Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Bargain Kitty

In 2007 I made a new friend. She was quite skittish and wouldn't come near me- only talk from afar. Then one day I fed her some canned tuna, and the rest is history.
So now the kitty resides on my patio. If Hegazelle was not allergic to cats, she would be in the house. She's really quite cute. Then I realized she could affect my budget. What envelope does cat food come from? How much does cat food cost?! Since she's just a drifter, I bought cat food at the Dollar Tree. A couple of pounds of cat food cost me a dollar. Then they started carrying 1lb. boxes for the same price. I switched to the cheapo Target cat food.
One night I noticed that we had left our cover for our grill on the ground on the patio. The kitty was cold and turned it into a bed. So, my heart strings pulled again, and I gave the kitty a red rug and two blankets.
At Christmas time it was getting very cold out, and the cat would curl up so tight on those blankets trying to keep warm. I really wanted to buy a little kitty bed for her, but couldn't bring myself to spend the $10+ that it would cost. After all, she's just a stray, right? We bought a box of firewood for Christmas, and after we'd burned it all, the idea came to me. I cut the top off, cut out a piece of the front and took it out back. I put the cat's blankets inside and voila! A cat bed was made. It was great to watch her check it out...tapping out the blankets with her paws. Then, the neighborhood bully, a big, fat hairy gray cat, came to check out the bed. Fat Cat walked slowly around the bed meowing long warnings to my kitty. My stray was crouched down behind Fat Cat and was being VERY still. Then all at once she pounced Fat Cat- jumped right on his back and dug in the claws! (We caught them fighting the other night and our cat must have lost because there was more white fur on the lawn than gray.) I ran out the door from where I was watching and ran the Fat Cat off before he tore into my kitty. When I came back to the patio, I was sorta proud to see some gray fur blowing away with the wind.
Our kitty loves her bargain bed. She is in it constantly- much more than when she just had blankets on the ground. I took some pictures of her enjoying her nap today. I enjoy watching her!


Maui enjoying her "bargain bed"

Maui's Spread

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great idea on making a bed out of a box. I've been loathe to put out big money for my little darlings some beds too, but now I will make them beds fit for Kings!

Maybe you should be glad hegazelle is allergic, means no cat hair or litter box in the house! Bargin cat with no fuss how cool is that?