Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,
As you may already know I am currently in England visiting my big sister and her little one Avery. Avery was one of the first cats I had the extended opportunity to interact with. My sister actually found him wandering the streets of her neighbourhood about four years ago and he’s actually what lead to the adoption of my little one Beau! (He actually also got the ball rolling when I pitched the adoption of Walker, but I’ll talk more about that another day.)
Avery is a pretty “to himself” kind of cat and shows signs of “stranger danger” every time I’m around him, so this visit was my chance to get him to at least tolerate me (as my sister says).
If you are the owner of multiple cats you already know that each kitty has their own personality and not one of them is the same. For example: Beau became attached to me almost immediately as he is a very quiet and affectionate lap kitty, however Walker is what I’d like to call a “Chatty Cathy” who doesn’t actually like being held, but loves the company of humans. Avery is not like either of them.
Avery is pretty much a “lone ranger” type of kitty. He likes spending his time sitting by windows or hiding in closets. He’s also not much of a lap kitty (even considering the picture above shows him happily sitting in my sister’s lap). He’s just not a fan of quick movement and likes to sleep on completely still areas.
One of the first things my sister said to me before I even got to England was: Avery will not sit on your lap unless you stay completely still. Any movement will bother him. If you move he will give you a few seconds to adjust, but if you haven’t adjusted he will leave.
And it’s true! Shortly after this picture was snapped Avery ran away from my sister and hid in his favourite spot: the closet. My sister has a pretty rad set up for Avery in the closet. He can jump from a step-stool to a dresser that leads to the top part of the shelving unit. (I wish I could take better pictures, however it’s a tight squeeze for us humans.)
I really like the way she has this set up and it’s definitely more cost effective than a regular cat tree. (Although, I still want to get Beau a kitty condo when we have the money.)
Thing is: this has really got me thinking about what I can do for Beau at our place (especially as Beau is a huge climber).
Back when we lived in a house we had a setup for Beau where he would jump from my bed to a ledge onto a dresser. Unfortunately we can’t have that setup anymore as Beau would jump from the dresser to the floor causing a lot of noise… and you know how it is in apartments… Noise complaints are rampant!
My partner and I were also debating whether or not we would want to buy a wall set up like the Trixie Wall-Mounted Cat Lounging Set and Cat Hammock & Climbing Activity Center, but again we’re going to have to wait until we have a house! Why does it always have to come to this?
So pet parents, here’s when I ask you… What kind of set ups do you have for your little ones? Do they have little hiding spots / places to climb? Any of you have any ideas for the apartment dwellers?
