appeared to be a regular scratching post, but as the name suggests, it was sculpted to resemble a hollow tree.  Depending on your chosen size and configuration, a typical Funky Hollow featured a hollow trunk, “leaves” or steps to help cats climb to the top, a cave, a shelf, and a sunbed at the summit.  This gave cats multiple options for interactive play, hiding, reclining and sleeping as well as scratching their claws on the carpet rather than on other items of furniture in the house.

Another attractive element of the Funky Hollow was the claim that the manufacturer would custom design and make the required specialty item to your specifications.  You could select your required colours and they would send you carpet samples to ensure that the finished product would perfectly match your décor before construction.

I was hooked.

As luck would have it, the lady who built my house had chosen spearmint green carpet for the lounge room.  It’s not necessarily a decision I would have made, but fortunately it is quite a soothing colour.  I chose this spearmint green for the leaves of the Funky Hollow, along with a contrasting deep brown for the trunk, and I sent these choices through to Maurice at Funky Cat.  Before long, the carpet samples had arrived.  They were a perfect match for the colours I’d requested.  I gave Maurice the tick of approval for construction to commence.

In due course, my very own Funky Hollow arrived and was installed in my lounge room.  It featured all the bells and whistles, including two “springies” for the kittens to bat with their paws, one on the base and the other on the top.  I’d chosen to install a shelf to divide the hollow trunk into two parts and create a little “cave” just below the sunbed.

Upon visiting my girls for the first time prior to bringing them home, I was delighted to see that my breeder Kristy had several Funky Cat items of her own, including some Funky Hollows.  Sally and Mindy would therefore already be familiar with them.

The Funky Hollow was an instant hit.  From that day in 2010 when Sally and Mindy came to my house, right through to the recent arrival of my new little boys Oskar and Harley in 2024, it has been a very important part of my cats’ lives.  They scratch their claws on it, they play chasey on it, they conduct mock fights and wrestles on it, they leap off it, they play with the “springies”, they curl up and sleep in the little “cave”, and they use the sunbed not only as a great spot for a lovely snooze but also as a viewing base where they can watch through the window and chirp at the birds in the garden.  The Hollow is holding up pretty well, considering the daily use it has borne for all these years.  It remains Cat Central.

I continue to be so grateful for the day I first spotted the Funky Cat Feline Furniture website.  My Funky Hollow has definitely enriched the lives of all my cats and has quickly become a favourite playing and resting place for Oskar and Harley.