We purchased this for our 5 year old cat as we wanted a scratching post and a place for her to curl up in. The last scratching post we had for her had a small platform on top which she would sit on all the time - but we thought the addition of a sleeping area would be great for her. It did have a slight glue smell to it since the carpet was most likely recently glued to the frame. But once that dissipated our cat took an immediate liking to it. She could care less about the ball hanging from underneath the circular platform, but uses the scratching post all the time and does sleep in the top part. She is a 13 pound cat, but she fits comfortably in the top.