Cutie and Lydia, Ella Too

Damned cats. They are doing to the new cat tower what they've done with both of the cat trees that I bought them, and ignoring it. The first cat tree that I bought was a big, sturdy expensive cat tree that I was pretty proud of after I had put it together. It nearly reaches to the ceiling, and I was sure they'd love it. As it happens, they do love it, but only after they ignored it for six months. I'm not exaggerating either. If I tried to put them in the cat tree, they would scramble as if they were going to die if they touched it. Finally, about six months later, I came down one morning to find two of them lying at different levels of the cat tree as if it was home to them. That's what they're doing with the cat tower. Not one cat has touched it.

 

Cutie hadn't even been in the room since I put the cat tower there, so I carried her in yesterday, and put her in one of the bottom level entrance. She walked in one entrance and out the other, and left the room. She didn't act scared -- just uninterested. Ella and Lydia act like it is going to kill them.

 

I do not know if it would work with your cats, @Ken Anderson ; but our dogs just love something that smells like me or like Bobby. If he takes his socks off and leaves them on the floor, one of the dogs is sure to go and lie down on those socks like they were the softest dog bed in the world.
You might try leaving a pair of socks in the bottom level and see if the cats like it better once it has your scent in it. If that works, then leave another pre-worn pair in the upper levels one at a time until the cats are comfortable with the whole thing.
One of the cat toys might help, too; since they know those belong to them.

 

That might work with Cutie. If we're gone for a few days, we will return to find an impression of Cutie in the memory foam of the bed where I usually sleep and, if the indentation didn't catch my attention, all of the black hair would.

 

Cutie (27) in her regular bed, on my desk.

Cutie in the new cat tower. I put her in the top level. She didn't seem afraid of it. She sat there for about fifteen minutes, dropped down to the next lower level, and then jumped to the table.

Ella (4) in another bed, on my table-desk. I think she sees a light on the ceiling.

So far, Lydia (27) is the only one who has gone into the tower willingly. She is on the fourth level (second from the top). She can look out the window from that level.

 

Going out to check on Ella, I find her staking out a tree from which a squirrel is scolding her. Ella is all business and when I pet her it's like, "Please. Not in front of the squirrels."

 

Well, I am feeling pretty happy and stupid at the same time. A couple of days ago, I found what felt like a lump on Cutie's chest and, given that her mother died of cancer a couple of years younger than Cutie is now, I had pretty much convinced myself that she had cancer.

We drove to Bangor to see one of the only vets around who doesn't spend all of his time nagging me about vaccinations, and it turns out that, not only was it not a tumor, but it was her rib. Cutie has always been between ten and ten and a half pounds. Now that she's older, she has lost some weight, and is only 7.4 pounds right now, and I had never been able to feel her rib before. So yeah, I feel pretty stupid but I'm glad it wasn't cancer.

For twenty-six, she's doing pretty well. The weight loss is to be expected as she ages, and is nothing to worry about. She has a slight heart murmur but the vet doesn't seem to think that's going to be a problem either. As I suspected, she is deaf but the vet tells me that's not unusual in older cats. Her teeth are good, and she's doing okay. Overall, a lot healthier than I am, I suppose.

She was unusually cooperative during the trip, and while she was at the vet's. She's usually a pain in the butt when it comes to going to the vet but she seems to have gotten over that.

We drove back in a huge storm. There were trees down in the road, and visibility was very low. We had to stop a few times along the way. Then we got home to find that the power is out in Medway, East Millinocket and Millinocket.

 

@Babs Hunt, the power was out from around 4pm to 2am, and Michelle's surgery went very well. She only needs her glasses for reading now.

 

I had a feeling that Ella was was interested in annoying, but not killing the squirrels, and she just confirmed it, I think. A grey squirrel was eating at the food bowl when Ella leaped onto the platform. For whatever reason, the squirrel didn't jump to the tree like it usually would. It stood there, right next to Ella. They stared at each other for a while, then Ella jumped down. A little while later, she sprung back onto the platform, managing to startle the squirrel this time. But it didn't jump to the tree. It just climbed onto the side of the stairs (upon which the food bowl is located), then kept trying to get back up to the bowl for more food. I think this was the first time that one of the squirrels called Ella's bluff and she looked baffled.

 

As I've mentioned before, I suspect the situation is different with the much smaller red squirrels. She adopts a predator pose whenever one of those small squirrels are around, but I had a feeling that she had decided that it might be fun to annoy the grey squirrels but that they weren't food.

 

She's going to bring a squirrel home with her one of these days. She was romping with the squirrel again a few minutes ago. She pounced at the squirrel. Rather than jumping to the tree, as it could have easily done, the squirrel ran down the railing, then waited for Ella to come down the steps after her, then it was running back up to the railing, hanging upside down under the platform, which seemed to have Ella confused, since she can't do that. I pretty sure they're both playing or the squirrel is showing off.