Forts for Cats

We got a new cat fort this month. Or at least, new to us. It came from the in-laws’. We’ve been needing a new one for a while because the old one was falling apart. The top was sagging more and more each time a cat decided to sit or stand or sleep on it. Especially if that cat was Elvis… It wasn’t structurally sound, because Maisi had chewed quite a lot of it away whilst we were on holiday some years back.

And then about a month ago Lola was sick inside the old fort. We had to cut it open to get her out, and seeing as it wasn’t cleanable the whole lot ended up disposed of. Lola was not happy for the fort to be gone. She needed it. The fort is a vital piece of furniture for her – she can sit on it to look out of the window, curl up inside when she wants to escape from Elvis…

Maisi sleeping on the earliest version of the original fort.

The new fort arrived, as I said, earlier this month. In the interim the Christmas tree filled the empty space. Lola was interested in the fort immediately, climbing on it before we’d even got it into the living room.

We were surprised by the interest Elvis showed in it too. With the old fort he would only really sit on the top and not really pay much attention to it otherwise. He certainly never ventured inside. But he has climbed up and down the new one, likes to sit in the area that I have nicknamed “The Balcony”, and I even caught a glimpse of him squeezing out from being inside the fort one time!

Admittedly I don’t expect him to go inside the fort very much. The doorways are a bit on the snug side for him, and the couple of tunnel areas are more suitable size for someone of Lola’s stature than of Elvis’s.

Elvis aptly demonstrates the weaknesses of the third floor of the (extended) original fort.

Lola doesn’t yet seem as interested in sleeping inside this fort as she did the other one. She seems to be happy enough to sleep on the boxes though, and sometimes on the balcony. She also races inside to escape Elvis, or us, if she is being followed. She’s worked out how to move down the levels (there are “hatches” between the levels inside) but not how to move up them. I tried to teach her by blocking off the outer exits of the lowest level when she was in there. She did eventually work out how to climb up and come out of the second level, but judging by how quickly she ran off I don’t think she appreciated the lesson much!

Love,

Lady Joyful