Sunday, October 7, 2012

Animal play room, great bonding room!

I love my cats. I got a beautiful 4 year old, solid white cat, Ophelia about 4 months ago,

                                                                         Ophelia

 and two days ago I rescued (from a drain pipe, in 40 degree rainy weather) a small, 4 month orange and white kitten I named OJ

                               (orange juice, but also OJ, lol, he is missing one of his white mittens)

  who I have already bonded deeply with, seeing as how he is just the sweetest thing, and loves to love. Needless to say, I forgot how DESTRUCTIVE kittens are! Romping in my floor length curtains, jumping on my bookshelves, clawing at my sofa, and being a terror in general. The problem is, is I dont want to DISCOURAGE play, its important to their development, but rather CONTROL the play, in a safe environment that cant be damaged. I dont have the money to go out and buy tons of special kitty condos and toys, so I built my own out of my storage room and stuff I had around the house! I also sprinkled cat nip on some items, to add to the enticement of playing there vs the rest of the house. This could be done as a play room for puppies, or really any kind of domesticated animal, just fill it with safe stuff that they will find irresistible, with lots of options should they get bored with playing with one item, to make a wonderful room they can get all their playing done and not destroy your house! With other animals, you could try hiding treats in various spots throughout the play area, until a habit of playing there has been established. This can be done in a storage room, or in an attached garage. If you do not have the space to dedicate a whole room to your animals, then you might want to simply incorporate some of these ideas into your living space, in corners or their feeding area, to encourage play on these items, and not on your furniture.

                                                                   CAT MOUNTAIN


All this is is some boxes of Christmas decorations, and two small tree boxes, with some towels on top for cushion, and an old couch cover stretched over the top.

 Seen here before I put the couch cover on it, I put the food bowls on there for perspective. Oj's already playing.
 It provides different levels for them to jump around on, and sleep on. The towels and soft couch cover add warmth and comfort. I use this as a food and water station, so I dont need to add catnip, this area has its own appeal. This would work well for any animal that likes to climb and jump, like a rabbit or ferret. With dogs, its going to depend on the individual dog, but they may enjoy you creating a 'dining room'. Find a small dining room table, or card table, thats tall enough for your dog to fit under comfortably, or a coffee table if you have a small dog. If its a puppy, take how big the dog will grow into account, unless you want to buy another one in the future. You can find these extremely cheap, usually about 20 bucks or less at yard sales and goodwills. You can also stack storage boxes or milk crates until its tall enough, and repeat about three ft over, to create a space. Drape a sheet, or table cloth over the top and down the sides, and line the inside floor of the area with towels or sheets to make it nice and comfy. Place the food and water bowls in there, so your dog can eat in comfort and warmth. (Yes, I know animals dont need 'special' places to eat such as mountains or dining rooms, but just like with humans, its the little things sometimes, plus, having food and water in the area gives them less reason to leave, and more to stay). If your dog is a messy eater and drinker, place the food and water on trays to reduce soiling the lining of the doggy dining room.


CAT CAVE


This is one of those stand alone bathroom cabinets you can buy from walmart for about 30 bucks that has a door that opens into a cabinet on the bottom, and a drawer on the top. (See two images up, where Im showing the mountain without its cover, thats before I put the bed sheet on the cat cave) I set that up against the wall. Then I took a long wooden rod (I already had one, a yardstick can be bought for about 3 bucks and attached easier) and wrapped tulle around it, gluing it on and tying it in knots at the end, leaving the ends dangling. I had to put nails in the top of the cabinet in front of the rod to hold it in place, the wrap a towel over it (to cushion the nails sticking out) and nail the towel to the wall on the top and bottom of the rod to keep it from flipping up. (once again, see above). With a yard stick, all you have to do is nail it to the top of the cabinet. I then draped a fitted sheet over the whole thing (door open) and attached it tightly around the legs, and around the back, then up over the bar, nailing it to the wall. (All this nailing to the wall means they cant tip it if they are hanging from the tulle, these things are cheap and pretty lightweight). Make sure the sheet is taught enough that it keeps the door open. You can remove the door of course, but I liked it, it added dimension and made it more 'cave like'. I cut a slit in the front for an entrance, and lined the inside with a towel and sprinkled it with catnip. This creates a space that the cats can hide in, and play predator, a favorite of the feline variety. (Watch your ankles walking past if your cat isnt accounted for!) This would work for most animals actually, though some would get no use from the dangling tulle and you could skip that part, and you may need to adjust the basic frame for a larger animal. (an old, second hand kitchen cabinet for example).


                                                             OBSERVATION TOWER



This one was simple. I put two large, Tupperware storage boxes in the bottom on a closet side by side. I draped a bathroom matt down the front of them, for a place to scratch. On top, facing sideways I placed another plastic storage box, and a small one next to it. Make sure the large one is heavy enough to hold the bathmat in place on the lower level. I set a cat bed on top of the large top box, and put a sheet in the bottom of it to make it super fluffy, then draped a blanket over the whole top level, and sprinkled with cat nip. This set up will also work for any climbing animal, or puppies and small dogs (though be careful how high you make it with a puppy, keep in mind that they tend to weigh more than cats and other small animals) This is a spot separate from the eating area that they can lay, or jump, or climb and watch the going ons in the rest of the room. Being surrounded by three walls makes them feel secure, its a great place to 'lord' over any other animals or humans in the house!


                                                    RIBBONTOPIA AND THE RESTOOMS


I put a potty area in the room to help entice them into using it. Since cats are kind of finicky about eating in a room with their litter box, I 'walled' it in, leaving enough room in the front for them to comfortable get in and out. So far, they seem fine with this arrangement. This is only useful if your animal uses the restroom inside, though if you have a pet that goes outdoors, perhaps doing this in a utility room with a pet door that goes outside would be wonderful, though Im sure most of us arent that lucky. I also took a cloths rack and dangled ribbons down from it, and tied toys to the end of some of the ribbons. Some animals might chew through the ribbons, but may enjoy instead strips of old bedsheets dangling that they can run in and out of and play 'jungle'. Like the feeding area, this area needs no extra enticements to get them to play, though tying a conch to one ribbon and making them work for a treat would be fun. Another touch I added in this room was a pair of old, floor length curtains I found in the garage. OJ keeps playing in my nice ones, so I hung these back there for him. I nailed them into the windowsill, because I felt that was more sturdy than a curtain rod if he was hanging on them. My hopes are that over time, he will realize he gets scolded for playing in the ones in the front room, but he does not if he plays with 'his'. You can buy curtains for a couple bucks at a goodwill, and most animals like curtains that they can play in and hide behind. I sprinkled these in cat nip to make his more enticing than mine. The last thing I did was put all their toys in the floor, and soda boxes with the ends cut off for them to run in and out of, and nailed a low wooden board across the bottom of the door to keep the toys in the room.




An unexpected side effect is this created a space to help with the bonding process between my two cats. I can feed them on opposite sides of the mountain, so they are eating together, but not 'together'. Ophelia can sit on the observation tower and observe the new intruder from a safe distance, or hide in the cave and watch unseen. There is plenty for OJ to do to keep him distracted from bugging Ophelia. In the space of only a few hours, Ophelia has stopped growling at the mere sound of OJ's voice, and will even let him bump noses with her briefly before she remembers to hiss. I think part of it is its an area neutral to me, so there is no power struggle for me in that room, and part of it is I built the playroom only a few days after getting OJ, so while the rest of the house is still 'Ophelias',  the 'structures' and most of the toys belonged to no one, which made it even more neutral ground. It was even a brand new spot for the litter box and food. So if you are planning on getting a new animal, it might be a good idea to designate a spot to do it, but dont build it until you have introduced the animals. I wouldnt recommend introducing them in the spot though, it may leave negative feelings for the spot in one or more of your animals, like if you have a bad experience the first time visiting a new spot and never really like it after.

Tips for doing this in small living spaces: A lot of us barely have enough room for the people in our houses, and the animals end up living on top of us. We would like to give our animals a place to call their own, but just dont have the room. Well, theres a couple things you can do. Do you have a dining room table that doesnt get used? Or only used when company comes over? I know a lot of people that moved into apartments with dining rooms that got tables that ended up being used as laundry holders. lol. Drape tablecloths or bedsheets over the top so that all sides are fully covered, with slack. (You might need more than one, get creative with it, and make sure it compliments the rest of the room. If this is all you are doing you may be able to spend the money on new, they can be bought for about 20 a pop for nice looking ones on sites such as ebay or amazon, and discount stores. If you must use second hand or what you have around the house, just try to get solid, neutral colors.) Tie them securely around the bottom of the table legs, making sure the fabric is taunt. If  you have to use more than one, you will need to sew or glue (fabric or hot glue) the pieces together. Cut a slit in the cloth on the side you want the entrance, make sure you dont cut all the way through the bottom, the bottom holds the cloth together, giving it a 'cave entrance', like in the cat cave pic above. Make sure the slit is big enough for you to get in and out of for cleaning and feeding. Place bedding, food and water bowls, and maybe a few toys if there is enough room for play, and you have created a little 'retreat' for them! You can do this with an end table or a coffee table for a cat or small dog too. If you dont have that, make a closet accessible for your animal with boxes to climb on and blankets for snuggling, or even a corner of the room, with a larger box stacked under a smaller box and a bed sheet over the top for a place to climb and jump on.  Cats and dogs have good imaginations, you just have to give them something to use it on, like a 'cave' or 'jungle of cloth strips' or a 'mountain'.