Cat Views

How about this? There is a life-size stuffed turkey that stands in the home of Smokey. Smokey loves to spend a great deal of time hunkered down under this turkey and peering out from between the legs. Does he regard this big bird as a protector or does he just feel comfortable and safe observing his world from between those two sturdy bird legs? Does this bird feel like a companion? Makes one wonder what they are thinking, doesn’t it? Perhaps a nice cat perch or cozy condo would provide another secure place for him to watch what goes on in his household.

There once was a cat named Missy
She was not at all a sissy
She’d take on a dog at a moments glance
The poor dog knew he had not a chance
Little and fierce she was, feisty too
The melee she caused was a big to-do
The poor dogs always left in defeat
She was proud that she couldn’t be beat
So into her cozy cat condo she’d climb
Feeling she’d earned her rest sublime.

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.

Some cats can be very ornery when they don’t get their own way and will retaliate in interesting ways! We were getting ready for a dinner party one evening and hurrying to set up the table before our guests arrived. A neighbor had come over early to help set up. The table linens, china and silver were all in place on the table. Candles and a floral centerpiece came next. All that was left was to fill and place the water goblets. In the meantime, my big cat, Alex, came in and jumped up on the table to investigate. My neighbor “shooed” him off the table which did not sit well with him, however, he did get down. She continued to work on the table by filling and placing goblets at the place settings. Once her task was completed, Alex came back in, and again jumped up on the table. He gave my neighbor a defiant look and proceeded to walk over, take his paw and overturn 3 glasses, jump down and disappear into his Kitty Condo. He was satisfied and we ended up redressing the table!

We were living in a garden apartment on the second floor, and kept a small box of toys for the neighborhood children to play with when they came over. There were various small toys including marbles in the box. Our cat, Sandy, loved to play with marbles and had some of her own that would occasionally get mixed in the toy box. The little boy next door was injured and had to play quietly so we took the box of toys over for him to use. The next day his mom heard a “thunk, thunk , thunk” sound coming from their stairwell. She went to investigate and saw our cat carefully sorting through the toys and picking out her marbles! She would then go down the stairs and pick them up and take them home where she would stash them in her kitty pod mini.

I grew up in a big old frame house in the Midwest. Our basement was only partially dug out, and the furnace sat in a cement recess in the floor. When it rained heavily this recess (pit) would fill with water. We had a big shiny black male cat named “Needles” (for obvious reasons) who loved to hide in the basement and jump at my mother when she would come downstairs. One day, not knowing the pit was full of water, he ran downstairs and prepared himself to jump. When my mother arrived, he made his move, just as he did, my mother turned away and he ended up landing in the pit! Well, that was one very mad, very wet cat! He spent the next two days sulking in his Cat House Condo, because it was all her fault that he got wet.