Thursday, July 1, 2010

If You Build It, They Will Come?

We are cat people. I want to be a dog person. I think and fantasize about being a dog person, but for now I am a cat person. The idea for making a kitty condo came from the idea of a dog house. When I was growing up we had dogs and those dogs stayed outside year round in their kennel with a dog house. So why shouldn't I build a house for my cats?

Our cats are spoiled cats and spend a lot of time inside. But they frequently end up crying by the back door to be let in and 8 months out of the year it is raining and we have no awning and so when those cats come in they are usually soaking wet. So I got the brilliant idea to build a little kitty condo to put by the back door for them to hang out in when we aren't around to let them in. I even installed FLOR carpeting inside, cut up from samples I had ordered.
Three generations of male think this is a silly idea: my dad who helped me build the thing with left over wood from the shed, my husband who shook his head when I told him what I was doing, and the 16 year old who I hired to trim our laurel rolled his eyes and told me it was flat out dumb. But the 16 year old comes from a house with 13 cats (13 CATS!) and so I will forgive his negativity towards cats.
My cats aren't too sure what to make of it. Trevor's cat won't go near it. I think they just need to be acclimated. Time will only tell if this is something Trevor can use against me as yet another hare-brained idea or perhaps my stunning brilliance will reveal itself in the fact that yes, the cats love their little kitty condo.

3 comments:

  1. They look like they like it. Or were they placed for the pictures??? They would love carpet on the walls to for reaching and scratching :)

    You can tell Trevor that I cut a hole in the wall of the carport, sectioned off an area, installed installation, drywall, carpet and heat lamp for Ebby when I working all the time. Will definitely make you look much less crazy!!

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  2. That's a great idea! Your pictures prove why cats are smarter than dogs. Our puppies will sit out in the sun hot and miserable, or wet and shivering 'cause it was raining but it never occurred to them to go inside their dog house.

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  3. OK, I did pose them a little bit, but yesterday afternoon I caught Vincent sleeping on top of it, so I think they will gradually start using it. I plan on adding a dangling cat toy and maybe some sisal on the end for them to scratch. But they have a really nice big old apple tree limb I salvaged when we cut it down that they scratch on all the time.

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