Living in a barn
About two years ago, I bought two Gabbeh rugs that I particularly liked. One is of a deep red, and the other is off-white with dark blue. I had long admired the modern Gabbehs and these two were particularly delightful to my eye. The first winter I lived with them, I made a wool sweater with designs from the rugs.
I lived at the time with only two cats, Bonz and Puffer. Bonz was beginning to pee in places other than the litter, but it was contained to two small mats that I put plastic under and replaced with clean ones and clean plastic several times a day.
When she was a kitten, she had confusion about the litter. We placed several litter boxes about the house to help her. Eventually, she understood that was the place to use. But as she aged and became more frail, she reverted to the earlier confusion. In the last six months or so of her life, she developed a tendency to pee on anything soft, including the bed. I put plastic and mats and old sheets in all the places she was using. I got used to the sound of light painters plastic crackling when I turned over at night.
She, and then the new cats, used the red Gabbeh rug I had in my studio as litter, so I took it up. The white one suffered from a different fate--Puff’s throw up. Puff has always had times when she throws up a lot. She too likes to do it on soft things. I took the white one up too and sent them both out to be cleaned.
Once Bonz was gone and the other cats got used to using the litter, I put one of the rugs back down, the red one. And immediately Puff started using it for her throwing up. I asked her to do it some place else. I think she tried because several times now she’s hit my slippers--mostly--instead of the rug. I leave my slippers on a corner of the rug at night, so I guess she figures that’s better than the rug itself.
My stuffed chairs have suffered the usual sculpting creativity. When Bonz and Puff were kittens, we tried to train them to use other things, like the scratching post. At some point, I gave up and simply snipped the threads off now and then. I later spent a year making slipcovers for all five pieces. Now they too are showing signs of shredding. I thought that cats that are mostly outdoors would prefer trees, but I seem to have got that wrong.
I live currently in a simple house made up of converted garages, various additions, old adobe walls and newer stick-built walls, and floors that slope. It is casual. When I saw the Gang of Four beginning to shred the slip-covered furniture, my heart sank.“All that work!” I thought.
How strange that I would come to think “nice” furniture was more important than the “work” of such beautiful living creatures. I know of people who have had cats declawed because the look of the furniture is considered more important than the balance and beauty of the cat.
I did for a while wish to live in a barn. I envisioned the downstairs to be most barn-like, with straw that could be swept and replaced, and room for the critters to run and climb. I would keep a few rooms upstairs more like I am used to, including the Gabbeh rugs on the floor. But I’m guessing in the end the upstairs would come to look more like the downstairs, or more like my current studio with bits of straw tracked in from the kitty condos, so I might as well stay put.
I lived at the time with only two cats, Bonz and Puffer. Bonz was beginning to pee in places other than the litter, but it was contained to two small mats that I put plastic under and replaced with clean ones and clean plastic several times a day.
When she was a kitten, she had confusion about the litter. We placed several litter boxes about the house to help her. Eventually, she understood that was the place to use. But as she aged and became more frail, she reverted to the earlier confusion. In the last six months or so of her life, she developed a tendency to pee on anything soft, including the bed. I put plastic and mats and old sheets in all the places she was using. I got used to the sound of light painters plastic crackling when I turned over at night.
She, and then the new cats, used the red Gabbeh rug I had in my studio as litter, so I took it up. The white one suffered from a different fate--Puff’s throw up. Puff has always had times when she throws up a lot. She too likes to do it on soft things. I took the white one up too and sent them both out to be cleaned.
Once Bonz was gone and the other cats got used to using the litter, I put one of the rugs back down, the red one. And immediately Puff started using it for her throwing up. I asked her to do it some place else. I think she tried because several times now she’s hit my slippers--mostly--instead of the rug. I leave my slippers on a corner of the rug at night, so I guess she figures that’s better than the rug itself.
My stuffed chairs have suffered the usual sculpting creativity. When Bonz and Puff were kittens, we tried to train them to use other things, like the scratching post. At some point, I gave up and simply snipped the threads off now and then. I later spent a year making slipcovers for all five pieces. Now they too are showing signs of shredding. I thought that cats that are mostly outdoors would prefer trees, but I seem to have got that wrong.
I live currently in a simple house made up of converted garages, various additions, old adobe walls and newer stick-built walls, and floors that slope. It is casual. When I saw the Gang of Four beginning to shred the slip-covered furniture, my heart sank.“All that work!” I thought.
How strange that I would come to think “nice” furniture was more important than the “work” of such beautiful living creatures. I know of people who have had cats declawed because the look of the furniture is considered more important than the balance and beauty of the cat.
I did for a while wish to live in a barn. I envisioned the downstairs to be most barn-like, with straw that could be swept and replaced, and room for the critters to run and climb. I would keep a few rooms upstairs more like I am used to, including the Gabbeh rugs on the floor. But I’m guessing in the end the upstairs would come to look more like the downstairs, or more like my current studio with bits of straw tracked in from the kitty condos, so I might as well stay put.
posted by Forgive the Dream at 4:02 PM
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