I wanted to take a cute photo of my cat sitting in a box on the kitchen counter but he will keep jumping out when he sees me! (he wants a love). So this was the best I could get. A couple of months or so ago he was having treatment after being lost for eight days. He finally came home with tarry oil on his coat and an ulcer in his eye and damage to his mouth. That’s why his tail looks a funny shape, I had to cut off some fur because it was so matted and the substance on it would have continued to poison him.
Now he’s perky, his fur is growing back, he’s leaping up on the kitchen counter again and playing with his toys. He’s happy and so I’m happy too. X
Oh dear! When I got up this morning I found the clear flap part of the cat flap and it’s surround on the floor inside the back door. Clearly our big cat had come through and must have got it stuck round his belly. Luckily I fixed the flap last week so I know which bits to press on to open it up and re-fit the flappy part…. I tried to adjust it… He’s just come back in. Seems OK at the moment, but I don’t want to have to keep putting it back together again!
For months now our cat flap has been broken. Not the main part of it, but the screen that opens in and out. Basically we had tried to keep the big cat in at night by putting the lock on it, but he forced his way through and broke the flap part into three bits. For a while I glued it together, and taped it up with sellotape, but soon that had been ripped so my next idea was to tie it open with some string. I can’t get down on the floor so I couldn’t swap one catflap for another and I didn’t know if I could get a replacement.
Today my sister came over so we decided to go on a search. The local petshop said it was a staywell catflap and they only stock petsafe ones. So we went to the big petstore. We had managed to take the front and flap mechanism off as it had catches you push in to release it. The store had about seven different sorts but according to the customer assistant out catflap was out of date!
Eventually after much head scratching we found one that was about the right size. We couldn’t take it out of the box so it was a guess but I decided to try it.
When we got home I and looked at it I realised the whole catflap was slightly narrower than the old one so the screw holes were closer together and if I were to use the whole thing we would have to get someone in to re-drill the holes. Plan B was to take the plastic flap out of the new one and put it in the old one? Yes it fitted, but it was too stiff, the diameter of the cylinders that go into the holes in the flap were too big. My sister filed the sides of the cylinders down where there was a flange around them and I used a knife to whittle the inside of the tube shaped bits it fitted in…. Result! The flap now swings freely. There is about a two millimeter gap at the bottom but it hangs in the closed position and opens both in and outward.
Now I’ve just got three confused cats, there isn’t a hole to leap through anymore, but a window out to the garden. Bemused looks! I opened the flap for one of them and opened the door for the other… If they want to come back in they will have to learn to use it!
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was hidden, my cat likes this little igloo type cat bed. When he snuggles down in it he is almost hidden from view. It’s well insulated and nice and comfy. Felt pen drawing. It’s only a small drawing but I enjoyed doing it.
One on my knee, one on the arm of the chair. My two boy cats sitting almost nose to nose. They are quite tolerant of each other, and this is the closest they have ever sat together. It asted half an hour, both snug and warm. This is not photoshopped they were about three inches apart. So pleased we got the outside cat to join the household especially at this cold time of year.
It’s cold, there’s a draft from the back door. I could shut the door, but the cats come and go. A paw to pull the door open, or a nose to nudge it from the other side. Result? The door is open about 8 inches and the cold draft gets in. But we are told we need better ventilation because of covid19 so I suppose I shouldn’t complain. I wonder how difficult it would be to put a cat flap in an internal door??
Cats are very clever, but they don’t know ‘how to put the wood in the hole’ (a way of saying shut the door). I guess they have fur coats and can curl up with their nose tucked under their paws or tails. I just wish they could shut the door. Maybe I could put a magnet on a collar and get some sort of mechanism to make it shut, who knows? I’ll just get up and push it too again…
My cat loves this bedspread. She snuggles up on it to keep warm. She is a small and pretty cat with lots of attitude. This photo is from a few years ago when she first came to live with us, I still love it. The loving look on her face is a great reward for taking her in as a rescue cat.
Mallaband-Brown 