The Cat Tree

 


        C and I have been doing a little shopping for new cat tree. Barnaby and Willow liked to chew on things as kittens and have chewed on the cat trees we have now. I can put towels and blankets over the trees to cover the chewed parts, but we wanted something taller with places for them to climb. Some of the trees we looked at had things the cats could play with. 

        Last week while shopping at Costco we found one. It was tall, sturdy and had several levels for the cats to sit. There was also a little cat condo that they could use to hide in or nap. It was the right price so we bought it.

        The box with the pieces was too heavy for either of us to lift. C decided we would open the box in the garage and carry the pieces into the house. We put them in the music room. They stayed there for a week.    

        I must admit, I'm always nervous about putting things together with C. Assembling things with a loved one can be fraught. We'd put things together before with few problems, but there is always a first time.  Saturday night after supper, we got out the pieces and went to work.

        The first challenge we ran into was the booklet with the directions. The print was so light and so small that we couldn't see how to put it together. Fortunately there was a link to a You Tube video. C prefers videos. We gathered all the pieces together. 

    C watched the video and then told me what pieces and hardware to gather. I was grateful the the pieces were marked and the marking were easy to find. There was only one piece that wasn't marked. By the time we needed it, there were few pieces left so it was obvious what we needed. It wasn't as hard to put together as I thought, but it took us over two hours to put it together.

        Once we finished I put the a cushion in the cat condo, another on a platform and a third on the cat bed on top. I attached the swinging ball, a batting ball and a thick rope for them to chew on. 

        Willow gingerly approached the tree and began to sniff it. I picked up Barnaby and put him on one of the platforms. He jumped off and ran away. As we looked at the completed tree, we realized we had a problem. We had not given any thought to where the tree would go. We definitely didn't want it to block the window, yet we did want the cats to be able to see out the window while sitting in the tree.

        Clearly we were going to have to rearrange the living room to make space for the cat tree. Since it was late at night, C made room for it by pushing the chaise away from the wall. The problem with this is that it makes it difficult to get to the couch. For now it is what we have to do.

    I am excited to rearrange the living room. We no longer have a TV there so we can do what works for us. We need to do some long needed cleaning anyway. I'm sure there are a ton of cat toys and hair under the couch and chaise.

        The cats are enjoying the tree now. Barnaby likes having a bed that is big enough for him. Willow enjoys napping in the cat condo. It was a good investment.

        

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