Two of my nephews have come to live with me! They needed a home where, for their own good, the four-leggers had priority over toddler two-legged children.
Fancy new digs until everyone settles in…* Yes, I crate my cats, be they kitten or adult, stray or totally house-raised. (Normally there is no twine involved--I forgot two support brackets and had to substitute.) Any new cat that comes in gets a set-up similar to this, but the Twins rated a double-wide thanks to MomMom's compulsive thrift store shopping habits!
Crates are themselves located in the Cat Room (I'm a crazy cat lady: of course the cats have their own room); this system is wonderful when we need to isolate anyone from the insanity that exists in the rest of the house. (It's also great for the hermit in me, because it means I have no room for house guests. >insert wicked triumphant laugh here< )
There are plenty of places to climb and hide, and a nice window to look out over doings in the back yard.
Abbott and Costello are, at first glance, identical twins. The shelter from whence they originally hailed claimed they were observed to have come from the same birth sac. Both are matted (my first cat gets a milder form of this too, a condition warranting further investigation because I know other cats and owners with the same issue) and obviously terribly overweight, so healthier coats and weight loss are first priorities for the new arrivals. (If I succeed too well, I have a feeling I might get my tiger lily niece Tessie in for her own stint at Fat Cat Camp…)
They actually are subtly different in looks and personality. Abbott is just a shade darker, has less distinct facial markings and is the more laid back of the two.
Costello is lighter, has a nice clean brow "M", and was the first to venture out and about.** Luckily for me, given that after nine years I still confuse two of my own far more dissimilar "look alike" cats, the boys wear collars without complaint. (Naturally, my first question upon arriving home with the boys was "Abby has the red collar, right?")
Costello isn't quite yet ready to pose for photos; there's too much new stuff to get into--specifically, unknown cats at the door. (Screen door with hardware cloth stapled on the frame for added strength instead of screening, for those of you taking notes.***)
Sandylion is my own buff boyo, living in the cat room because he is too polite to fight back when he gets picked on by others in the Horde. He's quite curious as to who these new folk might be… I'm hoping he makes friends with the Twins; from what I'm told about the Twins and my experience with buff toms, they all three are close enough in personality to get along well. And it worries me that even at six years old Abbott and Costello are a bit too inseparable; it will be good for everyone if they can make friends with someone else.
*If you noticed, yes, that's Mickey as The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Bambi, and Thumper on the wall. Tinkerbell is there, too. Former house owner had a two-legger. And yes, some of those plants if not all are listed as "poisonous"; I haven't killed a cat by houseplant yet, even those that do nibble the greenery.
**No surprise that we have more cat furniture than people furniture in this house; in my opinion cat-specific furniture, the larger and taller the better, is the keystone to having happy cats and thereby happy people living together in the same house.
***I have discovered there is screening that is actually claw-proof; we use that at the outside doors where less wrong-side-of-the-door climbing takes place. (I have well-adjusted inside-only cats--usually I'm the one on the wrong side.)
