I want to build a wall-mounted wood playground for my two indoor cats, almost 2 years old. They aren't that much into chewing, but they do enjoy biting leather shoes and tearing apart sisal ropes and cardboard boxes. I would like to build wooden bridges with a rope material they aren't going to chew away easily, so that I can build the bridges only once.
I considered these alternatives for the ropes material, but each has its pros and cons:
- leather rope: it seems sturdy, but I fear not enough to withstand the bites. It's soft enough to be knotted;
- sisal or hemp rope: they are sturdy indeed and, like leather, can be knotted. I notice (and read online) that cats tend to chew on it with fervor, and straws of sisal could be ingested causing potential troubles in the cat's interiors;
- rubber wire: elastic and cheap, but I have no references on the internet about how cats deal with them. I fear rubber pieces are nasty if ingested;
- (plastic coated) iron wire: much sturdier than the other alternatives, but more rigid. My window protections are metal wire webs and they hold well against weight, claws and teeth. I'm more worried about the cats' health if they tried to chew metal and ruined their teeth. Not sure about how plastic coating affects this last point.
The alternative is to coat whatever wire I decide to use with those anti-chewing sprays, but I would rather not if I manage to. Another alternative would be to avoid "ropes" altogether and go for a fixed wooden bridge, which could be feasible but is not an answer to the question.
Do you have any chewing experience on any of these material? Can you give advice on these concerns (and possibly other ones I didn't consider)? Thank you.