Embracing the Spring Vibes: Letting our Cats Enjoy the Great Outdoors

It's no surprise that Roughy (the toughest cat straight from the streets of Philly) enjoys fresh air, time outside, and watching the wildlife. Spring, Summer, Fall and any unseasonably warm winter day he wants all the windows open so he can hear and see everything. His best life would include unlimited amounts of time outside unsupervised. As responsible cat owners we don't let that happen. Instead he gets limited time outside and it must be supervised and on a leash. Really in a house of 11 cats he's the only one who desperately wants to be outside.

A few days ago, Dobby had her chance to explore the outdoor world. She is the least likely to set foot outside. She runs from the door opening - wanting no part of being out in the wild. This makes absolute sense as her first days living she was abandoned by her mom and litter mates. She was the runt and very sick, left to conquer the world on her own. We put a leash on her recently and she did the normal "backwards walk" which is of course cute. Something in their brain says walk backwards to get out of this thing that has been strapped to them. It doesn't work. Then she started walking forward with those big exagerted steps like she could just step out of the leash. Once she was a little more comfortable, we opened the door to the outside for her to go out. She just stood in the doorway - like WTH am I supposed to do now?!

With some help, she went out the door and slowly started to explore. Walking down the steps, down the sidewalk and eventually into the grass over to the patio area. Slowly inspecting as she went. All seemed good until a loud noise scared her and she wanted to head back inside. Since her little adventure outside, she hasn't been back out and doesn't seem to care one way or the other if she goes out again.

Now, Roughy - he is ALWAYS ready for an outdoor adventure. It doesn't matter to him what the weather is doing, if he's allowed out or not - he just wants to go out. He has figured out how to open the sunporch screen door - now we keep that locked all of the time. He also knows who walks the slowest, is most distracted, or most likely to let him walk on their heals out the front door. That brings its own little fun - I am his first choice to follow out the front door. Always in a rush, hands full it's easy to slip thru the door. Since my hands are full I have to put everything down before I can scoop him up. Giving him a few added seconds to sniff and take some steps. Depending on whats going on outside he can be extremely cranky and nasty when he gets returned to the inside world. Othertimes he's happy to have had his few seconds and it's no big deal to go inside again.

Just recently he had two un-approved outdoor excursions. First, he figured out the door was broken and let himself out. When it was noticed, he decided to play hard to catch and run from everyone or hide far under the neighbors deck. The better part of 3 hours he spent doing his best to avoid being caught and brought in. Just a week or so later he got his second chance, he got out again when the wind blew the door open - but was happy to come in with minimal delays.

Needless to say, anytime one of the cats manages to get out without a leash it sets me on edge. I become panicked, anxious and worry they won't come back. Cat's unlike dogs, rarely come when called. I truly don't know how people knowingly let their cats outside without a leash or secure way for them to stay close.

Keep your pets safe with properly installed fences, proper fitting leashes & collars, Catio's that are secure and being hyper aware of your surroundings!

Till our Tails cross,

Mel

#purrfectdozen #roughy #dobby #orangecat #blackwhitecat #felinelife #catoutdoors #greatoutdoors #springadventure #catadventures #cutecats

Cat Wheel Adventures

With a house full of cats, there's always a long wish list of things I want, ranging from cat toys, fancy water bowls, automatic litter boxes, air purifiers, and more! Pets are expensive, just dealing with vet visits, food, and the average pet toys. In my world, that means I keep a mental list of things I REALLY want to spoil my cats with.

At the top of that list: a cat wheel/cat treadmill. These are super expensive brand new and not exactly the smallest. There are times in my life when I doom scroll on Facebook—more specifically, the marketplace. Usually, I'm not expecting to find anything, and I truly don't need anything. Until one day, I stumble on a listing for—you got it—a BRAND NEW cat wheel.

My little disclaimer on buying used pet items (especially cat items): Be extremely careful. Cats can be very territorial, and this can result in them marking any new-to-them items to claim them as theirs. If you do buy used, clean it extremely well!

Ash watches the house from her new seat.

So - this lovely posting saying it's a new, unused cat wheel - I could not pass it up. $80 - brand new AND it was already assembled! SCORE for me and the #purrfectdozen crew. The lady was nice enough to hold it till I got done with work. I pick it up and say nothing to Gene. I just move some furniture around in the living room and bring it in. He catches me as I set the wheel in place. His question - what did you get? As I'm beaming - A cat wheel brand new for $80! (Need I mention, I'm always broke - so he's already figuring that in the end it's coming out of his wallet in some way.)

Cat wheel in place, cats ready to inspect. The majority of the cats have all been on the wheel. Most of them prefer to use it as a napping place or to scratch. Smokey has taken to the wheel pretty well. She has figured out that if she walks/runs on the treadmill, she will get attention. That's her big motivator to actually use the wheel. Not that she needs to exercise, as she is tiny already!

Dobby using the carpet as a scratcher

Dobby is the other interested cat. She gets a little hung up because her nails get stuck in the carpet - she hasn't quite mastered the "keep the claws in" part yet. That makes her walking consistently on the wheel a little difficult. I have tried to catch her using it with a video, but she has a sixth sense and stops before I can catch her.

Clara has been on the wheel exactly one time. She started as a scratching pad. With a little help from me, the wheel turned, and she would super slowly take a step or two, then stop and rub her face on the edges. She's unsure that it's truly safe yet.

Clara looking pretty and adamantly not using the wheel to walk.

The other cats are more interested in using it as a napping spot. I'm just glad that I'm mostly getting my money's worth from this Facebook Marketplace gem. There's hope that the rest of the gang will get on board and use it for its intended purpose. In the meantime, Smokey has gotten my money's worth out of it, and for that, I'm thrilled!

10 stars for a new affordable cat wheel! I highly recommend getting one!

Till our tails cross,

Mel

Purrfect Dozen Crew

I've written individual blog posts about the purrfect dozen crew, but with so many cats, it's challenging to keep track of them all. For readers, here's some background on each cat, even if you don't recall their names.

Mid-cat introductions, we found ourselves short of a dozen cats (we miss Rollie so much!). We are holding steady at 11 cats (I entertain the idea of getting another cat daily) - this makes Gene slightly happy (the holding steady at 11). He's waiting for us to get down to a more manageable number of pets. As I had only been writing about the current cats living with us, I have one cat whom I miss dearly and wish she were still here. She didn't make the blog posts because she is in Kitty Heaven, and I just haven't been able to write about her. Peppermint - the absolute best cat a girl could ever need or want.

She was a tuxedo cat - all black with a little bit of white on her nose, under her chin, and some on her paws. She was the mother of all mothers to all of our cats. She had been around the block and knew what would be allowed and not allowed in our house. She was the mother of all mothers of cats - a no-nonsense kitty lady. With her help, our house was better managed. She trained all the new cats on what the laws were.

One time she actually hit Dobby. We had our Christmas tree up, and Dobby, standing on the couch arm, was getting ready to leap into the tree. Peppermint got up from her snooze to smack Dobby, effectively stopping her from actually getting to the tree. While she would act like she didn't like or want anything to do with any new cats in the house, she was very loving towards them in her own way. They followed her lead, letting her have the top pecking order spot.

When we first got Peppermint, she refused to eat regular cat food. She turned her nose up at it and would only eat people food, table scraps, and meat. It took us a good year and a half to get her to eat cat food. She grew accustomed to it, but always had the urge for some good people food—specifically steak. As she got to her final years in life, her diet reverted back to people food. I would make chicken or steak for her daily, and that's what she would eat.

She was as deaf as a brick wall, but man, could she hear/sense when you opened the fridge or freezer door. Anytime you opened one of the doors, she expected to be given her meat. Every holiday, party, or mealtime, she would conveniently find her way to the kitchen, switching from patiently watching to snoozing, knowing that she would be getting her own plate of food. Many times, she would end up with the cutting board—the best part—full of drippings and little bits of meat. If she wanted food and no one was around to give it to her, she would yell—loudly with her piercing meow—to fill her plate (aka drop the food right on the floor!). There is a huge hole in my kitchen without her constantly by my side.

I always said that we had a special bond—and a strong one at that. I can't even put into words the bond or what it is that made it that special. But she was a huge piece of me in so many ways. She was the best cuddler, finding the right nook to curl up as close to my body as catly possible.

One thing she was good at doing was mousing. In her later years, she did less and less of that. Not to worry, as she did make sure that we have at least one good mouser left, even if the new mouser is a little lazy about hunting them.

I have so many fond memories of Peppermint and all the cute things she would do and what a great companion she was. There would be no way to replace her, but I sure do miss her and still cry.

She has a seat in my car. I keep a picture of her on my dashboard, so she's with me every day, everywhere I go. Her ashes stay on the headboard, so she sleeps with me every night just like she used to.

Till our tails cross again,

Melanie

#Purrfectdozen #tuxedocats #momcat #felinefriend #cats #catcompanion #catlife