Cat Views

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.

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

So what’s the difference between a cat gym, cat tree & cat tower? I have no idea! I’ve decided that in truth they’re all about the same. But, for the sake of order … (I love to organize!!), I’ve categorized as follows:

There once was a cat named Chet
He really was such a special pet
To his owners he was quite a love
They even created a walkway high above
Up where he was free to roam
Feeling safe and comfy in his home
A beautiful cat tree for him was even provided
Giving him a wonderful place to hide in

Minou and Lori are housemates. Lori is a beautiful blue-eye Birman cat and Minou is a gorgeous red and white adoptee. He was homeless in the neighborhood and about a year old when he was adopted. He became leash trained so he could enjoy being outdoors from time to time. Lori, meanwhile had been the pampered pet and did not have to survive being on her own. This year Lori had a very special birthday on May 14th. She turned 14 years old! Her really special birthday gift (to be shared with Minou, of course), was a Salamanca Multi Level Cat Tree. It is being enjoyed by both cats, and she really doesn’t mind sharing with Minou.

My friend has a big white cat with big feet (6 toes). These big feet give her problems and she sometimes finds herself in difficult and entertaining situations. People comment about her very large cat feet and become fascinated when they find out she has 6 toes. Charmayne will stick her paw into something she finds interesting and almost always needs help to get her paw out. Over time she has mastered most of these situations but there is one that still baffles her. Her favorite thing to do is get up and walk across the top of the large plasma TV. She balances well, and once she gets across she has not figured out how to turn around to get back. Naturally, she always ends up falling off and running to hide in her Great Escape Cat Condo to cover her embarrassment.