It's a Cat's Life

One of the biggest worries for us with this new house was how the cats would handle it.  Cats don't do well with change, and this was going to be a big change.  But we also hoped that going from an 1100 square foot house to a 2000 square foot house + basement would give them more space and make it easier for them to avoid each other.

So far things seem to be going well.  We've only had one real incident when Malcolm get scared of the basement and wouldn't use the litter box down there so he peed on a sack of potatoes in the pantry (I guess it was the closest thing to dirt he could find).

I wouldn't feel too bad for the cats, though.  They might be just a little bit spoiled.  We've done our best to make them feel at home in the new house, and that includes arranging things just for them.  First, I put some unused stools in front of one of the windows in the front room so that they can sit there and see outside.

It's a favorite place for them to sit.  They can watch the garbage truck and the mailman and all the people taking walks in the neighborhood.

If that doesn't float their boat, they also have the Catsle.  It's a home made cat castle that Landon built for them when they were still living in Lexington.  It has three interior levels, a scratching post, and a padded top level with a heating pad.

The top is one of Malcolm's favorite places to sleep, and Gidget likes to hide in the middle parts.  It's not always going to live in the middle of the great room--we hope to put a corner china cabinet in it's place one day--but until we finish the family room, this is where it gets to stay.

Gidget's favorite napping spot is in the Kitty pyramid that lives in the office/craft room.  She only likes it when it's up off the floor, so it's currently living on a rubbermaid tote of books that should have gone to the basement a long time ago.  She likes to get in there and sleep all day, especially now that it's kind of cold.  Malcolm naps in there too, and often there are fights for who gets to sleep in the pyramid, so we're debating buying another one so they don't have to share.  Although we know that even having two, they will both still want to sleep in the same one.

When it's sunny out, both cats also like to corner of the bed in the purple room--so much so that they were leaving a giant hairy patch on the duvet cover.  I had to start keeping the bed covered with another blanket just to keep it looking nice.  I pull it off when company comes over, but most of the time the bed looks like this:

They also have their very own food and water station set up in front of the widow closest to the pantry.  Everyone has their own food bowl and a water dish, although which one belongs to who is hard to say--mostly they eat from the one that has the most food in it.

And we also made sure to set up what we like to call "Kitty TV" in the back yard to keep them entertained.  It's amazing how entertaining a couple of bird feeders can be.

They can sit in front of the huge sliding glass doors and watch the birds and squirrels eat.  Right now they don't spend tons of time there, but I think once there is someplace soft to lay, they will enjoy it more.

We're also working on finishing up a tube that will allow them to go to the basement whenever they want, since that is where their litter box is going to live going forward.  That project involves a big hole in the drywall along with a concrete form tube and some drywall mud.  Once it's done, you can bet I'll have pictures.

So to sum up, our cat's aren't spoiled at all.  Maybe.