Kitty City: Population, eight

There are times when we all seem to be doing well, and other times when we would just as soon sell off the lot of them for medical experiments.

So a couple of weeks ago saw me trek to the PetSmart in the retail wilds of Brentwood Commons. I went to the back of the store, found the item I wanted, then flagged down a staffer. “I need to buy this cat tree,” I said. “Do you have a dolly or flat bed truck I could use?” It turned out that he did, and would wheel it out for me. I shelled out the hundred-odd dollars for the tree, then out we went to the parking lot.

As I unlocked the car door, I remarked to the PetSmart guy that the tree should fit inside the vehicle, as my wife had purchased one a few days earlier and was able to fit it inside. PetSmart Guy was visibly struck by the notion that this was our second cat tree purchase. By way of explanation, I told him that we had six cats at home. The look of amazement did not leave his face.

Loading the cat tree into the car was the work of a moment, and I thanked the staffer for his help. PetSmart Guy smiled. “Do you think you have enough cat trees?” he asked.

I smiled back and said, “Sure hope so!”, when what I should have said was, “Yeah, you can laugh, pal, it’s not your six cats.”

The trees, positioned at north and south:

We purchased this feline furniture not just to add more soft horizontal surfaces to a house that already abounds in cushions and padded baskets. Rather, we bought the trees in order to give the cats more territory, something to offset the cramped horizons that came with an increase in cat population and the closing off of previously accessible rooms. They do seem to like the new furniture (which they had better, considering the cost in dollars and amused grins from PetSmart employees).

M decided to buy the first tree after some reading in Cat vs. Cat by feline behaviorist Pam Johnson-Bennett, which has been a boon to us here in Kitty City. Prior to ordering the book, we’d lurched along in our attempts to create a harmonious multi-cat household - some good days, at least as many difficult days, and an overriding sense of frustration. M has many years of experience with cats - much more than I do - but even she was often at wit’s end.

Many of the problems we’d encountered in trying to incorporate one-eyed, FIV+ former stray Jack into the household stemmed less from him than from the reaction of other cats to him - most notably Scooter, our stubborn gray British shorthair. Scooter’s opinion of Jack could be fairly paraphrased from Donkey’s reaction to Puss in Boots in Shrek II: “The role of annoying talking animal is already taken.” He’s acted as the fierce guardian at the gates, a kind of living Fu Dog:

Scooter has done his best to bully Jack out of the house, but Jack confounds him by utterly refusing to be intimidated. You’ve seen cats roll over on their sides or backs in apparent submission before other felines? Jack doesn’t do that. “Submissive” doesn’t seem to be in his vocabulary. This is why we call him Little Big Cat. Of course, we also call him Mike Wazowski.

Pages: 1 2 3

Similar posts:
Hello, kitty
Garden Cat update
Jack
Garden Cat goes to the vet
Beefeaters Salmon Treats