Are you like many cat people—you sometimes feel as though you live to make your cat’s life peachy? Are you always thinking about your cat and her comfort, whether she’s bored or happy—getting enough exercise and the right food. Sure you are. That’s your job—well, it’s what your cat demands of you, anyway.
Around here, we pay attention to Lily’s and Sophie’s cues. Lately, Sophie tells us she wants greens added to her diet. And her message is quite clear and concise. At least we sure understood her behavior, and when we’d bring in a piece of greenery from outside for her to chew on, she was obviously happy. So we started growing grass for the kitties.
We have a basket of toys for them and Lily delights in taking stuffed animals from it and 
spreading them throughout the house. So every few days I put the toys back in the basket so she can busy herself bringing them out again. We have a tunnel for them to play inside, a two-chamber tent-like thing where they can hide and chill, a huge wooden cat tree we inherited from another cat family, a scratching bowl, and a regular carpet-covered scratching post/cat tree. We change up these things to give them the illusion of something new—move the tent and scratching bowl to another spot, for example. We might lay a blanket over a chair or sofa for them to hide under, provide a box for them to play inside.
A couple of nights ago, I turned the small cat tree upright. Here’s a picture of Lily playing queen of everything on top of it. Now why would I put a cat tree on its side when cats love to climb? It was because of a fear. (My fear.) Lily was just ten-weeks old when Sophie managed to upset that cat tree with Lily on it and Lily was seriously injured. I could not bring myself to place that cat tree upright for eight years. They enjoyed playing on it, hiding in the tunnel, scratching on it, just the same. But for some reason, the other night I seemed to get over my fear of that thing where the cats are concerned and I set it upright. You’d think we’d brought in a brand new, exciting toy, the cats were so mesmerized. Here’s Lily enjoying the moment as queen of everything in the living room that night.
What do you do to mix-it-up for your cats when you sense that they’re getting bored?
