I have one for Nacho. He loves it! He uses it for over an hour in a 24 hour period! My only problem with it started recently. A neighbor moved in to the apartment below me that had been unoccupied for many months and immediately complained of the noise (it sounds like a wooden roller-coaster). So I moved it to the other end of the livingroom away from the corner that is above her bedroom, she can still hear it. So I have been derailing it a night and now Nacho is yowling in protest intermittently all night long. I am afraid that he is going to get me kicked out of my apartment. I have placed it on carpet and sanded the seams to try to cut down on the clunking noise but it is still pretty loud for where I live. I am not sure what to do. I have just written to the company for advice.

Do you have it on carpet? You may also want to use WD40 and spray the wheels. I know mine makes a noise, too and we can hear it in our bedroom when Raiden hops on at 2 a.m. Ironically, when you share walls, ceiling and floors. there is almost always going to be an issue with noise that someone doesn't like. Communication is the BEST thing to have with your neighbor and let them know you are trying to solve the problem. Obviously, there is not good insulation / soundproofing between units.

I was getting chirping sounds from the wheels when it was new so I put a bit of baby powder on the sides of the wheels to get rid of that ( tried a lubricant, but it went back to a chirping sound the next day ). When I'm in the basement I can understand why the neighbor would complain. Not sure how fast Nacho moves it, but Kuma will get that thing just ripping along ( full out sprint ) and it sounds like it's gonna take off, from the basement I can hear it through noise cancelling headphones. For the seams ca-chunking I've thought about going around the wheel with a few wraps of shinguard tape ( it's a denser tape that doesn't have a squish to it ), but you mentioning about sanding the connections down is probably a good idea to do first. I'll see if I can remember to pick some up this weekend and let you know if it helps.

I was working from home last week, and I had a tele-conference. When it was my turn to talk, Serafina decided to take that time to start sprinting on her wheel, which makes a racket. I had to explain to people that my cat was running on a wheel. Lots of furrowed brows and incredulous people. Telling people that you have a cat that runs on a wheel is the equivalent of telling people that you are from Mars.

In terms of your apartment dilemma, sheesh, your neighbors should put this in perspective. Some people turn their tv way up, some people play loud music (or perform loud music), some people hold loud parties, some people yell and have fierce arguments, some people have treadmills or loud "people" workout equipment... you have a cat running on a wheel C'mon people, get a grip! If you get thrown out because of it, karma says that you will be replaced by the lead drummer in a heavy metal band.

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The little monsters 3

Good one, Brian! Hubby and I are retired and thinking of relocating and hate to consider a condo. We love our privacy and not having to share a wall with anyone. It's just the price you pay when in that situation. The walls seem paper thin and you can hear everything (even showers running). But, you need to get along with your neighbors and not antagonize them. Letting them know you are trying to solve the situation will go a long way. And I'm sure it's not like your cat runs on it all day long. I hope there is an easy solution to this for everyone's sanity.

Oh and I think the baby powder might work better than any other lubricant.

All the posts here are very helpful. I live in a condo, but think Oberon and the other cats would enjoy the One Fast Cat wheel. I have noticed that he accelerates and runs faster than other cats at play time. There are stairs here and alot of space, so he has opportunities to exercise and fly around with all that energy. Still, a wheel would be a really nice thing to have.

I am thinking if I get one, I will derail it every night from the beginning so he does not expect it to be available at night. If only I could put it on a timer.

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Raiden prefers to use his wheel in the middle of the night and it's fine with me. I'm happy he uses it. It was a gamble and my husband was sure it would just sit there and not be used, but we lured Raiden on with treats and a laser light twice and then he just walked on it and started walking slowly. There are times he gets going really, really fast on it, but most are leisurely strolls and only for a minute or two. If by chance he does use it during the day, he always looks to make sure we are watching him and encouraging him.

My bengal Nacho has one and absolutely loves it. Not exaggerating he spends a few hours a day walking and running on it. However it makes quite a bit of noise (think wooden roller coaster) and I am currently having problems with my downstairs neighbor who hates it! I take it down at night but have forgotten a few times and it wakes her up. I live in a very old house that has no insulation and has been divided into apartments so Most people will probably not have the issue that I am having with it but it may cause me to get kicked out of this place! That said I am not going to get rid of it or Nacho because I love my bengal and he loves loves loves this wheel!

So you continue to have problems with the wheel making a lot of noise and bothering your neighbors. Mine gets on the wheel in the middle of the night and wakes me up, but the wheel is only in the next room. Are th neighbors above or below you? You may be able to put something UNDER the wheel to help soften the noise going below, but not sure what you can do if the neighbor is above or next to you other then encase the wheel in a soundproof box like thing, keeping the front open so your kitty can hop on. The thing is -- an hour a day or more? Holy moly. And every day?? I would probably not be happy as a neighbor either.

You can google information on soundproofing enclosures or noise-reduction. One guy has a video of making a soundproof box for under $20. It's small -- but you may be able to improvise something that would work in at least putting the enclosure inside something like that. You may have a friend who is a handy man who can create the wooden box, you add the -- this guy used a mattress cover from Walmart. It should make a world of difference.

Nacholibre
Have you considered playing music/white noise sounds at night? That could mask the objectionable roller coaster sound.

Did you try baby powder in the tracks?

I imagine that if the wheel is not perfectly balanced/centered/round it makes more noise. Can it be better centered/balanced?

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I cannot stand the sound of white noise -- or any of the colored noises on my sound machine. And wonder if the neighbors would be bothered by that. Maybe they would prefer music? LOL. Taking the wheel down at night would help, but not during the day. Maybe the neighbors will eventually move and new neighbors with cats and a cat wheel will move in and the kits can run together on them and make all the noise they want.