Cat Views

Several weeks ago, a customer emailed indicating she measured incorrectly after receiving her new custom cat perch. I emailed a couple of ideas to try to solve her problem, but eventually she decided to start over with the order. I agreed to have the perch returned since my custom shop’s policy states “complete satisfaction.” Well, I learned … not exactly! Nonetheless, MyCatsHeaven is committed to our Customer Satisfaction Guarantee so we honored our policy.

Within hours of arranging return shipping with FedEx, I received a very special email from a couple of Girl Scouts requesting a donation. Amy & Catlin indicated they are trying to earn a Girl Scout Bronze Award, the highest honor in Junior Girl Scouts. To earn this prestigious award, they are providing foster-care for a mother cat & her family of 5 kittens, caring for them until they are adopted. They’re working with the Foothills Animal Rescue in Arizona. Once their 4-footed guests are adopted, they plan to donate the perch to the animal clinic to be used by other cats also awaiting adoption.

I received a delightful“thank you”email from the girls with a photo of mother cat, Chelsey & her young family named: Mille, Gracie, Gizmo, Splash & Misty. The perch arrived last week with this email update:

Hi Nancy!

The perch arrived while we were at Girl Scouts! Wow … is it ever neat! Chelsey went straight to it and claimed the top area and started grooming herself. It took literally seconds for her to be on it! We will put it where the babies can get to it later – as they are only 3 weeks old tomorrow. Again thank you so much for your generosity!

Our pleasure, ladies! Besides, Chesley deserves more than a cardbroad box to raise her young family! Good luck in earning your Girl Scout Bronze Award!

Because We Care
Please spay & neuter your cats
Visit our website to watch this 
great video (at bottom page)
produced by Alliance For Human Action

A few years back, I took Doofie to the vet for her annual check-up. Odd, now that I think about it, I don’t have an annual physical, but my cat does! Anyway, the vet said she needed to have her teeth cleaned. I must have laughed because the vet made a point of insisting it was necessary. We returned a couple of weeks later for her dental appointment. The vet-tech indicated that Doofie was going to be “put under” for the procedure. Yikes! Of course that makes sense as I can barely keep her quiet enough to brush her coat. I was asked if wanted to be present during the surgery – absolutely! They warned me about putting her under. Admittedly it was just awful, but I was confident that they knew what they were doing. Sure enough, she had several teeth removed. $150 or so later and a little unsteady, we both survived her ordeal. No high-rise cat perch sitting for Doofie for at least a couple of hours. Here’s a terrific article on the importance of your maintaining your cat’s health through proper feline dental care.

Ms. Scooter & Ms. Sydney just got their new cat perch. Their human, Ashley called us earlier this month to ask some questions about custom cat furniture for her cats, Scooter & Sydney. She liked the features of our 24” Deluxe Cat Perch but wanted taller cat furniture. I suggested our 19” high Booster Box, designed to fit snuggly under the perch which adds just enough height for ideal winter bird watching. Ashley said she had bought other inferior cat furniture, which she returned because it was unbalanced and unsafe. She was kind enough to send some terrific photos of her pals enjoying their new perch.

14-year old Scooter, who is bolder and a little nosier, discovered immediately out of the box this was meant for them. Living up to her name, she scooted right up into the perch. At 14, her new cat furniture will offer great exercise and strength building to keep her young and active, ready to play with 8-year old Sydney but that will have to wait until this nap is finished! Lucky cats!

I had a helpful inquiry this week. A customer emailed asking a question about buying a cat perch together with a Booster Box. The Booster Box is kind of a nifty new idea thought up by one of our custom-fabricators. They pride themselves on shipping all of their cat furniture, “fully assembled,” making it easier for our customers who can’t or don’t want the task of assembling cat perch parts. It’s a great idea too, because it saves shipping costs! But, thanks to McDonalds, we’ve been programmed to think we need Biggee stuff, like Biggee fries & Biggee shakes and perhaps biggee cat trees! So, to offer both, the shop came up with the idea of building a Booster Box which arrives fully assembled, only having to set the perch on top of the box to achieve additional height. This is a great solution too, for Canadian orders as we have box-limits with international shipping. So this week we were able to work out a “consumer friendly” method for Grandma or Aunt Bee to have both the benefit of getting cat furniture delivered “almost” assembled and Max or Maxine to enjoy their treasured tall, biggee cat perch. A win-win!

I had a fun conversation today with Ashley who lives with Scooter & Sydney in Montana. She ordered a deluxe cat perch and we added one of our new, custom Booster Box to provide additional height. Scooter is 14, a little “set in her ways” while Sydney is a young 8. We’re hoping the 2-story perch arrangement satisfies both of them. Ashley said though a little territorial, Scooter isn’t able to jump to the higher perch allowing Sydney her own private perch top. The Booster Box is an ideal height for prime outdoor viewing at the window sill. Too cold in Montana to be hunting outside, so they can both cozy up for an afternoon buddy-snooze!

The pressure is on to find those last-minute gifts for the hard-to-buy-for folks in your life. One of my more challenging purchases this year was a gift for my parish priest. I decided to buy him a Betta fish; bowl, rocks, plant, food… a complete aquatic milieu! The bible mentions fish a lot like,“I Will Make You Fishers of Men,” Matt4:19 so I thought it would be right up his “alley.” I know, it’s an odd gift but just a couple of months ago I bought my cat a couple of goldfish naming them Cat & Nip. I set the bowl on top of my bookshelf right next to my computer. She’d jump up and supervise their morning snack of brim shrimp. The top shelf is the exact height of her cat tree, so once the feeding frenzy tapered off, she’d meander across the top and jump into the top perch cat bed. There, she’d continue to watch them at eyeball-level until her early morning nap took precedence. Oh… the life of a cat

Looking for clean, architectural-looking cat furniture? Square Cat Habitat is a select, innovative collection of clean lines to enhance almost any environment. Modest and simple statements best identify this unique grouping of Buddha, Bastet & Itch contemporary cat furniture. Even the names are distinctive! And colors galore to select from; 19 shades of contemporary designer colors complement any sophisticated living space. Just look at the product photos … you’ll see a ”happy” cat!

Japan has come up with something new and a wonderful idea. They have established “Cat Cafes” which are becoming more and more popular.These “cafes” are a wonderful combination of animal shelter and tea house. Workers in Japan face long commutes and long hours of unpaid overtime. What better place to go and de-stress than a Cat Cafe? You can sip on tea or coffee, read a magazine, and have a cuddly warm cat curled up in your lap to pet at the same time. The cats are provided with wonderful accomodations like cat gyms, perches, condos, scratchers and cat beds. (These are professional cats). Calicos seem to be a favorite. It seems that single men in their 30’s find these cafes very appealing. They can go in, pay a nominal fee and spend an hour relaxing and playing with or petting a cat of their choiuce. These men are probably  gone on frequent business trips and do not have the time or accomodations to care for a pet. What a wonderful way to have a pet plus it is a great situation for the animals! They are loved and cared for while providing a great service to the customers.

I’ve been talking to some friends about the strange habits of their cats. One cat loves to be petted and the more you pet her, the bushier her tail grows until it is a full bush. Another friend says her cat has a very annoying habit. He does not like it when she brushes her teeth. She goes into the bathroom and unless she locks the door, he opens it and comes in. While she is brushing her teeth he will jump up and bite her butt! How many of you have cats that like to sleep in the wash basin in the bathroom? You can even turn the water on mine and he won’t move. My daughter’s cat lines up the heads of his “kills” in her bedroom closet for her to see. (Ugh)! My female cat hates closed doors and will go around opening them. Closets, cupboards or any closed door is okay with her to open and she is very good at it. We have strange habits and so do they. Most of the cats do like their scratchers and condos and a nice cozy cat bed and in spite of their oddities we supply them with these beloved items, because we care about our pets!

Some cats are awed by a new baby and very curious about the miniature human who has stolen their thunder! Other cats are outwardly resentful and demonstrate their feelings by hissing; growling and spitting. Our cat was very much into the new baby and would spend hours watching the bassinet or sleeping nearby. Whenever we held the baby she was right there to sniff the baby and look him over. Then she would supervise the care and feeding of the infant. She laid claim and this was HER BABY and we had better take good care of him! Since she spent so much time near the baby we bought her a wonderful cat perch to sleep on and she was up to where she could see the baby. She loved it! Now, she could watch over the baby in pure comfort!