Hello All,

Oliver here. I recently brought to the attention of the female human that we had not completed our Catio report. She reminded me that we had to wait quite a while for the second part of our purchase so I guess I’ll have to cut her a little slack.  The good news is, part two arrived and Alberto and I (and even Jasmine) got to take it for a “test drive” on the upstairs deck. (If you’r wondering why :I said “even Jasmine”, you can learn more about her story here.

If you haven’t read the first part of our catio post, I’d recommend you do, as this post will then make more sense to you.  But, back to my report, we couldn’t see what awaited us in the new box.

As soon as the box was on the floor, I appointed myself inspect-purrr. I couldn’t tell much from sitting on it and, since I can’t read, I figured I’d wait for the humans to take out whatever was inside for me to inspect. Evidently the female human didn’t appreciate my sitting on the box so she made the male human hold it up so you can read the information on the front. 

Things finally got interesting when they opened the thing up. There was a bag with a “netty” thing in it. When the humans unhooked the side thingies it popped open. Alberto and I ran under the dining room table and waited until we felt it was safe to resume our inspection.  I must say I’m amazed that the entire “fun run” flattened out so well to fit in that box.

By this time, a small crowd had gathered. Tucker, our Alpha, strolled over in his usual stately manner but when he realized no treats were involved in this operation, he strolled back to his comfortable perch on the chair. Alberto, my brother, is just as curious as I am so he made sure to give the tunnel his full attention and purrrsonal inspection. Lily sniffed, walked around it and then dismissed it as something that didn’t interest her.

The humans moved some of their stuff out of the way and set the tunnel up to check out the size and to see what we felines thought about the whole thing. Their plan was to fit the tunnel into the door of our Happy Habitat catio tent to allow us access from the house to the outside.

Al and I took great care in checking everything out, as you can see from the photos.

We  gave the “Fun Tunnel” a paws up and waited with anticipation for the humans to put it outside for a real testing.

This weekend was the day. The female human moved some of the furniture on the deck to make room for our set up. Everything , was ready quickly with our Happy Habitat tent and the tunnel. It took her a little time to coax us into the thing but pretty soon we figured out that this was pretty cool habitat and provided  even more room for us to roam around on the deck.

We love the cat furniture the human added and Alberto and I spent several hours watching birds and squirrels at the feeder, and, when we tired of that, we stretched out for a snooze in the fresh air. All in all it was quite an adventure. Tucker came by but when the female human invited him into the tunnel he turned around and hustled back to his inside perch.

Jasmine (Tucker’s sister who is still afraid to come out of the bedroom, was lovingly carried to the catio and she spent some time in the tunnel. She never was comfortable enough to walk into the Happy Habitat but the human thinks it’s only a matter of time until she’s ready to do that.

All in all, we give this new addition to our outside experience two paws up. The humans like it because they can set it up quickly and easily and, since it’s portable, they can let us enjoy the upstairs deck, the front porch or garden or even the downstairs patio with the water fall and pond. So, we may not be true traveling kitties but we feel like we’re having a vacation when we’re outside in our catio! The female human loves it too because we can enjoy the outside without giving her a heart attack by jumping up on the edge of the deck (yes, one of us plunged over 35 feet down into the ravine-twice and someone else took a dive from the first to the second floor in the house) Tucker blames his incidents on his bad depth perception due to his cross eyes. I have no excuse except that I was just an irresponsible kitten. The female human cannot sit comfortably on the upstairs deck any more unless we are all safely in our catio. Fear free living isn’t just for the felines, it applies to the humans too!

Have your humans check this out. If they do, I’d recommend that they hang a bird feeder somewhere close so you can enjoy the show.

Your Friend,

!