A few weeks ago we bought a new cat tree for Checkers. Or rather, we bought a new cat tree to replace the one that used to be in the computer room, because the old one was looking pretty shredded and smelled pretty rank, and since my dad and I built it back when my parents lived in Roseville, that means it was getting to the point where it was just about old enough to ask for the keys to the car, so we decided it needed to go away. And while technically the new tree is not just for Checkers (because we are not so far gone that we are about to purchase expensive pieces of cat furniture for each individual little feline prima dona who lives with us), since she refuses to set one dainty toe outside the computer room except on the rare occasion that a sparkle ball HAS to be chased into the hall (followed shortly thereafter by the cat equivalent of “holy crap how the hell did I get out *here*?”), she just ends up the primary user.

We found a nifty new style that came in a box and had all kinds of interlocking parts which also happened to be on clearance, and we put it all together and then stuck it in the corner of the computer room right next to my desk, and then ‘convinced’ Checkers to sit on it by basically dragging her, mad and hollering, out of the corner shelf and plopping her on the shelf. Where she stayed only for the .23 seconds it took  her to turn and dash back to her shelf and commence with a marathon session of glaring and sulking.  It took her a day or two to get over being horribly offended by the change in furniture, but eventually she came around and decided that the new tree is actually pretty cool, and even better, after a week or so she decided that the new tree was so cool that she no longer has to live in the corner shelf unit.

I suppose only someone else who has lived with an extremely opinionated, highly nervous, overly prone to panic and hollering type of cat would understand how big a deal this all is, but trust me, this new cat tree has really been a big step forward for this little cat. She is happier. She’s gained a little weight (she was on the too-skinny side for a while there). She’s doing a lot more playing (those sparkle balls are surprisingly frisky). And the plus side of all this feeling happier and more confident is that she’s starting to stand up to the other cats a little more. When there is hissing between her and Rosie, now, nine times out of ten Checkers is the one that starts it and Rosie is the one that walks away looking nervous.

However, I am hedging my bets here. We bought this cat tree knowing full well that she will be the primary user in this house, in this computer room, but also with the pretty strong suspicion that when we move, it’s not suddenly going to become a multi-user sort of item like every other piece of furniture in the house. So it’s better that she gets used to it here, so it’s old and familiar and a safe place to hide in the new house, in the new computer room, where if she really insists on maintaining her self-imposed one-room territory, she can.