Cat Step Planner: How Many Steps, What Rise, What Headroom

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Opens on the book's own cat and wall. Change any number to your own and press Calculate.

Start from fills the boxes below

Lengths in

The climb

First step top of the board above the floor

Top step blank = as high as the ceiling allows

Rise between steps about 300 mm (12 in) for an adult

The room

Ceiling height 8 ft = 2,438.4 mm

Headroom to keep over the top step; the book keeps 450 mm

Stud spacing the hop across the zigzag

Board thickness ¾ in = 19.05 mm

Enter the climb and press Calculate.

The formula

Steps = (top − first) ÷ rise + 1. If the rises do not come out whole, round them down so the top stays under the ceiling
Highest top = ceiling − the headroom you keep. Headroom = ceiling − top step
In a zigzag, a step's neighbor above is two rises up: clear = 2 × rise − board thickness
Hop = √(spacing² + rise²); angle = arctan(rise ÷ spacing). Landing speed = √(2 × 9.81 × drop in m)

The book's worked example, Chapter 2. The book climbs from 450 mm to 1,950 mm at a 300 mm rise: (1,950 − 450) ÷ 300 = 5, + 1 = 6 steps and 12 brackets. Under the 8 ft ceiling that leaves 488.4 mm of headroom. The hop across the zigzag is 505.13 mm at 36.43°, and a cat hopping down one rise lands at 2.43 m/s.

Retailers suggest 12 to 18 in (30 to 46 cm) between steps for an adult cat and 8 to 12 in (20 to 30 cm) for a senior. Go gentler for a kitten, a senior or a heavy cat, and add steps rather than stretching the rise. Metric first, imperial beside it. Prices are illustrative US home-center prices from November 2026, shown without a currency sign; put in your own. Everything stays in your browser: no sign-up, nothing stored.