Walter and Jozef get a new suite
By Barbara
In common with a lot of cat loving families we never buy new settees and armchairs but look for good as new second hand ones in leather-look which we don’t have to stress about caring for other than a wipe down to remove muddy pawmarks and a quick hoover under the seat cushions.
We’ve been looking out for a bigger settee for a while and early this week we spotted the very thing, a cream 3-seater settee and an armchair in a nearby shop and they would deliver it and take away our old suite the very next day. Of course we couldn’t explain to Walter and Jozef about it so early the next morning while Ruth was on her PC catching up on emails, POC and Facebook they took their usual places quite unaware that it was to be the last time they sat in those seats.
Poster by Barbara Bates
Once they stirred it was a case of whip the old suite out of the way and wait for the new one, but Jozef wasn’t too impressed by the space where his settee should have been and he hung about looking fed up probably thinking “What are those two crazy humans up to now?”. Walter must have had an inkling though because he took up his usual position as lookout and he sat and sat and sat until finally he got bored and went off out on his rounds.
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Finally the new suite came and Ruth got it into position and the seat covers on before Walter came back, meanwhile Jozef had a good look at every inch of it. When Walter came back to the window he hesitated, knowing something different was there, and then he bravely came in to investigate though at first he ran past it dramatically but curiosity got the better of him and eventually he came back for a look at it, even briefly sitting on the settee which he normally never does, he prefers the armchair and he had a good look and a good sniff at that too, at the same time Jozef decided to try the settee and stood kneading on the cover for a while before getting a quick wash of approval and settling down right in the middle, Walter decided he likes his new armchair, and he didn’t even mind sharing it with me in the evening.
Now, a couple of days later, it’s old hat to them, they’re completely used to it and quite happy and relaxed sitting in their accustomed places, and the good thing is we now have 4 seats instead of three so one of the mammies no longer needs to sit in the cats chair or on the floor – Result!
Thanks Kylee, I know what you mean, but really every cat should be in a happy home where they can express themselves, it shouldn’t be down to luck it should be the norm shouldn’t it. x
they are very very lucky cats. its good to see a well loved cat home like ours.
Lovely story and photos! Aren’t they funny the way they check everything out then within no time its like its always been there? Walter and Jozef are such characters 🙂
They’re a scream, they make us laugh every day. They love the suite, Walter is happy with his armchair to sit in or on the back of, and Jozef loves his settee and he loves to lie next to Ruth and lean on her now there’s room for her to sit on it as well. They also now have a tunnel along the back of the settee so they can play chasey round it and for Walter to ambush poor long suffering Jo in.
They have absolutely wonderful cat lives happy indoors and out they are very lucky boys tell them! 🙂
Well we had to laugh today, the chaps who took our old suite away said it would be going to The Tip, but instead it’s sat there for sale in the shop window in all its glory and it looks so attractive we felt like buying it lol
Wonder if he sells it he will knock a bit off our computer desks when he finds some for us?
Walter when the chair was newly covered
I wouldn’t have a clue how to start and make those covers again (nor would I want to it was a nightmare) I must have lost some of my grey matter since then :-)I still have some of that material upstairs
Actually that is a very rare sight, I can’t remember the last time he sat in the cats chair
Just now, we are enjoying Babz last day off and haven’t even got dressed or tidied up yet. Jozef has allowed her to share the settee with him lol
yay – they love the couches. Everytime I see a pic of your place I get jealous of yet another cool thing you have. In this case it is the cat pillow on the bottom of the coffee table. You have the coolest cat things and the nicest house and garden – I’m well jealous 🙂
That’s the pouffee which matches and usually lives under, the cat chair, we had it for a step up for Ebony when she was too old to jump very high, Babz uses it as a footstool now.
Our house is a mish mash of unmatched furniture and crammed with cat ornaments lol
I always laugh when I see W & J because of their markings. They are wearing masks. In this pic you can’t see either of their eyes, just their mouths. It’s funny, it’s like Zorro. 🙂
I love those pink socks! 🙂 🙂
I got the socks off Santa “Claws” Marc, I have a pink tee shirt with white spots which they match with so I look like Spotty Muldoon when I have them on together. Glad you like our humble abode. I love all your bikes LOL
Ahhh, Jozef and Walter have settled in beautifully. The sofas look very comfy I have to say. Is Babz reading a cat book! If not why not 😉
No, Babz was reading a romantic novel set just after WW1, very good it was too.
Nice article and great second hand find. I love how the red just makes the room pop.
I’m in serious need of the same. After 13 years, my pieces are practically in pieces.
Cloth upholstery just doesn’t work here. Also, I realized last week that I have never sat on this furniture the whole 13 years. They are always very occupied.
I like what you and Michael said about leather type stuff and will keep my eyes open for some decent faux leather.
Good luck Dee I hope you find some. We are very lucky to have a second hand furniture shop open last year in our town, we snapped this suite up because it was just what we needed. He’s now looking out for a computer desk for each of us, Babz shelf is on its last legs and mine is dropping to bits, it’s great to get good stuff cheap and helps a local business too.
I love this article and pics, Babz does herself down saying she isn’t a writer, I’m here to say she most certainly is, anyway the Christmas Compo that time proved that even though it just about started World War 3 lol
Our boyz make us laugh every day, they know we laugh with them, not at them, so they seem to do funny things especially to amuse us.
Jozef just came in and looked at Babz as if to say ‘Hey it’s Monday, you haven’t gone to work’
She has 2 lieu days, lazy ‘at home’ day today, catch up on shopping and maybe lunch out tomorrow 🙂 🙂
Yeah Babz is a great writer.
I vote that Babz is a great writer AND poster maker who should feel free to make another article if she feels like it 🙂
Ha ha thanks Marc I’ll enjoy thinking of something else to write about our boys xx
Here Here!
Babs I love the last photo of you and Walt 🙂
So Walt is the more nervous one because of his childhood with those people before you got him? Being more nervous he is a little more suspicious of new things appearing and changing in his house?
That’s my understanding.
Oh yes Walter is really a big soppy thing who loves to lie across my chest in the chair, it usually means we have a lovely warm snooze together in the afternoons after work and lunch. He is definitely a lot more nervous than Jo who is quite laid back, Walter gets himself worked up over a lot of things and can be really skittish, and sometimes at times of great stress he even wants to spray in the house, thankfully rarely but another good reason for washable furniture. Walters stress level is one of the reasons we could never contemplate having another kitten or cat, it would send him through the roof and sadly would result in him making the newcomers life a misery with bullying. The thing is that he is family so we love him warts and all, as you do family. x
Yes I totally understand. I think Gigi and Molly are both pretty fragile in their own ways. Gigi most of all sadly these days. I wouldn’t want to upset her. I have a cat coming here but mine are young still and I think it will be ok. I will have to see though before committing 100%.
Is the cat coming to visit or are you considering a new addition to your family? I’m curious about Gigi’s symptoms Marc. Have you discussed them here before? If so I missed it. How old is she now? How does she display her depression?
Hey Dorothy! 🙂
I’ve mentioned it here a few times in comments. She was the most active and crazy of the kittens and even up til around 6 months.
…or longer.. after their spay surgery plus a couple months she started to get lazy. She has become very unmotivated. Where most cats, and the other two get interested in things she can’t be bothered. I am working on it. She talks but doesn’t touch, so I talk to her alot and I play with her when she can be bothered. I find just sitting with her and giving her attention and talking back to her she is already more lively and tempted to play. She seems to need attention at times – she sometimes complains when I leave in the morning – not sure why what she is saying – if she wants me to stay – seems like it but I don’t honestly know for sure. She cuts me off at the door. But often times she is just up on a perch not interested in anything except a handful of biscuits.
….and, dare I say it, she ‘looks’ depressed. I know I know – projecting etc – but she looks and acts unmotivated, hence my conclusion of depressed since motivation is a key issue in depression. Just my two…
I forgot to answer the other question – yes the other cat is coming to stay, almost sure of this now. She is called Pikitsa which means ‘little’ when referring to something female – in slovenia, where she is right now. It’s spelled Pikica because ‘c’ is pronounced as ‘ts’in english. So I wrote it phonetically the first time. Piki for short. So – yes – Piki is coming here. Her original humans are very old and had to move for money reasons and couldn’t keep a cat where they moved to so my ex agreed to care for her until things got sorted. But since then one of the elderly couple has been in the mental hospital which is very sad – they seem unstable even though they love Piki. They are very grateful for looking after her. They might disagree to her coming here but they don’t have much choice, it’s been nearly 2 years since they left Piki with my ex. They came to visit regularly and brought food etc but lately they haven’t been around or just the lady shows up rarely. I am very sad for Piki because she was thought of as temporary so my ex never fully connected with her and now she seems lonely and outsider in a group of 5 cats including her. She will be much better off at mine without any doubt and she loves me alot since I give her special care when I am there where nobody else does. My ex just brought in a poor little FIV cat with a snipped ear – feral – when it got very cold out. So she has to get rid of one cat and Piki is clearly the one that should leave and come here. I hope the elderly couple are ok with it. They will probably be grateful but who knows for sure. They kind of have to say yes though unless they can take her. But they would have to move and one might be in hospital. So it’s tricky how to tell them. I would worry about Piki if they took her back though just cuz they aren’t stable right now. He suffers from serious paranoia and thinks everyone in his house is evil. Partly moved because they thought the original neighbours were evil. They haven’t turned on my ex yet but have said some strange things so it could happen they think she is evil. BUT, they are really sweet and nice people which is why I am sad about it. IF they were just mentally ok then it would all be ok and they wouldn’t have moved and so on. They love Piki. They are very nice and thankful for the help and used to bring my ex gifts and food and litter until more recently.
phew…
Complicated but there it is. She must come 12 hours on the train here. She is sweet. You may have seen a pic of her – I put one or two in comments before but here she is again:
Super looking cat. She is a calico (tortie and white) as there is some orange fur on her face as I recall. You’re very good to take her on. Good story and a good reason to look after her.
What a beautiful cat!
This is the same picture tuned up a bit on colour, contrast, brightness etc.:
here’s another good pic of her you may have seen – I posted it couple few weeks ago – you may have missed it Dorothy:
She’s so unique looking, Marc.
Her markings are unbalanced (I don’t know the right term).
What I mean is that alot of cats have almost identical markings on both left and right sides. I have quite a few like that, especially orange tabbies that have “swirls”. I hope you know what I mean.
In any case, Pikitsa is strking.
Hey Dee 🙂 ….yes she is isn’t she. She is just an unusual mix I guess. She has these dark patches around her eyes.
Yes I know exactly what you mean – my Red had that swirl you are talking about. His were perfect swirls on each side of him. I could recognize him next to his 2 near identical brothers because of his swirls.
I hadn’t noticed the particular lack of symmetry on her each side but you are right it is unusual – they are, as you say, usually symmetrical in that sense.
When I finally get Piki, assuming I will, I will make a little article for her on PoC and take more pictures.
Wow! No, I hadn’t seen this picture. What a beauty! I’m happy for her she will be living in one of the top cat houses in the world! Ha! That sounds funny, except for on this website. I’m excited for you and the kitties too. I can’t wait for the stories to pour in.
I also forgot to answer your other question (I’m not doing very well lol) – Gigi is almost 2 years old. She was born a month after Molly. They grew up together almost like sisters even with the age difference and the mamas even shared eachother’s kittens.
If I could upload a video you would see how adorable she she was 🙂
So she has some growing up to do yet – not sure if that will help the issue. Maybe the spay surgery triggered the start of this laziness even if not the cause.
Ha 🙂
That’s a nice 3 piece thingy you got there. I never have such luck at the second hand shop but I am always checking. I pretty much either buy everything from second hand shops or if I am lucky I find what I need on the side of the road. I have a great chest of drawers and some other tables and chairs which I found on the side of the road here and dragged home on my bicycle trailer. Somehow I always manage to furnish my place at no, or low cost. When I bring something new which I found they all give it a full sniffdown and checkup. Lilly will invariably try to sharpen her claws on it – she is very destructive, much more so than other cats, but she is high energy.
Anyway nice sofa/armchairs and great that the boys are good with it.
I think maybe getting furniture second hand is more common than we think, maybe we all keep it to ourselves in case someone doesn’t approve, I’d LOVE to find furniture at the side of the road, I could do with finding a wardrobe really ha!, I think in England whoever left it would be prosecuted for fly-tipping, but you seem to have got some great stuff for your home that way. Lilly must need to put her mark on things you take home, isn’t it lovely though that when you get things for free or quite cheaply you don’t have to police the cats and stop them from doing their own thing with the furniture. I like the sound of your bike trailer, very handy, it reminded me of years ago, again when we bought a settee but we bought it privately and had to go and collect it and all we had was a wheel with a long handle and a sort of platform above it, I have no idea where it came from or what it originally was part of but the platform was big enough to balance a bit of the settee on and while a friend pushed the wheel Ruth and I hung on to one side each to balance it and eventually, after a long time and a few pauses to have a sit down on it, we transported that settee about 2 miles home. Where there’s a will there’s a way, especially if there’s a wheel handy (with thanks to all cavemen who had a hand in inventing it).
That sounds like the sort of thing I get up to. I’ve dragged things a long way before – sometimes very tricky and awkward but I manage somehow – end up sweating alot but I get the things home. I like wooden things so thats what I take – wooden drawers or bedside tables, tables chairs etc. I’ve done pretty well. In Canada I did my whole house with things I found because people throw things out way more over there. I even got my music hifi and other useful appliances in the rubbish – I had everything perfect and nice just with things I found 🙂 ….it’s not the best photo because it’s in the background but you can see my little trailer there in the middle at the back behind the crazy 1930’s art deco bikes 🙂
Pic didn’t go through first time:
I love that Marc, could rally do with one of those 🙂
Yeah – it’s actually pretty heavy duty but sometimes it’s not big enough for the extra big things – so I am on the lookout for a bigger one too 🙂
These are part of your large bike collection?
Yes – I have alot of incredible bikes from the turn of the century through the 1960’s. Most of them are late ’30s and early ’40s – may fave era. I’m also collecting some late 19th century – my oldest is 1888 🙂
You should do an article! 😉 On: Bikes and Cats. Because they go really nicely together. Not sure why. And photographically they are a good match for some reason.
Ironically I have a problem with Gigi – she likes to lick the spokes and I don’t want her to get poisoned. I have to stop her.
The other issue I have is that some of the tires are new old stock tires made in the mid 1930s however Lilly loves to sharpen her claws on them. Some of them are expensive – I have to wrap up the front wheel in a sheet when that happens so she won’t claw anymore – like this:
…and if they get to the tires….
Do people leave stuff at the side of the road very often Marc? It’s a good idea really, a step up from our country where people who grow too many vegetables to use themselves leave them on their garden wall with a notice saying HELP YOURSELF
Yes – they do that here too. Lots of apples in autumn. But people leave useful things out with a note usually. What I hate is when people put out re-usable things 5 mins before the rubbish lorry arrives – thereby giving nobody a chance at it. It’s my pet peeve.
People should always put stuff out ahead of time so it doesn’t get wasted in a landfill site. In Canada I was finding stuff all the time. Not as much here but it does happen pretty regularly.
Our council charge now to take large stuff away so a lot of people dump furniture, but they can be fined if caught, no one is allowed to just leave it on the roadside. We can even be fined for leaving our bins out too long or putting stuff in the wrong one, with one for rubbish, one for recycling and one for garden waste we have to be very careful.
Love it, Barbara! Second-hand is the best in my book for the cats and my housemate as well! We are just alike in that, b/c I just bought not even two months ago, a dk. brown worn 3/4-quarter leather sofa at Salvation Army here in Lincoln, Nebraska, thinking the exact same thing you were. Beautiful acquisition, Barbara, Ruth, kitties, love it! 😉
Sensible Caroline, even better getting it from a charity because you’re helping other people as well, your new one sounds lovely.
Isn’t that nice! Everyone looks so happy. Michael is right though. Bigfoot doesn’t even like it when I change the bed sheets!
Enjoy the rest of winter in your nice new furniture. I love the red blankets against the white.
It’s a gorgeous blanket, Ruth was given it by a friend for Christmas and is generously sharing it with Walter, Jo and me, I love red at any time but a soft red blanket is hmmmmm luxury.
I just love how curious they are. I wish you’d share more of them here. It seems like forever between posts.
Thanks for your nice comment Elisa, I always think my submissions are a bit puerile compared to some of the heavy and important stuff that gets posted on PoC, but I do love writing about our two boys.
Babz, we love the charm of this story. It gets to the essence of being a cat guardian and cat behavior. It is a great little vignette of cat life.
LOL nice story. Thanks Barbara. But even a change in layout of furniture and a new carpet for instance can disrupt a cat’s life! They aren’t sure about it until they proved to themselves it’s alright. A change is good too – a change of scene.
Very wise to buy furniture that gets minimum scratching and is easy to keep clean. I think leather furniture is the best for a cat home because cats don’t get much satisfaction from scratching leather or simulated leather. I have very little in the way of problems with scratches and my furniture is leather. There are some claw marks but I think they make the furniture more attractive – a lived in feel. I bought it with cats in mind like everything I buy 😉
Thanks Michael, yes cats hate disruption and new things, Walter especially finds it upsetting being the highly strung lad that he is, so we’re pleased they’ve taken to the new suite so quickly. They never seem to think about scratching the furniture, years ago cats we had used to reduce cloth suites to rags so we changed to getting leather-look ones and have stuck to them, but like you we wouldn’t object to a little bit of cat-graffiti on the furniture, it just makes it more homely.