This City In Switzerland Has Ladders For Wandering Cats To Climb On And It's The Greatest Thing

Cat Ladders? Genius.

Hailey

• Published in Animals
• March 7, 2019

Citizens of Bern, Switzerland built ladders for their indoors and outdoors cats and it might just be the sweetest thing. These sometime hand-made, sometimes purchased ladders vary in shape, size, and function, but their primary purpose is to let wandering cats climb up, relax, and enjoy the view. Some even lead into people's windows to out furry feline friends can sit in the frames and enjoy the view.

Swiss graphic designer and writer Brigitte Schuster decided to base her fourth book ('Swiss Cat Ladders') on analysing this act of kindness that drew the people of Bern and their cats closer together; here are some photos and her comments on the various ladders seen on the sides of the buildings.

(Psst, you can preorder Brigitte's book here.)

"The model of the simple chicken ladder is used here to gain height: It is built in a zigzag upward (left). A base ladder is used with a relatively flat angle. It is mounted on a wooden pole (right)."

"A cat-ladder reaching to the second floor. I appears to be quite long due to its many subdivisions."

"The cat climbs from the tree to the cat ladder and from there to the balcony."

"Here, the slats are zigzagged along the wall of the house reaching a length that allows the cat to go to the second floor. A kind of fence protects the cat in the upper area from the fall."

"The picture shows a rarely seen model, a spiral staircase that can be ordered on the Web."

"Cat stairs with a dwelling place for the cat and possibly other animals. Here is also cat food ready."

"Ladder reaching to the third floor. It is one of the highest ladders seen in Bern."

"The vine plantations belonging to the façade are not affected: grapevines and the wood of the cat ladder complement each other."

Hailey