The Pen In Winter (January 2009)

Some readers of this blog have been asking: Are we able to use the Cat Recreation Area ("pen" for short), even in winter?

Well of course!

For technical reasons that we cats refuse to acknowledge, Pat and Henry say that in winter, we can't have the windows open 24 hours a day. This silly rule just makes life harder for them, because they have to open the windows for us whenever we want to go out or come back in again.

In these pictures, Natasha and Summer enter the pen from the laundry room on the first floor:






Meanwhile, Tootsie and Hershey demand access from the basement window:



Every cat has a great time out there:









Although Schooner enjoys the pen, he thinks it's even better to be outside and on top:





Hershey decides it's time to come back inside: "Hey, is anybody there??"


"I SAID, Let us in NOW!"


"What do you think the problem could be, Cocoa?"


Cocoa is the last one in:

Now we are (temporarily) Nine! (January, 2009)

Just in time for the New Year, Natasha and Boris came to stay with us! Mother and son, they were left at the Prince Edward Island Humane Society. Boris was too tiny to be there, so he and his Mum will be living with us for a few weeks now. We have lots of fun playing with them!


Boris loves toys!




Natasha is SO svelte and elegant, we all think she is quite the femme fatale:



She must think so too, because she enjoys looking at herself in the mirror:


We will be posting more pictures soon . . . .

Important Note: If you live in the Charlottetown area, please consider adopting this dynamic duo!

Now we are Seven! (December, 2008)

It's been a long, long time since we posted any news here -- but you will understand why when you read about what we've been up to!

In November, Schooner Cat came to live with us. Schooner is big, beautiful and very silky:


Schooner is fifteen years old, and was a bit down on his luck when he came to us. But we are all so glad he's here! Especially Summer Cat, who is delighted to have a new friend whose tail is as plumey as his own.



Schooner and Summer are best buddies!

Our New Fortress! (August 29, 2008)

Since the playground opened in mid-July, the basement window leading to it has always been open. Cats have always been able to go to the playground whenever they wanted, day or night.

Until today. When, to the amazement of the cats, the window to the playground was CLOSED!

Even worse, the cats heard sawing and hammering. For hours and hours.

FINALLY, the playground re-opened. The cats bounded through their basement window to find -- A FORTRESS!


Cats set to work exploring. They soon saw that the Fortress serves as a massive entrance to their basement window, and that it will provide shelter in bad weather. On the first landing, there is plenty of room to relax or play. A ramp leads from the landing down to the ground. Or, cats can jump from the landing, to higher shelves within the fortress.

From the top of the fortress, which has a peak so that snow will slide off, the cats can jump up onto the highest rafters in the playground. Best of all, from a shelf mounted on the back of the fortress, they can run in and out of the first-floor window that now provides a SECOND portal to and from the playground!

(Remember - CLICK TO ENLARGE any picture on this page):




The cats also discovered that one of the posts inside the playground has been transformed into a circular staircase. They saw immediately that they could use the stairs, not just to climb up to the rafters, but as launching pads from which to ambush each other!





The cats are increasingly excited as they figure out more and more ways to play on the Fortress and on the circular stairs. They are grateful to Dean Martin and Brodie Machon, who built the Fortress and stairs:


Pat and Henry say, THANKS AGAIN to Dean Smith Carpentry Services, 69 Kingston Road, Cornwall, PEI, COA 1HO.

Compare our Fortress to this one, at the Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, MN. To see more photos of our big cousins, go to http://www.wildcatsanctuary.org/.

Our New Playground! (July 2008)

Welcome to our new play area! As you can see, we have lots of space to run and climb and hide or just relax. We have plenty of fun in here, especially at night, when we can stay out as long as we want. And best of all, Pat and Henry know we are safe . . .






















Again, we want to express our thanks to Dean Smith Carpentry Services, 69 Kingston Road, Cornwall, PEI, COA 1HO, who designed and constructed the cats' fenced-in playground.

Just in Time

On the very weekend that construction of the cats’ new playground was completed, we opened our mailbox to find this anonymous message:



We were surprised. We are on good terms with our immediate neighbors – that is, the neighbors on each side of us, the neighbors who live in the three houses behind us, and at least one of the families who live across the street from us.

Indeed, in the past we have explicitly asked several of our neighbors if the cats disturb them, and they have told us that on the contrary, they enjoy watching the cats.

Obviously we have other neighbors who feel differently.

"They have been causing all sorts of problems" - ?

We are sorry the cats kill baby robins. We are sorry they kill any birds. We are sorry they kill mice – even though our immediate neighbors seem to appreciate the cats’ attempts to eradicate the local rodent population.

But we have found it impossible to persuade the cats that killing other creatures is "bad." After all, cats were domesticated and tamed in the first place, because humans wanted them to kill the rodents and birds who destroyed crops and invaded human dwellings.

We built the fenced-in playground because we worried about cars and (animal) predators. Now that we know the cats have made human enemies, we are all the more relieved that in their pen, the cats can enjoy the outdoors, and still be safe.