We inherited a cat after my husband's grandfather passed away. The cat was declawed many years ago and she's at least 11 years old, so I wasn't sure how well she could get up and down on a cat tree without a ramp/ladder. As it turns out, she's done just fine and primarily uses the ramp to pretend to scratch her front paws. She usually lays on the top platform and sleeps while we hang out in the family room. It is covered in a beige faux fleece material that I wish was bit darker color, but that's really my only complaint. All in all, it was a good buy (less than other major online retailers) and was shipped extremely fast. It was also pretty easy to put together. I would definitely recommend this if you are in the market.