Cat Views

We noticed an interesting commonality in our customers. Well, not them personally but rather the fact that so many cat names are very distinct! It prompted us to begin to collect cat names, particularly since the cat furniture being ordered, is for some”one” especially important. Instead of Fluffy & Felix, we were seeing names like Milo, Ocashsa, Taisho, Deuce & Bruno. Bruno? Isn’t that a dog’s name. Oh well…. With a name like Bruno, I don’t suppose he really cares!

Well, you know how it is. Every January, we get the “most popular” lists. Recently, the Cincinnati Enquirer published a list of the most popular cat names. How do these names compare to your clan?

1. Max
2. Chloe
3. Tigger
4. Tiger
5. Lucy
6. Smokey
7. Oliver
8. Bella
9. Shadow
10. Charlie

Other names locally on the list include: Gizmo, Cocoa, Gabriel (too many vowels!), Bailey, Simba & Bob. Bob??? Somehow, I just can’t see a cat named Bob.

Looking for a new place for your kitty to eat? Want something up to date as well as earth friendly? We have the perfect thing! This Pet Diner is made solidly of Bamboo; with a water resistant finish and two top of the line stainless steel bowls. Bamboo can grow up to a rate of one meter a day. This means that when you cut a tree that is 60 years old, it will take 60 years to replace that tree. Bamboo allows you to cut them down and they will return in about 60 days! That’s a huge difference. Not only is bamboo great at growing, but also is quite strong. Some people in the tropics can build houses out of bamboo! There are also over 1000 species of bamboo, each with a distinctive natual beauty. This Pet Diner will be sure you last you along time in your home, but it will be doing the earth a great favor as well.

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!

We received very sad news this week from one of our customers. Early this month, young Winslow escaped from home. He’s a 1-year old male Maine Coon with a predominantly white coat highlighted with red on his face, back & tail. Weighing only 13.5lbs he’s a very shy, skittish little guy. He lives in Danbury Connecticut. If you have found this cat or know anything about him, please contact us to help reunite him with his family. Thank you!

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.

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!

Discover a wonderful new line of multi-functional designer dog & cat furniture. There are 2 distinctive designs; Classic & Modern Zen Hideaways.The Classic is made of solid hardwoods, available in 4 sizes from small for cats and dogs under 25 pounds up to extra-large for dogs under 150 pounds. Choose from 3 beautiful finishes; Mahogany, Espresso & Natural.

Made of fiberglass, the sleek curves of the Zen Modern will complement a more progressive home design, both inside and outdoors! The clear top provides a fun “viewing port” for owners above and pets below. Available in 2 sizes; small for cats & medium for dogs up to 55 pounds.

Our electric went out today. Wow… you just don’t realize how convenient simple things are until you’re without! I can’t write a blog for my cat furniture blog site without spell check! No, you definitely don’t want to read without grammar check! Instead, I turned-off my computer because the UPS was driving me nuts which left me wandering around trying to decide what else I could do. I could dust. No, I don’t want Martha Stewart feel threatened! I could finish my hair; not typically a high-priority project but the blow dryer won’t work so I brushed my teeth. That’s a good thing. I could read. Not now, that’s a late evening task to make me sleepy. Leaving few options other than to enjoy my cat as she warmed herself in the winter sun snuggled on her cat tower. Oh the life of a cat! OK, the electric just came back on, Back to work!

I’m constantly prowling the Internet for new, innovative cat furniture items to add to our site. A couple of weeks ago, I found a great looking pet bed. Their site is more focused on dogs, adding a few cat photos just to make it “unipet.” But after reading some of their testimonials, it’s apparent they’ve missed one of the most appreciative animal species, cats! Besides, cats are all about sleeping, right? Here’s a great example, “I bought my dog Charlie a beautiful Bella Pet Bed. Charlie snuggled right into his new bed without having to coax him with treats. He immediately knew this was HIS bed. Charlie woke up to play and while he was away, Rummy one of my cats began sniffing around the new “pet” furniture. Within seconds, he was burrowed into Charlie’s bed and fast asleep! Later that day, I took Charlie for a walk and when we came back, TWO cats were asleep in his bed! So I guess it’s really a communal unipet bed, now!“ It just goes to show you, humans think we have everything all figured out but most of the time we make it too complicated! Bella’s motto is, “Perfectly Simple. Simply Perfect.” Perfect!