Cat Views

No… I don’t think so! Or if there is one more, we’ll have to ask the guys already in their preferred spots, which one is going give up their new favorite cat perch! Meet sweet Miss Melody (top), Max; middle perch who looks like he was built right onto it (!) & Nile; the cool-looking guy on the bottom shelf ready to fight-off any unwelcomed interloper! Most definitely, they’re all enjoying their new 47” custom Kitty Hotel with Perch Top. Here’s what their humans had to say:

“I’m sending as an attachment a picture of our kitties enjoying their new kitty condo. As you can see, they have really taken to it!!! Melody, the smallest of the trio, loves sitting on the perch, while Max and Niles play tag on the lower levels. We had originally planned on putting the condo in the office, next to the window.  However, we decided to leave it in the living room for our enjoyment, too! You’ve made a product that is attractive enough to have in the living room and sturdy enough to hold up to the Melody, Max & Nile’s Test! Thanks again!”

Sincerely,
Ron & Marsha :: Orange County CA

Like the rest of the world, I decided Doofie needed to have a Lotus cat tree. Honestly, it wasn’t like she really needed it, but oh well such is the extravagance of love. I got it last week, assembled it and put it out onto our back patio replacing the old tired carpet & sisal tree she’s had since she was young. The old tree was very large, heavy, quite ugly and tattered which is why I hid it outside! I dragged the old nearby out of the way, laying it on its side which was probably my first mistake. Lying down near it, she lamented its new posture while the Lotus cat tree stood proudly in its place ready for use. I got a dolly assist to dismantle the old one and she found me working on it in the garage! Oh dread, caught! She laid-down on the parts like wishing it to stay! We’re now into a week with the new Lotus. I put a cookie treat on the first level, then the next, then the next, and finally on top. Altogether, she gets about 6 cookies out of it! I decided today, she’s figured out if she hold outs, she can finagle the whole package of cookies! She probably will… she’s so smart!

Today, I decided to rearrange my office furniture. Even though I’m in Arizona, we still have “winter” weather – brisk. Because of it, my cat Doofie has been an unbelievable pest! First she wants out, so I make a special trip to the door as she trots in front of me, leading me the way like I didn’t know! She’s a very smart cat – has me very well trained! Then she wants back in; too cold outside! All day long, this has been happening since the beginning of the year. So this morning, I decided I needed to move my laptop desk out from underneath the window to accommodate her cat tree. Immediately, she figured out the whole arrangement. Up the tree to sit on the top perch, back down to sit on the sill, off to the floor to use her scratch post! Just as things should be; spoiled, spoiled … down right spoiled!

We’ve been adding new cat furniture to our site like crazy lately, and still a stack of products to come! This week we uploaded products from Mr. Herzher’s pet furnishings. I managed to published onto a general product-line page but without the linking to the actual products because I was waiting on some detail information from the supplier. While on the phone with the supplier yesterday, I received and email inquiry about their designer cat tree. I replied, indicating it was brand new “in process” sending her a link to the actual product page. Before I finished with the supplier, here came an order! Unbelievable! I wish every order was that fluid!

I just love to watch Doofie run across the room and dash up her cat tree! It’s amazing what power, strength and agility she must have to do that. I mean, think about it; have you ever seen a human do that? With very little effort, up she goes to the middle perch, not even a little out-of-breath. I can’t even play and chase her without getting winded! The climb isn’t just about fun, it’s great excerise too! She has multiple cat trees (aka: spoiled kitty) but her favorite cat furniture is old, ugly and she’s outgrown the perches. It’s now relegated to the outside patio, where she can preen, sniff and lord over her personal kingdom in “cat heaven.” 

Since posting Ollie, the Skateboarding Cat on our blog a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been spending a little more time on YouTube. Honestly, I’d never really given it much time. It seems like an odd phenomenon, watching amateur videos. I wonder how large the YouTube’s servers are, to store all those files! Now I’m intrigued. Searching bazaar, off-the-wall topics and finding a random collection of videos from all sorts of people from all over the world. So I thought, why not do a YouTube search for cat furniture videos? Sure enough, there was and assortment of cat owner videos filming their buddies on new cat trees. It was as interesting to observe humans filming their cats enjoying their new furniture as it was, watching cat antics. Almost everyday, I have the opportunity to chat with my customers, but never before have I seen, first-hand their interaction with their cats. Now I don’t feel so alone, we’re all definitely attached to 4 paws & a tail! New motto: Love means buying your cat their own personal playground!

Like most of us, weekends are project days. I bought a house built by-owner; a relevant point. I say that because everything we’ve done to this house has been challenging. Hopefully, this was the only house this guy built! I needed to replace 2 ceiling fans in our main living areas. I’m very handy – proud to be a hammer mechanic! A friend asked me to help him with his software. We bartered my software consultation in exchange for his help to install my new, stylish Hunter fans. Seemed like a fair trade. Well, certainly I got the better deal. We started out early last Saturday with confident hope. 6 hours later, both fans were still uninstalled even though we were closely supervised my cat while lounging on the top perch of her indoor custom cat tree! Presumably an easy 3-hour projected turned into a grueling ordeal. Thankfully my eBay seller was a genuine “good-guy,” providing very helpful advice. So today, installed in a flash both fans are now humming in tempo with my cat’s purr.

Did you know cats out-rank dogs in pet preference! I’m amazed for a couple of reasons! First, you know all those friends you have that would never-ever claim to like cats; dogs, dogs & only dogs is their motto! Also, when you Google pet products, there are an overwhelming number of dog-products sites which sometimes might include a couple of cat trees just to satisfy the multi-pet household. So, it’s reasonable to assume dogs must be the “preferred” pet. But not true! According to a recent pet census conducted by the AVMA; American Veterinary Medical Association, cats out-rank dogs by over 10 million! That’s a lot! In a national survey, 82-million households have cats, 72-million with dogs and a weak 3^rd place, 11-million families with birds. In case you’re curious, rabbits & turtles come in at 4^th & 5^th place. So… we’re in the majority. How about that!

Yesterday I was bemoaning the exercise of month-end accounting. Interesting how quickly things can be put into perspective! The other day, we got an order for a 47” Kitty Hotel cat condo from a customer inOhio. There order specified a different shipping address from their billing address. We have our system set up to trigger an alert from our credit card processor as an added safety precaution service for our customers. We decided the service it was necessary and prudent when we began to experience a trend of increasing fraudulent sales; unauthorized use of other peoples’ credit cards. Getting back to our Kitty Hotel story, I called the customer to verify the address discrepancy. While on the phone, I like to take the opportunity to bond with our customers. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about what they think of the site (easy to navigate, easy to find) and about why they selected a particular item. I discovered during the call, that our customer had experienced a serious accident, resulting in major life changes one including adopting Bootsie, an abandoned cat. Bootsie has now become a most-favored part of the family, being a wonderful companion to someone suffering life’s challenges.

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