Meg and I really love our cats

Meet Napoli, Roma, and Tipperary!

After driving 16 hours down to Tennessee we did what anyone would do. We dropped off the cats in the  safe enclosed location of the master bathroom, since they had to get used to very new home. And then we went to Lowe's to buy some supplies to build what would hopefully be a truly awesome cat scratch post.

14 foot board of wood

12 inch wide tube

10 inch wide tube

10 feet of 3 inch pvc pipe
4 feet of 4 inch pvc pipe

10x12 foot carpet

That is what it all looked like laid out on my back porch. The first step was to carpet all the pieces so the cats can scratch to their little hearts delight. You see I have really nice paneling in one of my rooms and Napoli has a habit of stretching and running his paws/claws along walls. They need some place to use and sharpen their claws, it is natural and cats will do what cats do! I can't say if it took longer or shorter than I thought to carpet everything because I really don't think I had any appropriate way of estimating the time. I do know it was pretty easy and went well.

This was basically where we stopped for the night. It was fully carpeted and we worked out some final details in the design At this point it was late and we wanted to check on the cats who were still locked in the master bathroom. When we opened the door to the bathroom Napoli came to the door and so did Tipperary. But poor Roma was hanging out in the shower and he didn't budge. We pet each of them and then went into the bedroom, leaving the door open so they could slowly start exploring from bathroom to bedroom. The door to the hall was still closed so we could keep them contained. Well at some point Nap and Tip came into the bedroom but Roma stayed in the shower. In the morning I tried to carry him from the bathroom into the bedroom but he freaked out and I put him back down in the bathroom. We left the bedroom leaving all three of them locked in the master suite since the cat scratch wasn't finished yet.
It didn't take too long that morning to complete the structure. And then we took our time adding some toys for detail and catnip! We were very pleased with the finished product.

Now the cats are adjusting to their new home, some better than others.

Napoli AKA Crazy Man (can you guess why?) has surprised us by being the most well adjusted kitty.

He was the first one out of the master bedroom and quickly began exploring. So far he seems to really enjoy playing on his cat scratch.

After I had been on the road for about 45 minutes Meg called me because she couldn't find Tip. I knew she couldn't have gone anywhere and figured she was hidden among boxes. Meg found her an hour later sleeping under my sleeping bag. See if you can find her.

Since then she has started venturing out and exploring the house.

Poor Roma has been having the hardest time of all three. As I said before he freaked out when I tried to carry him out of the bathroom. He also didn't start venturing out of the master suite until almost Saturday morning. Apparently he has a fear of light fixtures. In our old house the ceiling fans blend into the ceiling and we have higher ceilings. Every once in awhile he would randomly run around but we figured that was him being a cat. In TN I have light fixtures in every room. Meg looked it up he probably thinks it is some kind of bird of prey lurking on the ceiling, this is why he freaked out when I carried him into the bedroom. It will take time but he is adjusting to his new surroundings. At least now when he freaks out after looking up we will know why! For now he just keeps a watchful eye.

The next big step in this move is September 6th when I drive down to TN with Schultzy.