How to live with cats: Garden windows

I have a garden window in my kitchen that I like very much. My plants that live in the garden window like it very much also. My cats also like it because they love to destroy my plants and can access the plants that live in the garden window. In general, the cats will not go after the plants when I am around, and in fact, normally they wait until it is nighttime, and I am asleep before really going after them. I want to keep at least some of the plants in the garden window, so I decided to make a window covering whose main purpose is simply to keep the cats out of the window at night or when I am away.

Garden window in my kitchen with my plants

I started with plain, white, cheap muslin. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. Also, I wanted a light, thin fabric that would let the light in through through the window. I am not concerned about privacy in my kitchen. I found some pretty blue fabric on sale as a remnant at the fabric store, so I decided to make the shade a tiny bit fancy. I sewed wide stripe of the blue fabric to the bottom of the muslin. The width and length was measured for the final product to just fit inside the window. Disclaimer: I am a terrible, unskilled seamstress.

Fabric cut and blue stripe sewed to bottom of white muslin

I then sewed wide hems on the edges. The top hem was large enough to insert the curtain rod. The side and bottom hems were large enough to form pockets into which a wooden dowel could be inserted. The bottom dowel would run the width of the shade. Both sides would have 15 inch long dowels at the bottom. The point of the dowels is so that the cats could not just walk past the shade like a hanging curtain. Something stiff was needed, so they could not push it aside. The dowels will ensure the shade hangs straight and stiff and stays just inside the window, so the cats cannot get in between the shade and window frame.

Side hem sewed with wide pocket for dowel

All hems sewed with wide pockets on side and bottom for dowels

Up close view hems and pockets for dowels

Inserting dowel into bottom pocket

I then sewed loops of yarn on both sides of the shade, so that the shade could be held into place in the window with cup hooks. I had to adjust the size of the loops a few times, so that they were not too big and thus easily come off the hooks.

Yarn loop sewn onto bottom

The hung shade with dowels lowered and loops attached to hooks just inside the window frame as designed.

Shade closed over garden window

After hanging the shade, the cats quickly showed that they could remove the yarn loops from hooks. I tried having the hooks open in, out, and up, including some hooks opening in and some opening out, but the cats still could still remove the loop. Luckily, I found that the hooks are magnetic, and I had a bunch of magnetic disks. I am now able to keep the loops on the hooks with a magnet behind the hook. Thus far, this is defeating the cats.

Cup hooks inserted into window surround to hook loops with magnetic disks to keep loops on hooks

Loop on hook covered with magnetic disk. The large hanging loop attaches to a button to hold shade open.

I sewed a long piece of yarn with a loop at the end halfway up the side. Right above the yarn piece, I sewed a large button. The shade can then be held open in the window by looping the yarn around the shade and putting its loop around the button.

Shade held open with large loop of yard around a button

Close up of yarn looped around button on shade

It took a couple of tweaks with the loops and hooks, but thus far this set up is working. It has worked for about two weeks now, so I am cautiously optimistic this will prevent the cats from killing my plants when the shade is down.

How to live with cats: Windows

One thing I know about living with cats is not to argue with them. They are going to do what they are going to do. The weather has been really nice for a while now, so I have been leaving the windows open. This of course means even more entertainment for the cats. Unfortunately they can’t access all the windows equally. My bedroom has a door with a openable window that looks onto the back patio. The back patio is a gather place for birds and squirrels because I put bird food out there. The back patio can also be viewed from the French doors in the family room, but for whatever reason, the cats really like looking from my bedroom door’s window. I guess the perspective is better. Anyway, the cats, mainly Orlando, kept jumping up and hanging onto the window sill. Even worse, sometimes they would hang on to the screen, which was seriously damaging the screen. I will say, I was impressed with the cats’ strength to hang on like this. There is a slight foothold with the ledge of the now-closed dog door.

Orlando hanging onto window sill to look out the window to the back patio.

There is nothing I could do to stop the cats from hanging onto the window, so I just made it easier for them to look out the window and hopefully keep their claws out of the screen. I moved a dining room chair under the window.

Oliver and Orlando standing on the dining room chair and looking out the door’s window.

The cats like this new viewing platform which allows easier viewing out the window. Now I have to figure out what to do about the office. Thus far the elliptical machine, when I am not using it, serves as a decent platform to look out the window. That window looks to my front yard and the busy sidewalk and street, where there is much to see. The cats want a better platform. Rosalind sometimes sits on the window sill, which doesn’t look comfortable. I may have to put a better platform there.

Oliver and Rosalind standing on the elliptical machine looking out the office window.

How to Live with Cats: Bathrooms

I have had pets before I adopted my three kittens. I am used to not being allowed to use the toilet by myself. Cats. Dogs. All feel they need to accompany me to the toilet. I have never been clear on why.

However before these three kittens, I accepted that. Before these three kittens, if I need to go to my bathroom for whatever reason, I just went. I very likely would have an entourage, but other than that, I just entered my bathroom to use the toilet, brush my teeth, take a shower, etc. Now entering my bathroom is a production. The cats have been banned from my bathroom. The door is kept shut at all times, and this makes it an entire production when I need to open the door to get in or out.

The cats have been banned from the bathroom mainly because of Orlando. I didn’t like it when they jumped to the bathroom counter, but I did’t get that annoyed. However, soon after Orlando got big enough to jump to the counter, he started turning everything into a toy. I went through three toothbrushes in a week because I kept finding them on the floor or in his mouth. The brush end was in his mouth. I moved the cup that holds the toothbrush to a shelf he couldn’t reach, and then he went after the flossers, which I keep in a cup besides the sink. I found flossers all over the house. Thus, they all lost bathroom entry privileges.

Now the problem is me getting in or out of the bathroom. Obviously because they can’t go in there anymore, it is now the most exciting room in the house. Orlando normally waits by the door, especially in the mornings when I am just getting out of bed or ready for work. I keep my phone in the bathroom at night, so it can recharge. I also use it as my alarm clock, and I need to have my alarm clock in a location that requires me to get out of bed, or I will simply turn it off and go back to sleep. Therefore, every morning, my alarm clock goes off, and Orlando sits and waits by the bathroom floor. It is dark, and I am drowsy and stiff. Inevitably, he will run inside, then I have get a hold of his squirmy self, snooze the alarm, and carry him back to bed. Then the routine is repeated when the alarm goes off again. Sometimes Rosalind joins in the fun, so I have to round up two squirmy cats who generally lie belly up to make picking them up all the more difficult. Oliver is the only somewhat well behaved cat.

Then when I am going into the bathroom to actually do something other than snooze my alarm, after they run in, I have to pick up the cat or cats, put them on the bed or the ground, then run back into the bathroom faster than them. Normally they are faster, so the entire routine starts anew. Generally it is easier for me to put them on the ground, while I am still in the bathroom with the door closed as much as possible, so I can quickly close the door between the cats and I. This still fails at times. Often three attempts are required for me to be in the bathroom by myself.

I have left Orlando in the bathroom after I snooze the alarm. I shut him in and go back to bed for five minutes because I hate mornings. By the time my alarm goes off again, and I enter the bathroom, Orlando is happily playing with a flosser.

All of this, so I can use the toilet or brush my hair. Life is rather complicated with cats.

How to Live with Cats: Doors

If you have cats, do not have any doors (cabinet doors, people doors, etc.) in your home.

If you must have doors, never open or close them.

If you must open or close them, never put yourself on the opposite side of the door from your cats.

If you must put yourself on the opposite side of the door from your cat, do so when your cats are not looking for as short a period of time as possible.

If you have put yourself on the opposite side of the door from your cat for too long a period of time, you will know by small furry paws appearing underneath the door reaching into the side in which you are. There may be meowing.

When it is time to reunite with your cats after the unauthorized extended period, do not attempt to stop the cats from running into the side you are in so said cats can determine what is so interesting on that side or the meaning of the separation.

If you must try to prohibit the cats from entering the other side, open the door the bare minimum while loudly saying “no” and “back”. This will most likely have no effect on the cats, but it will make you feel like you have some authority. You do not have authority.

If you successfully exit the other side with no cats running inside, congratulations, you are better than most of us. However, your cats will be annoyed.

If you are not successful in exiting the other side without admitting cats, you will now enter a comic cat roundup stage of your day. However, your cats will have a fun time.

Meet the Kittens

One month ago today was Gotcha Day for my kittens. Three littermate kittens, two boys and one girl, found not too far from my house. A neighbor posted on our neighborhood email asking if they belonged to anyone. I had been wanting to adopt a couple of kittens, and what’s more, these were brown tabbies, my favorite. It was a sign. The shelter picked the kittens up after the my neighbor’s call. Then as soon as the they became available for adoption, about a week and a half later, I picked them up from the shelter. I adopted all three. My initial intention when wanting to adopt a cat was to get two, so they could be playmates. Since there were three, I couldn’t very well take two and leave the third. That would have been mean, so they all came home.

I have a tradition of naming my pets after Shakespeare characters. I continued that with these three, naming them after characters in “As You Like It”. The girl I named Rosalind. The troublemaker boy is Orlando, and the timid boy is Oliver. They have quickly taken over the house. Oliver is no longer so timid, but Orlando is still a troublemaker. Rosalind has no trouble keeping up with the boys. They tend to sleep piled on top of each other. They move as a pride or a comedy or a chaos, whichever the best term might be for a plural of kittens. They are about four months old now. They think everything is a toy.

The kittens as I found them at the shelter, piled on top of each other in their condo.
The kittens piled on top of each other on my bed.
The kittens (L to R: Oliver, Rosalind, and Oliver) at their first vet visit. The vet tech had mad kitten wrangling skills and lined them up.
Oliver, Orlando, and Rosalind line up on my kitchen counter wanting dinner.
Orlando and Oliver on a a chair.
Rosalind on the dining room table.
The kittens watch the birds and squirrels outside.
The kittens sleep on the couch, once again demonstrating their enjoyment of piling on top of each other.

Mouse Hunt

I have two cats, Feste and Orsino, and Ferdinand the basset hound. The good news is they all get along. The bad news is they all get along. The get along so well they are a hunting pack. The good news is they keep the house free of pests although not so much the insects. The bad news is the only reason some of the pests are in the house is because some member of the hunting pack brought it in through the pet door. Normally they like to bring their trophies to me live. If I realize a prize has been brought in early enough, I can usually catch the prey and release it back outside relatively unharmed. Otherwise I’m on past prey patrol. Voles, moles, and mice are the main prey. Once in Texas, Puck the cat brought me a lizard. I’ve seen one dead bird. Luckily no snakes. Ferdinand the basset hound takes the prize for once while we lived in North Carolina bringing me an adult live opossum. He dropped it off in my bedroom. Wasn’t I impressed? No, I screamed like the girl I am. Eventually I got my wits about me after calling my mom in Texas, which of course was going to help somehow. She told me to call 911 because well it probably wouldn’t be the stupidest phone call they ever got. [Side note: I did call 911. Orange County North Carolina probably doesn’t get that many phone calls expect for drunks on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. In fact in Orange County you are supposed to call 911 for wildlife emergencies which is my justification for calling them. A very nice operator told me they would come help for wildlife that can carry rabies. Turns out opossums have too low a body temperature to carry rabies so all he could do was give me the phone number of a animal removal company. Still, good to know about opossums and rabies.] Anyway I finally calmed down. The opossum kept playing dead while both basset hounds and both cats kept watch to see if it would move again. I managed get a large trash can over it and pushed it down the hall and out the front door all while I was trailed by my hunting pack. After safely closing the door, I watched the opossum finally realize it was free. Before walking off, it looked at me as if to say thanks and possibly give me the middle opossum finger. I then went to go find a very large glass of wine.

This morning I heard the warning signal of both Feste and Ferdinand running across the living room. The I heard a squeak. I investigate, and both of them are staring intently at something. Great. It’s a mouse. It runs. Feste catches it in his mouth. Lets it go. Ferdinand catches it in his mouth. Lets it go. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Finally, Feste grabs it in his mouth and runs downstairs into my office. I then spend the next 20 minutes trying to catch the poor mouse that is trying to figure out how to get out while Feste mainly watches. Several times I would get close to getting a container on top of the mouse, and it would run to Feste for protection. I kid you not, it would run to Feste who would shelter the mouse in between his front legs. They would just look at each other. The mouse would move away. Feste would bat at it a little. I would try to catch the mouse. Repeat. Finally the mouse ran out into an open location where I could get a trash can over it. I got the trash can over it, turned it over, and got it out the front door. Then it took me a few minutes to get the mouse to finally leave the trash can. I kept telling it to be free. I have to go to work. Look there are nice plants and leaves for you to hide in. Be free. It finally did as I asked.

Feste and Orsino

I have had Feste and Orsino for over six weeks now. Last week they got neutered and finished the last of the vaccinations (until next year). They have settled in now. Orsino is still a bit skittish, but Feste is trying to be the cat that curiosity kills. Feste will also one day probably kill me by tripping me as he attaches himself to my ankles and just swarms around while I try to walk. Ferdinand really doesn’t care about the cats, but he does seem to get intimated by them sometimes. To celebrate their neutering, here are some photos of them because the internet needs more cat photos.

Feste and Orsino relaxing

Feste and Orsino relaxing

Ferdinand and Feste demonstrate the double decker couch

Ferdinand and Feste demonstrate the double decker couch

Feste's new favorite toy the rubber drain cover from the kitchen sink. He keeps pulling it out every time I put it back in.

Feste’s new favorite toy the rubber drain cover from the kitchen sink. He keeps pulling it out every time I put it back in.

I assume everyone stores their cats in the kitchen pantry next to the soup.

I assume everyone stores their cats in the kitchen pantry next to the soup.

Orsino keeping Feste under the cushion

Orsino keeping Feste under the cushion

Orsino licking Feste

Orsino licking Feste

Feste and Orsino cuddling

Feste and Orsino cuddling

Orsino watching Feste's tail under the coffee table

Orsino watching Feste’s tail under the coffee table

Introducing Feste and Orsino

Last week I adopted two kittens from a woman who rescues cats from the streets. Both these cats came from the same area, an area where people seem to dump cats. They are both fairly young and thus able to be domesticated. Feste, the gray one is rather adventurous, always trying to get into everything and explore everywhere. He is very friendly and will no doubt trip me one of these days by his constant circling of my feet. Orsino,the brown one is much shyer. He is slowly letting me approach him but is still rather skittish. As to the names I gave them, I name all my pets after Shakespeare characters. Feste and Orsino are from Twelfth Night. Feste the character is a clown or fool, and Feste the cat is a total clown. Orsino the character is a duke, and it just seemed appropriate to name Orsino the cat that.

Feste

Feste

Feste

Feste

Orsino

Orsino

Orsino

Orsino

Orsino and Feste

Orsino and Feste

RIP Chalmette

Chalmette in bag

Chalmette in a bag

This is Chalmette, my mom’s cat. He was born on my mom’s patio to a feral cat. For years, my mom had been trapping feral cats, getting them spayed or neutered with vets who help with Trap, Neuter, Return programs, and then returning them to the area around her townhouse. Her hard work with TNR worked well to lower the population, but Chalmette’s mother got pregnant before my mom could catch her. My mom started touching Chalmette and his sibling a few days after they were born, so they would get used to a human handling them. Once they were weaned, she took them inside. She found someone else to adopt Chalmette’s sibling, but Mom kept Chalmette. She hadn’t had a cat in a while. Chalmette became a wonderful pet for my mom. He was mischievous and sweet. He had an obsession with flowers. My mom couldn’t have any flowers in the house because Chalmette would eventually get to them, then take a flower, and parade around the house with it in his mouth. He gave my mom years of love, companionship, and sometimes entertainment. Today she had to put him to sleep. He was diagnosed with cancer less than two weeks ago, and the vet did not know how much time he had. While he seemed to be in good shape and was alert, he was bleeding in his mouth. My mom wanted to make sure he was never in pain. Rest in peace Chalmette. Thank you for the love and companionship you gave my mom. Thank you for finding me so fascinating and allowing me to invade your house whenever I came to visit my mom.

Chalmette on refrigerator

Chalmette on the refrigerator

Goodbye Beatrice

It all started with Bestoff. I was in high school, and this cat started showing up at our door. My sister is allergic to cats and dogs, so we had never had pets except for a few hamsters at times. Bestoff decided we were good people. People don’t adopt cats. Cats adopt people. Mom started giving Bestoff a little food, and I named him. [There used to be a drug store called K&B. It started in New Orleans where my mom was from. K&B stood for Katz and Besthoff. We had a cat, so I named it Bestoff, only learning later I spelled it wrong.] Then Mom decided Bestoff could sleep in the laundry room when it was cold. Later Bestoff decided he would just live in the house thank you very much. Years later, when I went to graduate school for my Master’s, I took him with me. He disappeared one day over the patio fence, as he often did, but he never came back. Several weeks later I decided I needed another cat. I adopted two littermate kittens who looked a lot like Bestoff. I adopted both because I couldn’t bear the though of separating them, and I was worried one would be put to sleep. Years later, I took Ariel (the female of the littermates) to the vet for some routine test or something. There was the kitten Beatrice sitting in a cage looking for a home. She had wandered to my vet’s house. My vet said she would have kept her, but she didn’t get along with her own cats. So my vet set her up in her office to find her a home. While I was waiting for my vet to see me, I pulled Beatrice out of the cage, put her in my lap and petted her, and she purred up a storm. My vet came out, saw me with Beatrice, and said “I’ll just take Ariel back. You two are bonding.” Next thing I knew I had a third cat.

Years later, Ariel would die. I would adopt a dog. He would later die after five wonderful years. Then I adopted Ferdinand and then Thisbe, both basset hounds. Thisbe died three years ago after escaping from my fenced in yard and getting him by a car. I had to have Puck (the male of those littermate cats) put to sleep last year after 17 wonderful years. Today it was Beatrice. I wasn’t expecting it. She had been having a recurring cold due to feline herpes virus (it’s rather different from the human version). Not a big thing, but annoying. November during her last physical, she had lost a little bit of weight, and one of her blood test values showed signs of early kidney disease. We were going to monitor her, but the vet and I weren’t real worried about it. She had had a cold on and off for a couple of weeks now, but last night she wouldn’t eat, and she seemed to be having trouble breathing. I thought the cold had led to a more severe respiratory infection, so I brought her to the vet this morning. She was getting worse, but it wasn’t an infection. It was severe and sudden heart failure. We didn’t know how long she had, and even in the best case scenario with aggressive treatment, she still probably didn’t have that long. Her body temperature was 90°F when it should be more like 100°F. She responded to having the fluid around her lungs drained, but she was clearly suffering and was clearly dying. I did the only thing I could. I ended her suffering and had her put to sleep. She went peacefully.

For all the dogs and cats I have had, I have been there for four of them when I had them put to sleep. It doesn’t get easier. I guess it is not supposed to be. I know I made the correct decision in each case, but it still hurts to lose another. Now it is just Ferdinand the basset hound and I. My house seems more empty. I’ll probably get another cat at some point. Please God, keep Ferdinand safe and healthy. I can’t lose another right now.

Rest in peace, Beatrice.

Beatrice

Beatrice

Beatrice with a rock pillow. The rock is a hunk of quartz with mica if you want details.

Beatrice with a rock pillow. The rock is a hunk of quartz with mica if you want details.