Worried about our new tank? This should make the fur fly

Siberian engineer Ivan Veryasov made a T-34-style playhouse for his future cat, and now he hopes to go into business. It's rumoured a new model will allow cats to shoot tennis balls from the 360 degree rotating turret, so watch out any passing mice or dogs. 

Anyway it comes as military intelligence in the United Kingdom is quaking over the latest Russian tank, the T-14 Armata.

'Without hyperbole, Armata represents the most revolutionary step change in tank design in the last half century,' warned a secret source, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Probably they will be even more worried that Siberian cats are now driving tanks.

The turret rotates 360 degrees, the barrel goes up and down and a cat can get inside and out of the turret. Pictures: Ivan Veryasov

'I spent more than two months on my spare evenings on it, using the best materials I could find,' said Ivan, from Novosibirsk. 'I used my garage to cut out the details and assemble the tank. I wanted to make something really cool. 

'Even a baby can push the tank. The turret rotates 360 degrees, the barrel goes up and down and a cat can get inside and out of the turret.'

If you want your cat tanked up, it is on sale for 15,000 rubles, about $230.

Ivan explained that he was unimpressed with cat playhouses on the market and knew he could do better. 

'I saw what houses pet shops sell, you know these hastily made creations made from low-quality material and assembled with just a furniture stapler,' he said. 'I wouldn't actually trust my cat to use them, because bits keep falling off them.'

I was so unimpressed with quality of cat playhouses that I decided to make one myself. Pictures: Ivan Veryasov

When he made the initial tank he didn't have his own cat but he does now.

'Crafting things like this one is my hobby, it relaxes my mind after work. It was also a challenge as I wasn't sure that I would be able to create something that was just like a fantasy in my mind.'