That’s Entertainment
| Michelle
In September 2014 we were settled back in our apartment and I was making plans. It was almost a year since I had left India completely burnt out from my previous job and while I still had bouts of fatigue, I was ready to start exercising my brain again. The kitties were keeping my spirits up but they weren’t going to pay the bills. I planned a trip to Australia in October to visit my father and my daughter and catch up with some former colleagues who were also speculating about the future. This would be the longest I had left the kitties, for almost two weeks.
In the meantime, I observed the cats and how they played. Our condo was big and open so they had lots of room to charge around, run up the condo, skip across all the baskets in the condo and down. It would be great if they had a long straight pole, one they could just run straight up like a tree. All of my previous cats had been indoor/outdoor so I never had to worry about boredom, but with these six energetic kittens I was always looking for sources of entertainment for them.
I googled and researched, scouring Amazon, pet sites, Ali Baba and other large shopping sites hunting for something that seemed so simple – a straight pole, very secure. Eventually I found www.hicat.uk , the manufacturer of an exceptionally well engineered cat pole. The Hi-Cat is a slim, straight pole, designed to be attached to the ceiling and custom made for your ceiling height. This wouldn’t work for me as my living location was not fixed, but the Fat Tom, a much fatter, hollow pole, was designed for either ceiling attachment or wall attachment. With sleeping platforms and climbing holes within, it looked perfect. I ordered it and it was custom made and delivered in less than 2 weeks.
The cats were running up the tree, sitting in (and squabbling over) the top perch, and chasing the foam Velcro darts that came with the tree before it was even secured to the wall. While I waited for the condo engineer to arrive to install the mounting bracket, I had to either lie the pole on the floor or stand next to it for extended periods while they got acquainted with all the ins and outs of their new toy.
I had also had an aquarium set up before we moved to Rockwell, but the kitties weren’t that fussed about it as it was hard to see inside, so after we moved back home, I had it relocated to a spot where they could sit next to it to watch the fishies. Kitty television! It wasn’t long before they were all drinking that yummy sashimi-flavoured water out of the tank. And one day a fish did a kamikaze leap out of the tank, which startled the kitties but gave them something to pat around the floor until I discovered the poor dead thing.
Instagram was a great source of inspiration for cat entertainment. Ideas from friends included a balloon, which became Maxi’s favourite toy – I couldn’t believe how gentle she was, chasing and tapping the knot at the end. I tried blowing bubbles but they didn’t like the wet pops. I bought a little swimming bath toy and put it in a bowl and they were terrified of it!
October arrived, and I travelled to Australia for the first time in 12 months. Lyn moved in to care for the kitties so I knew they were in great hands. During this trip, I decided to start my own company, which would require a relocation either to a provincial centre North of Manila, or to Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines. Both would require a considerable amount of planning and upheaval for the kitties. But first, we had Christmas, a houseguest, and two unplanned extra family members..
