PETOMG CAT WALL PLANNING GUIDE · 01
Before choosing a cat wall, understand the wall you have.
This guide helps you turn a room into four clear planning facts: the usable area, the spaces the route must avoid, the furniture that may support entry or return, and the conditions that still need confirmation.
Find your usable wall area
By the end of this guide, you should be able to answer:
“Do I have enough reliable information to start planning a route on this wall?”
START WITH THE REAL BOUNDARY
The wall is not the same as the usable wall.
The usable wall is the part that remains after you account for objects and movements the cat wall must not interrupt. A large wall can become a small planning area once a window, door swing, curtain, thermostat or built-in cabinet is included.
Your first decision: identify one continuous area that can be measured, photographed and discussed without hiding important room functions.
Objects that occupy the wall
Windows, doors, switches, outlets, controls, built-ins, lighting and anything you intend to keep.
Mark their position and their own width and height.Space that must remain clear
Door swings, cabinet doors, drawers, curtains, blinds and regular walking paths.
Record the full area they move through—not only where they rest.Conditions the photo cannot prove
Wall construction, hidden utilities, structural condition and the correct fastening method.
List these as questions. Do not treat them as solved measurements.MEASURE FOR A DECISION
Every measurement should answer a planning question.
Use one unit throughout.
Whether the visible wall offers a large continuous area or needs to be treated as smaller planning zones.
Keep the same horizontal and vertical reference.
Where modules cannot be considered without blocking access or an existing room function.
Open doors, drawers, curtains and blinds while checking.
Which apparently empty areas are not actually available during everyday use.
Record top height, position and whether it will stay.
Whether familiar furniture could influence an entry or return—and whether the plan needs an alternative if that furniture moves.
A CONSISTENT METHOD
Use two reference lines.
Use the finished floor for every vertical position. Choose either the left or right wall edge for every horizontal position. Keeping the same reference points makes each measurement locatable again when the route is planned.
Measure the whole wall before dividing it into smaller areas.
Locate each obstacle from the same wall edge and from the floor.
Record the obstacle's size as well as its position.
Write down any condition you cannot confidently identify.
READ THE ROOM, NOT ONLY THE WALL
Furniture can help the route—or make it fragile.
A sofa, bed, cabinet or existing cat tree may make the first move easier to understand. But a route that works only while movable furniture stays in one exact position is less flexible.
03 · MAKE THE ROOM LEGIBLE
Photograph context the measurements cannot describe.
Photos are not proof that a wall can support installation. Their job is to show relationships: where the wall begins and ends, what sits beside it, and how people and cats approach the area.
Full front view
Show the complete wall from floor to ceiling and boundary to boundary.
Answers: What is the overall planning area?Left context
Show the adjacent corner, furniture and anything projecting into the area.
Answers: What affects one side of the route?Right context
Show the opposite corner, room circulation and likely approach.
Answers: How might the route be entered or left?Important details
Capture controls, trim, visible damage or conditions that disappear in a wide photograph.
Answers: What still requires confirmation?For useful photos: keep the camera level, avoid filters and extreme wide-angle distortion, and do not crop out the floor, ceiling or wall boundaries.
READ YOUR RESULT
Your wall record should lead to one of three decisions.
READY FOR ROUTE PLANNING
You can describe the usable area without guessing.
You have consistent dimensions, mapped fixed and moving obstacles, nearby furniture context and complete photographs.
Confirm with the quick check ↓FINISH THE RECORD FIRST
The wall may work, but key information is missing.
Return to the missing boundary, obstacle, furniture measurement or photograph before comparing product layouts.
Review what to measure ↑GET TECHNICAL CONFIRMATION
The unknown is not a layout question.
If wall construction, visible damage, hidden utilities or fastening method is uncertain, resolve that separately before treating the wall as installable.
Ask PETOMG what information is needed →OPTIONAL 60-SECOND CHECK
Is your wall record complete?
This check does not submit information to PETOMG. It only helps you identify the next useful action.
Complete the four planning records above.
Then this guide can tell you whether to continue to route planning or pause for technical confirmation.
THE ARTICLE'S HANDOFF
A measured wall is not a route yet.
Once your wall record is complete, the next question is how your cat should enter, move, pause, reach a destination and return.
