Features include open air cat walks, climbing steps, nooks throughout the house for cat hide-outs, cat doors in every door, extra space in the bathroom designed especially for a litter box, an enclosed deck area, and special fences to prevent cats from escaping.
We have a plate rail that runs the entire circumference of our dining room. The cats were tardy in telling us we weren't suppose to put breakable objets d'art on the rail. I was able to glue the Van Briggle back together, not quite the same anymore.
I have seen these houses, and find them quite appealing. But, one must not forget that these spaces are all cleaned up for a photo shoot, and, in real life, you'd have to be figuring out how to get up to those beams, or into those little doors and nooks and crannies to clean up the barf.
emmline wrote:I have seen these houses, and find them quite appealing. But, one must not forget that these spaces are all cleaned up for a photo shoot, and, in real life, you'd have to be figuring out how to get up to those beams, or into those little doors and nooks and crannies to clean up the barf.
Nah.... spray the cats with Pledge and let them clean up after themselves
brewerpaul wrote:Nah.... spray the cats with Pledge and let them clean up after themselves
The problem is they'd clean the Pledge off themselves first, which would make them barf in your shoes, and on your bed, and on the dining table, and (thanks to those handy overhead beams) on your head.
What this house obviously does not take into account is the fact that once those cats become geriatric, they'll start missing their landings and falling off those high perches. And, at that age, they're not nearly as resilient. Their vet will be getting a lot of $$$.
Giles: "We few, we happy few."
Spike: "We band of buggered."
When I was 18 I worked for a time in a used & antiquarian book store, and like many, this one had a resident shop cat. At some point the cat had discovered that by climbing shelves over a the far side of the shop, it could get through a gap into the space above the ceiling tiles. Lot of fun to be had up there, I'm sure. However, apart from the way it had come, there was only one other gap to get out by. By coincidence, it was right up at the front, very near the counter and cash register where I sat. The problem with this as an exit was that getting from the hole to the nearest bookcase was too large a jump. Conveniently for the cat, however, was that customers would often stand in front of that section and browse the books. This was the occult section, which was up near the cash because customers for occult books were second only to those interested in books on christianity as thieves of books they want but can't afford.
So often on a saturday afternoon, I'd be at the cash ringing in sales, and I might see a small cat face peeking out from the ceiling. If there was a customer in front of the hocus-pokus section, there'd be no time for a warning from me before the cat would jump down using the customer's shoulder as its stepping stone en route from ceiling to lower shelf to floor. Did I mention that this cat was almost entirely black? I'm surprised that no one had a heart attack. My boss thought this was hilarious.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
I presume this sort of house is for people who can't let their cats outdoors? It might be cheaper to move to a more cat-friendly neighbourhood.
Our cat is easily entertained by our moving furniture about, or placing a new bag, newspaper or cushion on the floor. He'll always sit on something rather than on the carpet.
Around here the other term for letting the cat out is "feeding the coyotes".
And ornithologists tell us that there's a good correlation between the urban coyote population and rates of breeding success for songbirds. Where there are coyotes, cats stick close to home or don't come home at all, which means they kill a lot less birds.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
s1m0n wrote:
So often on a saturday afternoon, I'd be at the cash ringing in sales, and I might see a small cat face peeking out from the ceiling. If there was a customer in front of the hocus-pokus section, there'd be no time for a warning from me before the cat would jump down using the customer's shoulder as its stepping stone en route from ceiling to lower shelf to floor. Did I mention that this cat was almost entirely black? I'm surprised that no one had a heart attack. My boss thought this was hilarious.
s1m0n wrote:Around here the other term for letting the cat out is "feeding the coyotes".
And ornithologists tell us that there's a good correlation between the urban coyote population and rates of breeding success for songbirds. Where there are coyotes, cats stick close to home or don't come home at all, which means they kill a lot less birds.
Virginia just had it's first verified coyote sighting in Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge which is located on the Atlantic coast. I suspect the city of Virginia Beach is going to see a dramatic drop in their feral cat colony populations. Unfortunately this puts the coyotes in a region where they may eventually interact with a Red Wolf reintroduction program, and the wolves usually come away with a diluted gene pool.
When I was living in the country in Ontario, wolves and coyotes coexisted with little apparrent friction, because they tended to prefer different habitat. Some nights, I could hear wolves howling out the back, which was about 500 acres of forest and either shield granite or swamp, and I could hear coyotes yipping out front which was farms and fields. There was plenty of cover to be had out front, but it was all scattered. Coyotes didn't mind, but the wolves wanted to be where the cover was much more extensive and humans more scarce.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
s1m0n wrote:Around here the other term for letting the cat out is "feeding the coyotes".
Yup, same here. It isn't a minor or occasional mishap, but a near certainty. Cats here vanish quite promptly. Even taking a small dog out for a walk on a leash is dangerous for both the dog and the owner. Not too safe for small children, either.
s1m0n wrote:Around here the other term for letting the cat out is "feeding the coyotes".
Yup, same here. It isn't a minor or occasional mishap, but a near certainty. Cats here vanish quite promptly. Even taking a small dog out for a walk on a leash is dangerous for both the dog and the owner. Not too safe for small children, either.
Dog attacks are far more numerous and serious in the US than any coyote attacks. I would suspect that just in the state of Florida there are more dog attacks than there are coyote attacks in the whole of the country. All of the reported coyote attacks to small children have been attributed to coyotes that were fed, typically, by the family members of the victims. Every DNR in the lower fortyeight recommends not feeding coyotes which are now in every one of the lower fortyeight states. To a coyote, cats are kibble.
