Category: cats

New Career Goal

Karen

Forget becoming a creative director (which I’m ambivalent about anyway)–I want to be a Cat Napper. This go-getter Terry naps for up to 4 hours every day with rescue cats. His path to this goal? “He walked into the sanctuary one day to introduce himself and let them know he would like to brush the cats.” Then he kept falling asleep.

@thatgoodnewsgirl This man’s retirement plan was to become a cat napper. Now he spends every day napping with cats. Terry is the official Cat Grandpa at Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary in Green Bay, Wisconsin. You can find their account here: @Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary 📸 safehavengb #catsoftiktok #catnapper #catnews #goodnews #positivecontent #rescueanimals ♬ original sound – jenn💜 good news & fun stories

As Terry says, “Life is too short, so you should do something fun with cats.”

The Feral Cat News, Wednesday Edition

Karen


We successfully put the pet bed heater in Oliver’s little house and we bought him the extra-large dog house that Doc is now calling his “mansion.” Ultimately the little house will rotate 90 degrees and move into the mansion, which  will keep his food under cover when the weather gets bad.

He didn’t mind the heater in his little house at all this time; we put it in Friday night (so I could supervise on Saturday) and he was in there Saturday morning. He didn’t move until nine o’clock–a good hour and a half past when he usually wakes up.

I am so delighted that Oliver is warm that I don’t even mind that the back deck now looks like a kitty tent city. Moral: it’s a short, slippery slope to cat lady-dom.

Cat Lady Hand-Wringing

Karen

Right after I posted about Oliver loving his new house, I put his bed heater in it because temps were going to drop. Well, the cord coming out of the house scared him off, and then it started to rain Thursday night.

He didn’t get in his house at all while it was raining over the weekend and I just kept kicking myself for messing with his bed and scaring him–until I realized the bedding in there was getting soaked from the rain hitting the deck and splashing back up through the doorway. Then I was kicking myself for not figuring out a way to keep his only warm and dry place DRY. (There was a lot of pacing at the door and hand-wringing during the rain on Sunday.)

Getting things dried out meant I was messing with his house even MORE after the weekend, so he still didn’t get in there. He was sleeping in his tarp-covered chair Monday night, and as much as I wanted to put his bed warmer in there and hide the scary cord, I resisted. This morning as I type he’s finally back in his house, after nearly a week, and I’m tiptoeing around inside like he’s a very shy unicorn.

So after all that, we’re trying to figure out how to keep his house and food dry as we move into even worse weather. Do we cover the pergola top with a tarp? That will keep a big area dry but not do much about blowing snow. Do we buy him an extra large doghouse that will fit his cat house and have space for food and water in it?  Do we do BOTH?  Do we just capture him and force him to live in the basement all winter?

Sheesh. They don’t tell you about all this hand-wringing that comes with the cat lady merit badge.

Earning My Cat Lady Merit Badge

Karen

Our stray Oliver has been getting more and more tame and enjoying the little blanket we put out for him on the chair. So when I saw it was going to rain all last weekend, I thought I’d try making him a tent. I wasn’t even sure he’d go in it, but it was a big success (even if it looked like a kitty hobo camp, which I guess it is).

It’s hard to take pictures through the glass, but he was having a morning bath.

Well, I sent the tent photo to my mom–the original cat lady–and she came back with an unused small doghouse that my dad had weatherized with one-inch insulation, a raised floor, a pillow, and a fleece pillowcase. (One of her old cats was mostly an outside cat.)

I still wasn’t sure if Oliver would get in something so enclosed, but clearly Oliver is no fool. I put it out at lunch and he was in there by 5:00 that afternoon.

He’s been in it every morning and evening since and most of the day, too. Here he is so relaxed he’s falling out of bed:

I’m so glad he has the smarts to stay warm. There’s going to be a cold snap this weekend so I’ll put in the heated bed warmer (!) my mom also supplied. Next up is figuring out how to keep his food dry and water unfrozen as it gets colder. And, you know, moving him into the house. (Don’t tell Toby.)

Cat Lady Update

Karen

Our stray Oliver is still coming around for breakfast and dinner. (We may have also made a bad choice and given him some of the fancy grain-free treats Toby stopped liking, and now he may or may not sit and wait for treats before he eats said breakfast and dinner…)

I’m able to get a lot closer to him–especially if I have treats–and he doesn’t seem to mind if I’m out on the deck reading as he relaxes after dinner. But so far, I’ve only been able to barely brush his side and he immediately shifted away.

It takes time to take a wild creature, I guess. That’s Cat Lady 101.

Are You Stressed? Are You A Cat? Watch This!

Karen

It’s only been a week since the other writer left at work and I thought I could handle it, but it’s BUSY. And it’s getting to me…and it will be another few weeks before we can get anyone else hired.

Good thing a friend turned me on to this anti-stress video for cats. Don’t laugh (and don’t judge it from the “poster art” in the still below)–it’s incredibly soothing.

“Guided by extensive scientific research the film features a range of animate and inanimate objects, including fish and swaying trees, and a soothing narration from David Tennant.”

 

I put it on for Toby and thought, “Wow, I may need to loop this at work.” So I’ll try that today. Purrrrrrr…

Relax

Karen

Did time speed up exponentially after Thanksgiving? Do you have a party, two birthdays, and Christmas to prepare for? Are you turning 35 exactly one month from today? Is 35 five years away from 40?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, clearly you need to take a deep breath, calm down,  and watch  “Lil BUB’s Magical Yule Log”–one hour of Lil BUB the cat relaxing in front of the fire.

 

Aaaaaah. It’ll all be ok. Lil BUB’s tongue tells us so.