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Look lovely, Suzy. Pace yourself! 😋
Five for Mum and five for Dad and six for me ... they only lasted an hour at most! - LOL!!! ;o>
(*giggles*) ... You all know me far TOO well ! ... ;o>
Suzy keep an eye out for a small parcel tomorrow for your birthday at the weekend.
Awww, bless you, Anita ... x ... ;o>
it's just a little thing,you'll have to share with your mum and dad I think.x
My Mum gets so excited when any parcels arrive ;o>
x ... ! HAPPY WORLD CARING DAY ! ... x
A very happy birthday to Suzy for today.x
Happy birthday, Suzy! Wishing you the best and lots of cake xx
Thank you! ... Wow! - 56! ... but thankfully I still feel like I am a child in my heart and head and I am eternally grateful, as always, for every day of life on this beautiful and extraordinary Planet even in the very darkest and most difficult of times.
Thank you everyone! ... I've had such a lovely quiet and easy day which was just what I wanted and needed ... x x x
Okay ... so we now have a Catio in the back garden - almost a complete build except for the door which will probably take no more than about half an hour to attach.A deluxe bed that attaches to a radiator for lounging in the Lounge downstairs.
A deluxe bed that attaches to my Bedroom window for birdwatching upstairs.
Two Cat toilets (one for downstairs and one for upstairs)
A homemade safety mesh now blocking off the spaces between the spindles in the staircase on the Landing.
Two open fireplaces blocked off with removable boards.
Some Cat food bowls, Cat treat bowls, and a mini water fountain.
A Cat grooming kit ... and a Cat hair remover kit!
A stuffed fish and a stuffed star toy containing Catnip.
A Ferplast Pet Carrier that I ordered from Amazon UK and then watched in awed amazement as it spent 3 days travelling through Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium to finally arrive in the UK.
And the weatherproof outdoor gym for the Catio is due to arrive on Thursday.
I can't help thinking it would have been much easier and far cheaper in offering to provide a forever home for Paris Hilton! ... but I am still left wondering if I have forgotten any more pampered Cat essentials?
Can any Cat owners offer me any advice on what else Pixie may need?
I must see pics of the outdoor gym and water fountain Im not telling Treacle about the water fountain ,she rarely drinks inside preferring to drink from the badgers water.Report back if Pixie uses the radiator bed,I'd considered getting one.I think you have all that a pampered cat needs.x
I am not sure what brand it is or what the water fountain looks like yet as it was offered to us by a neighbour and she is away on holiday until next week. I know, from the couple of days when we originally rescued her, that Pixie is absolutely fascinated by running water from Taps and I read that Vets like water fountains because they are fun to watch and play with while also encouraging Cats to drink more often.
She may prefer to just drink water from a bowl so we will set up both and see what she likes best.
The outdoor gym was something that could be customised and so I spent over a couple of hours(!) in playing around with the interactive assembly on the website and ended up in choosing what I think will prove to be the best options to attach to two poles ... https://www.omlet.co.uk/shop/cat_prod...
I feel quite shocked by how much we have spent on all this but the main requirement of adoption from the Shelter was that we had to have a Catio ... and I wanted to buy the very best quality and durability with the lowest possible need for ongoing replacement and maintenance due to my parents being in their mid 80s and me being disabled.
The Omlet website seems to be the best around for all of these kinds of things ;o>
Anita wrote: "I must see pics of the outdoor gym and water fountain Im not telling Treacle about the water fountain ,she rarely drinks inside preferring to drink from the badgers water.Report back if Pixie uses ..."My thoughts with the two beds was they not only seem perfect for Cats who like hang around in warm places and climb and look out of windows ... but they also will hopefully provide more comfort and warmth (and endless entertainment from back garden birdwatching) while being off the floor where there might be some risk of my parents falling over them.
We still have a couple of bed mattresses that belonged to our beloved Mitzi and Tia on the floor in the Lounge and on the Landing. We hadn't felt like we wanted to move them just yet and Pixie immediately made herself at home by enjoying snuggling and sleeping in both of them.
However I know Cats are very different to dogs in wanting to always climb and hang off furniture at high heights so I thought I would try Pixie with a radiator bed and a window one. And I'll let you know how we get on with both of them, Anita ;o>
As an ex-cat carer may I suggest a few things? Cats are like small children, the packaging is more interesting than the toy. A decent sized cardboard box is irresistible, laid on its side with the flaps open at one end. Until Pixie is calm and mature, maybe in ten years or so 😉, be wary of leaving her alone with the Christmas tree (quite a while to December, I know, but forewarned and all that). She may climb it, so make sure it's well anchored and keep low-hanging baubles cat friendly. Look out for trailing cables, one of our cats chewed a lamp cable and nearly set the place on fire. If you have houseplants, check if any of yours are harmful to cats. Common sense will keep her safe and if I think of anything else, I'll let you know!
Thanks Isabella. We had a Cat when I was a child but we treated him pretty much exactly the same as our dog as they were immediately bonded and devoted to each other and he clearly grew up believing that our senior dog was his beloved 'Dad' ;o>This time around, almost 40 years have passed now, and there is just so much info at the click of a button and so many kinds of products available that it becomes quite bewildering to try to work out what the essentials are.
I know Cats adore cardboard boxes but have held off buying anything in toys except for just two little stuffed ones containing Cat Nip as Pixie didn't want to play with any toys when we first took her in.
We only had her a couple of days though and so everything was very new and strange to her at the time and then we signed her over to the Shelter because it seemed to be the very best and the right thing to do for her. They have advertised her all over Facebook and in many local places but no-one has come forward to claim her so they are feeling pretty sure that she was unwanted and abandoned rather than having accidentally escaped from a loving home.
I think toys will probably become much more important to her once she has settled in and come to realise that she has found her forever home here.
She will rarely ever be left alone long enough in any room during the day to cause any damage to the house or an injury to herself and overnight we have thought of shutting her into the spare bedroom and buying an indoor Cat Tree to match the one outside ;o>
Our wonderful neighbour arrived just a few minutes ago and is currently preparing to attach the Catio door ;o>
Suzy,Happy belated birthday for the other day.
Delighted to hear you will be welcoming a new feline friend into your family. How lovely! We will be expecting lots and lots of photos.
I can only echo what Isabella said: a cardboard box or two are definite essentials and check your houseplants/cut flower displays to make sure they are cat friendly.
Re: suitable cat toys, that just depends upon the individual cat. Any cat we have had has always been allowed outside so lots of bought toys were never necessary. We would often improvise with what we had around the house. In the dark ages bought cat toys weren't really available in great variety, just a catnip mouse or two or a ball with a bell in! A ping pong ball has always been popular though.
Forgot to say...you can get special exercise wheels for indoor cats now: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PFEbc5l...
Thank you Helen! ... and yes, we just used to tie lengths of string to safe and interesting things years ago and that was always enough for our first Cat. A favourite toy was simply an old Wooden Spoon that he would carry from room to room! ;o>These days it seems you could actually fill an entire house, room by room and from floor to ceiling, with all the many different kinds of products that are available for Cats now! ;oO
Our late cat Charlie loved playing with balls of scrunched up aluminium foil - light enough to bat but solid enough to travel great distances (under chairs and settees).
Helen The Melon wrote: "Forgot to say...you can get special exercise wheels for indoor cats now: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PFEbc5l..."LOL!!! ... I wonder if my Dad would benefit from one of those as well?!! ... ;o> ... ;o> ... :o>
Val wrote: "Our late cat Charlie loved playing with balls of scrunched up aluminium foil - light enough to bat but solid enough to travel great distances (under chairs and settees)."Oooh? ... foil! ... I will be sure to remember that one. Thanks, Val ;o>
House Plants will not be an issue ;o>My Mum has created the most fabulous garden areas at the front and the back of our house ... but, quite bizarrely, she specialises in killing off anything that has the tragic misfortune of entering the house!
She drowned all my Orchid Plants during Covid Lockdown yet completely forgot to water the Peace Lily so many times that it finally became beyond all of my most determined efforts to try to save it.
Outside the house she is a gardening genius ... but inside the house no plants ever stand a chance!
Treacle loves a ping-pong ball.Regarding plants we had to take Treacle to the vet when we first had her when she nibbled cyclamen,luckily she was fine.Talking of pet poisoning Ted the 3 year old at work had raisins on his cereal,dad was getting the eldest ready for school and Ted gave Billie the lab puppy raisins to eat.They had to dash to the vet,made to vomit .luckily she was ok,£250pounds later.I like to think cats are more sensible than dogs that will eat anything.
Anita wrote: "Treacle loves a ping-pong ball.Regarding plants we had to take Treacle to the vet when we first had her when she nibbled cyclamen,luckily she was fine.Talking of pet poisoning Ted the 3 year old at..."Awww, poor Billie! ... an unexpected sweet treat followed by a dash to the Vet! ;o<
The biggest worry I've encountered so far is that we tend to use Dettol Antibacterial Surface Spray on all of our Kitchen worktop surfaces and I did a routine check on any pet safety issues and discovered it is extremely dangerous and incredibly toxic to animals and especially to Cats.
So I am going to have to start buying some pet safe surface cleansers ... but luckily it turns out that there are plenty of options available on Amazon with lots of reliable recommendations and reassuring reviews that have also been written by various Animal Rescue Shelters and Vet Clinics.
I am SOOOOOOO fed-up of buying the latest in amazing looking Vax every few years because my Dad simply adores the brand ... and yet he rarely ever uses it himself! And, even when he does, he always drives me nuts by deliberately using it on the High Pile setting on our Low Pile Carpets so it is much easier for him to push because it has very limited suction ... which means I have to repeatedly reset to the correct setting (which is something that is actually quite painful to do) and then revacuum each room after he has done it.
Not to mention I find them to be heavy, and clumsy, and have such limited use with attachments for what we really want ... and you always need someone else to be with you to hold onto the Vax to stop it from falling against you or falling over and breaking ... GRRRRRRR!!!
Plus most models have the ability to suddenly veer off in different directions when pushing them causing my now vulnerable spine to be wrenched and pulled out of it's increasingly fragile alignment and into long episodes of sheer agony after only just a few minutes use.
They really are becoming a hard home gym workout that I definitely don't need while still trying my best to keep up with the housework.
I have wasted more hours spent endlessly looking at various brands, shapes, sizes of more handheld Vacuums that I care to remember and almost all of them have no decent brush or a powerful suction or consistently good reviews.
Then I saw this! ... https://www.vonhaus.com/vh_en/800w-gr... ... and it looks exactly like what I need and the price is just SO low I thought ... "what the Hell, let's give it a go!"
I know I may have just wasted £34.99 but I'll take any reasonable gamble right now on anything that doesn't involve almost overdosing on extra pain relief before and after using a Vacuum Cleaner and the possibility of a trip to A&E if my back completely goes on me ;o>
Has anyone else managed to find their 'dream machine' in Vacuum Cleaners? ;o>
hi Suzy,we bought a Dyson during lockdown which lasted about 6 months before it died .I ve now got a shark which I have to say hasn't given me any problems.At work we have a Henry so you'll find me hoovering and Ted coming along with his toy Henry .Bad week here as someone stole my purse last week so I ve been sorting out cards .
This might not suit at all, Suzy, it depends on so many variables. We bought a robot cleaner for the upstairs. It’s an open plan room and we just set it up and set it going (there’s a phone app). It automatically adjusts to the wooden floor and the rugs and has sensors to stop it falling downstairs or bumping in to the furniture. Not the cheapest option but it might save you some pain? Maybe use it overnight when everyone is in bed.
Anita wrote: "Bad week here as someone stole my purse last week so I ve been sorting out card ."Ohhh no?!! ... how stressful and awful for you, Anita ... x ... I am sorry to hear that :o<
Isabella wrote: "This might not suit at all, Suzy, it depends on so many variables. We bought a robot cleaner for the upstairs. It’s an open plan room and we just set it up and set it going (there’s a phone app). I..."I think, bearing in mind I have two elderly parents who tend to never look down to make sure they don't fall over something and as we don't have any hard floors and we don't use Phones with Apps, we really need something that looks very much like this Von Haus?
Our ideal Vacuum needs to be light enough to carry around and handhold to use in small or tight spaces and on the stairs ... and it definitely needs to have a proper brush attachment to be able to properly lift the dust out of the carpet instead of only relying on suction.
Anita wrote: "hi Suzy,we bought a Dyson during lockdown which lasted about 6 months before it died .I ve now got a shark which I have to say hasn't given me any problems.At work we have a Henry so you'll find me..."I have looked at the Shark but the reviews seem to be so mixed as they so often are on the Vax and Dyson brands and so I just went with my Dad's choice in the end. I will take another look at them though if this Von Haus does not work out.
I think the cheapness of it is what is most appealing and off-putting at the same time ... it is an absolute bargain if it really does work but a little voice in my head keeps saying yes, but just how good can it realistically be expected to be at such a low price? ... LOL! ;o>
The Sharks are good but they're probably too heavy for you to cope with Suzy. They're not that manoeuvrable either.
Thanks Derek, I was thinking that looking at them and the weights they have listed. They seem a very solid and reliable build that I would have loved a few years ago. Now I realise I still need an upright for the floors but I also need something that is much more like a Car Vac except with great suction and a really good quality brush attachment ... and that kind of design seems to be surprisingly hard to find as lightweight and small seems to be for Vacuums that are only capable of sucking up food crumbs off flat hard surfaces.
Well, there has to be a catch somewhere ... (laughs) ... and I just found it ;o>On the Von Haus it looks like there is a large brush attachment but ... it turns out it is actually just a piece of moulded plastic that is designed to look exactly like a brush attachment but there is no brush just the wheels and a large opening for suction ... which is incredibly disappointing to me as I cannot see how it will manage to effectively clean carpets as well as it will clean hard floors!
However there is a small brush attachment so it still will have some use on stairs and on things that require a handheld Vacuum like bed mattresses ... and it only cost £35 so I haven't lost much in deciding to buy it ;o>
I just wish that I could find what I am looking for! ... but I guess it is probably going to be as impossible as the ongoing search for the Holy Grail! ... LOL!!!
Suzy, have you never had a look at Gtech vacuum cleaners?https://www.gtech.co.uk/cordless-vacu...
My parents are pleased with theirs (but I'm not sure exactly which model they have, I think it's one of the stick ones, it's quite old now) and I am v happy with mine. I have the k9 version (but I think it's an older version than what's on the website at present) even though I don't have a pet - I have long dark hair which gets everywhere! I am a v tidy person, I don't make much mess and tidy/clean up as I go along, so usually find myself just using the handheld "multi k9" most of the time. I would not be without the handheld device, it's great on the stairs.
https://www.gtech.co.uk/cordless-vacu...
It might not have all the attachments you require though and is expensive. Ideally you would need to try it out first to see if it's suitable!
I have heard of them but I think I originally took a brief look and ruled them out on the price of the most expensive ones. I didn't realise how affordable some of the range was.I gave up in spending/wasting any more time in endlessly looking around at all the latest models in each brand a couple of years ago so I was not aware of the Handheld version of the Gtech with what looks like exactly the ideal Brush attachment I am needing ... thank you Helen! ;o>
Thank you SO much to everyone for your valuable input ;o>I think I will probably end up in buying two more uprights (one for upstairs and one for downstairs) when the time and the price is right to do so ... but in the meantime I would still love to buy a Handheld one that meets all my needs and can be used without also causing myself so much pain.
I am feeling much more hopeful and inspired now by all of these wonderful recommendations and feeling much more prepared to spend even more time in going through them all. I had pretty much reached my Vacuum limit last year on ever wanting to do this kind of research all over again but I've seen some really great looking Vacuums on all the links that I've been given by everyone ... x
I love my handheld multi k9, Suzy, but just a word of caution - I have very bad Raynaud's Syndrome which means I get v painful and numb hands and also now have arthritis in my hands. When I'm have a bad hand day I do find it a bit heavy and difficult to remove and reattach the various accoutrements and charging cable. However, like I said before, I would not be without it. If I'm too tired to dust etc I even use it to quickly clean windowsills and the cooker hob!! And if you're having a bad day you could even sit on the stairs to use it etc. if needed.Btw. I have carpet everywhere (except kitchen and bathroom obvs) and the handheld is effective on them.
My mum and dad wouldn't be without their Gtech stick vacuum either. Theirs can be used as an lightweight upright or part of it detaches to be used as a handheld. Indispensible for catching spiders!!
I have always sat down on the stairs to vacuum and, these days, I find it even more necessary because of needing to be more careful when vacuuming under the tube track system of the Stair Lift.My ongoing issue, aside from having the bad structure and degenerative bone disease, is having to endure prolonged episodes of Paraesthesia so I will definitely bear everything that you have said in mind, Helen ... thank you ... x
Of course, I am aware there is a much easier and far more obvious option to having to try to deal with upright vacuums and that is hiring a Cleaner to come in and do a full vacuum of the house at least once a week ... and we are actually considering that option now.
But I still want to be able to do a basic clean ... if only just before the Cleaner comes to clean! ... LOL!!! ;o>
... x x x ... ! ! ! HAPPY BIRTHDAY VAL ! ! ! ... x x x ...
Sending you all my love & very best wishes, as always, Suzy ... x x x
Happy birthday Val,I hope you're having a great day.xx
Amazon exiles
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Definitely not what I would call sweet but also not at all too bitter either ... and they were absolutely delicious! ...