Homegroove Cat Exercise Wheel for Indoor Cat, 45″ Large XL Cat Running Wheel with Carpeted Runway, Cat Treadmill Wheel for Kitty’s Longer Life, Cat Wheel for Fitness Weight, Natural Wood Color(XL)

One of our cats took to it immediately
It took me more than three hours to assemble, but I’m a senior female and in no hurry. I did not use a power driver because I’m not skilled with it and it’s heavy for me. I found that the little screwdriver that came with the kit was quite okay for the task, but of course much slower. I used a ratcheting screwdriver for the last few turns. Use the gloves that come with the kit or you will get a blister (Yes, I have evidence of this.). There are 115 screws to install (Plenty of extras were provided). It was a little challenging, but for me it’s like a puzzle, especially when the instructions are less than wonderful and printed teeny. My husband offered to help but I shooed him away. I had a little uncertainty about which screws went where, but the information is there if you’re willing to dig it out of the fine print and divergent English. Also, it’s all logically designed and properly engineered to line up. The parts list omits the nuts that were provided for the underside of the long screws, but there wasn’t any other place to put them, and they’re pictured, sort of, with the rather cryptic wording. Basically, you use them with the wide part down against the wood. They provided a little wrench to hold them. If you overtighten anything both the plastic anchors for the wood screws as well as the metal seats for the machine screws will start to turn and they might not hold as well if that happens. This is another reason not to use a power tool. My efforts were rewarded when one of our three cats took to it immediately. The kittens are about six months old, and the little calico, who is usually bold and adventurous, was reluctant to stay in it when it started to turn, but she watched the orange boy with interest and will probably come around later. I enticed them into it with a laser pointer. The boy kitty kept using the wheel after I put the pointer away. Our third cat is elderly and off snoozing somewhere. She hasn’t seen the wheel yet. I will update later if there are new developments, but so far this has been worth the price and effort. This thing is surprisingly sturdy and quiet. I’m quite pleased with it overall. The only challenge I foresee is keeping the young grandchildren away from it. I plan to hide it when they visit. I wouldn’t expect the wheels to support the weight of a child, but under normal use, I think it will be fine. Editing a few days later to say that the reluctant kitty is now the main user of the wheel. Editing months later to mention that our big boy is back to using it. For several months none of them used it, and I was thinking of giving up, but as my daughter said, “He looked in the mirror and was like, I gotta do something about this.” I would encourage people to use a laser pointer or a toy on a string to encourage cats to use the wheel. They like it when they associate it with fun. Catnip sprinkled on it is also helpful. BTW, the inner dimension of this wheel is about 39″ /99 cm.. The title reflects the overall height, which is meaningless in terms of function. Our tom is a large cat now, and he’s okay with it. The other two cats don’t use it at all, but the young female will sit and watch her buddy use it. Possibly they each believe they are entitled to their own private wheel, but that’s not happening. 😿

Precise engineering, really works
I carefully read reviews of multiple cat wheels, paying close attention to base design. This one was the right choice.We have two black short hairs, weighing around 13 pounds. I selected the XL unit, and that was exactly right. The unit has to be big enough to be relatively flat beneath them, yet small enough to spin easily.Before I go further.. so far one cat runs on it, and the second, who is more timid, is building up to it. The thing actually works!Some points I wanted to share:1. If you’ve built Ikea furniture, you can build this. The instructions are sparse but complete. But if you are intimidated by Ikea visual instructions, this is NOT for you. You’ll need to get someone to assemble it for you.2. There are a LOT of screws you need to turn. The supplied screwdriver is a joke, use a decently sized phillips head of your own.3. The supplied screws, if you dont apply ample elbow grease, can strip. Given that I was applying that elbow grease over 100x, I was worn out. I did the construction over two days, because my forearm was shot after a couple of hours. (I demoted what would have been a 5 star review to just 4 based on the screws). I’d say grand total I spent 4 hours assembling.4. The components are made out of plywood, with all edges nicely sanded. I was impressed with the quality.5. I was very pleasantly surprised by the precision of the engineering. The wheel is comprised of three sections you assemble then attach together. As you can imagine, the wheel needs to be a perfect circle to run smoothly. And, it IS perfect. Whoever designed and built this knew what they were doing.6. The unit spins easily with a cat running on it, but not so easily that they can accidentally be pulled up and around. Perfect amount of resistance.7. The unit has an easy to use “stopper” to prevent the wheel from spinning. This turns out to be very important, as my wife and I decided this is not something we dont want the cats to use when we are not home.8. The XL unit has a diameter of about 4 feet. You need at least that much room for it, and make sure you have space on both sides for the cats to jump off to. It’s big.9. The base is well designed. If you have more than one cat, you have the possibility of one not on the wheel getting hurt by accessing the base area while the wheel is spinning. Compare this unit’s base to others, and you’ll see what I mean.We have cats that love to run, and with our early success we feel this is a real gift for them – they can sprint at top speed till they get tired.Right now, so far so good. Quality is high. Sturdy. Works well.This is the one to get.

We ordered this because we have two young Sphynx’s and they have a lot of energy. After doing a bunch of research, this unit seemed to be the best bang for its buck. I just received the unit today, and I am very impressed with every aspect of it. It was very well packaged. All of the pieces were covered in bubble wrap so they couldn’t be scratched. Assembly was tedious but worth while, it is a very strong, smooth, stable wheel. Everything fit together perfectly and tightly, and the finished product is silent and serves its purpose. We went with the XL as it seemed to be the best best for our situation. Overall, I am very happy with the purchase. Our cats immediately understood how to use it and went for a little tear. They haven’t been off of it since.If you have high energy cats, this is a great product to keep them busy and fit.

I bought this one after returning a smaller one, and even though it’s a bit more expensive, it’s soo much better! This one in comparison is big enough for an adult cat to get a good run in (though it probably could still be a bit bigger)! It works very well, but is slightly on the noisy side when it really gets going. It’s made from wood, so it’s definitely heavy and sturdy. Definitely reccommended for indoor cats, especially if you live in a small space.I would have to say the only downside is that every piece of wood has to be scewed in one at a time on each side of the wheel, so assembly is quite time consuming.