Custom Cat Castle

James A Mess models his first custom cat castle from Vybecats. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Custom Cat Castle

If you’ve spent any time at all with a cat, you know cats and boxes have a special relationship. My cats like to inspect all incoming boxes, then adopt a favorite as a play space. But having a brown box, or even a pretty blue box, in the middle of a room is not particularly pretty to me. Not that I don’t do it, especially when the tenant refuses to leave.

Oh, where, or where could my Etta Girl be? (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Enter Vybe.com cat houses, or more accurately cat castles, nicely engineered white cardboard sections one puts together like a big puzzle to have a custom cat playhouse. Besides the flexibility of the easy design, it also is already white so when inspiration strikes, I can paint these to better fit into my home decor.

Now James A Mess couldn’t wait to check out the Vybe castle pieces before I even had them out of the shipping box.

Shipping, by the way, was free and quick, I received this box within 3 days of placing the order.

James A Mess checks out the Vybe custom cat house cardboard pieces in the shipping box. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once the cardboard pieces were out of the box, I read the easy instructions and started to look at the various options.

James A Mess found one of the round inside pieces. The cardboard will crease with repeated folding. I glued another piece of cardboard under the folded piece to support it before installing it.

James A Mess shows a preference for some of the cardboard pieces. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Warning: cats may wish to help you with cat house construction. Guess who! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Before I settled on one design, I left some configurations for a couple of days to see if everyone was happy. I had to move a couple of the towers to ensure a clear traffic pattern but the changes were easy to make once I moved the tenants.

Etta Girl likes having quiet places where she can hide. I also made sure she has a quick exit option.

Etta Girl finds the custom cat house is good place to hide from her annoying brother. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Not that Etta Girl gets to enjoy the quiet for long, James A Mess seems to find her spots pretty quickly.

Etta Girl ready to pounce on James A Mess, yes she gets him every time! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

There are several available cat house sizes with the option of ordering your very own custom cat castle.

What fun to think about waiting until Christmas morning to put one together, I know my cats loved all of the boxes and tissue paper in years past!

Charlotte

Microchip Pets

My Shirley Honey checking out her microchip card. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Microchip Pets

One of the best gifts we can give our pets is to microchip them. Even the ones that live all of the time inside.

Over the years, I have lived with several cats that were decidedly not outside prone. When they heard a dog barking, or met a stranger, they have been known to bolt, sometimes through the closest open door. At times the door led outside.

When an animal is fleeing, they will seek safety first, then take their bearings. Having lost a cat to a new neighborhood, I know how heart breaking it is to not be able to find it.

Microchipping is an excellent way to identify our pets in the event they are lost. It is a quick process and one that will ensure the pet’s return should they get lost. Or disoriented. Doesn’t that give you peace of mind? It does to me.

Your local vet should be able to provide that service.

Charlotte

Happy Birthday, Margaret Cat!

Margaret enjoyed a serving of fresh dried catnip for her 19th birthday, thats' 98 in human years.

Fake Fur Throw Cat Birthday Gift

It was a wild and crazy birthday for Margaret, my 19-year old Rolla Animal Shelter alumni cat. Margaret and I share a birthday January 2, the best guestimate the vet and I came up with on her birthday.

Margaret is part-Siamese and has the unique voice to prove it. She's also a very fun-loving cat, even as she marks the equivalent of 98 years in human years. She still has selective hearing but her eyesight is not as good as it was so I try not to move furniture out of her well-worn paths so she doesn't bump into things unless she wants to do so.

Like me. At 7 a.m. Make that 7:30 a.m. and I'm trying to sleep in. Not so fast, Margaret seems to say as she head bumps me to get me out of bed for her breakfast.

This birthday morning, I surprised her by being up early and having a special breakfast ready. Breakfast included a serving of fresh dried catnip out of my garden served in a basket where she could roll in it and Margaret jumped right in. She didn't have to see where the catnip was, she could smell it and didn't wait to wallow in it until she was tired and ready for a morning nap.

What does one give a cat who has everything? Since temperatures are in the single digits, I gave her a fake fur throw the same color as her real fur so she could curl up and stay warm. Can you tell the cat from the fur throw?

Margaret curled up in her fake fur throw birthday gift after a roll in fresh dried catnip.

Celebrating a birthday can be exhausting, apparently. Well, maybe not the birthday itself so much but that fresh dried catnip....

Margaret yawning as she settles in to enjoy her birthday gift.

Before the dried catnip got scattered all over the house by her feline friends, I tucked Margaret into her birthday gift and left her to settle in. Sometimes she takes exception to being placed in a throw so I wasn't sure what she would think of this gift. No doubt my other cats will enjoy it but with Margaret, one never knows.

When I got back, it was obvious she was still celebrating - Margaret style. I could hear her purring loud and clear as I rounded the sofa so I would say the gift was a hit.

Happy 19th birthday, Margarita!

Charlotte

Hello, Cantalope!

This is a follow-up to an earlier post about a new basket I found at a thrift shop originally destined to be my produce basket.

My rescue cat Margaret had other ideas and appropriated the basket as her newest favorite napping spot.

Cats do like boxes but baskets are definitely a close second. Or in Margaret's case, preferred, especially if they are brand new to the household.

I waited several days for the newness of the basket to wear off, then decided to use it for its original intended purpose, to hold fresh produce. This time of year our local farmer's markets are full of locally-grown delights, some of which do better being stored at room temperate. Also helps if I can easily see them to be reminded I have it handy.

What was Margaret's reaction?

 At least there is room for both of them!

Charlotte

What Every Cat Wants

Everyone knows cats and boxes are a perfect match. There are enough videos online of cats sitting in, jumping into and wresting boxes that one would think a box is a perfect cat toy. At least that's the excuse I make for having several different-sized boxes scattered around the house in case my cats need further entertainment.

When I found an elevated whicker basket at a flea market, I thought it was perfect to hold the larger fresh produce I like to buy in summer: cantalopes, watermelons, apples and tomatoes, all best stored at room temperature. 

After lining the basket with a soft towel, I was ready to go shopping. Margaret beat me to it.

Not the shopping, the basket!

Charlotte

Warm Heart, Warm Hands!

Sometimes my office is only a few degrees warmer than it is outside. When the weather forecaster said it was 3F, more like -7F with the wind chill, I knew it was time.

Opening the box carefully, I removed a gift from my sister-in-law; felted hand warmers with the cutest applique cats on the top.

Mary said she picked up a number of wool sweaters at a local thrift store and after washing them, put them in the dryer on hot. I have done so but not intentionally so it crossed my mind how many sweaters I could have repurposed.

Once shrunk, wool turns into a soft felt. Mary then cut a couple of holes for my thumbs.

 

She said they were easy to make; the biggest challenge was finding wool sweaters she liked. Well, it's more like finding wool sweaters she likes for hand warmers but doesn't want to wear herself. I understand, we have a hard time cutting up cute clothes for custom clothing quilts sometimes, too.

These live in a box because when I first received them, one of my cats left her own sleeping cats cat throw and decided to use these warmers as her napping spot.

We have reached a compromise. I’m now wearing the hand warmers; the cat is sitting in the box.

Charlotte

Does Your Cat Have Favorite Toys?

My list of favorite cat toys prompted Kay in Kansas to write about her two cats, Sylvia and Darla, and their favorite homemade cat toys:
"Unshelled pecans
Straws
Thread spool
Plastic rings from milk jug
Plastic ring from milk jug with twine tied to it.
Mini hair clip (stolen off of my daughter's vanity)
Old lipstick tube
Jingle bell tied onto ribbon
Oyster crackers"

I loved the oyster crackers - who would have ever guessed!

Do your cats have favorite homemade cat toys?

Charlotte