Someone gave me a ball of very coarse black and silver wool several months ago. I wondered what to do with it until I realised that I have never knitted anything for our cat Fleur. How remiss of me! She sits next to me patiently when I am knitting and is usually very good about not playing with my wool. Sometimes, however, she will try to pull on my knitting needles. That is her way of saying that she is hungry or bored. Generally, though, she is a very good audience member and companion.
Fleur was a rescue cat and is now about 14 years old. She was found by Cat Protection volunteers locked in the back room of a squalid flat whose owners were intending to use her for breeding. She had already had her first litter of kittens at a very young age. They were also taken away and rehomed.
She started off as my daughter's cat, but became mine when Daughter grew up and left home. So far, she has been a very fit cat. But last winter I had to take her to the vet a couple of times to get her claws trimmed. There was a lot of cold weather and she wouldn't go out into the garden which is where she normally exercises. Both visits to the vet were traumatic for Fleur, me, the vet, the people and pets in the waiting room, and (possibly) the next door neighbours.
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Desperate to avoid regular vet visits, I bought an expensive scratching post which Fleur sniffed disdainfully and has studiously ignored ever since. I then bought a small, cheap raffia mat with a cat toy attached. This has been a success. Typical!
Fleur immediately claimed it as her own special place to sit. I've decided that she likes the texture as it is very similar to our front and back door mats where she can also sit happily for hours.
We recently bought a lovely faux leather sofa bed for our spare room. Fleur has discovered it and often jumps up if I am sitting there watching the spare tv. I decided that the coarse black wool would make an ideal cat mat. I combined it with some pink that needed to be used up and knitted a simple corner-to-corner square. I also attached a small pompom which is barely visible in the photo, but might be a nice plaything.
I just emailed this photo to Daughter and to the person who gave me the wool. Their reply was "Awwwww". So I think everyone is happy.
What a nice idea. It won't keep my cat out of the bag of wool, but will give him a woolly of his own.
ReplyDeleteFleur looks very regal sitting on her lovely mat. You did a great job Una.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful cat <3 Lovely cat mat :-)
ReplyDeleteI also have furry friends that help me crocheting, haha. I've got 3 black ones and one white cat. But usually it's the youngest one who likes to play with the yarn and the oldest one who tries to sleep on every inch I crochet ;-)
Have a great day, Sigrid
very cute cat mat, it looks like she is really comfy there and enjoying it! good idea to knit that for her.
ReplyDeleteFleur looks very happy to me! It suits here. That's quite thoughtful of you, esp. because cats do have mysterious preferences, but you persevered until you found a good solution for her. So glad you rescued her all those years ago! When my little dog Beau sits next to me and I knit, the end of my needle often tickles him on the ear, and it bothers him ... but he doesn't move away :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to make her a mat with that yarn. I miss my cats and bet they would have loved something knitted just for them.
ReplyDeleteLovely furbaby, our cat always 'liberated' Mum's knitting wool, she was particularly fond of mohair..sadly they are both gone now...happy memories....
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