I’m sure those of you with cats sometimes feel as though they’ve taken over your home. I mean, you want them to feel comfortable, well loved, like they belong, but how far is too far? Have you had a kitten or a cat practically destroy something in your home? Lily used to scratch paint off the hall walls. I referred to the orange paint designs showing through the white as her artwork. I’d even take guests on tour to see it. Yeah, that hallway was scheduled for a new paint job—once Lily outgrew her passion for scratchin’.
My mother’s cat, Smokey has practically demolished a cardboard box in her garage. He has a perfectly good scratching post and he uses it. But he prefers that box. I’ve given up having drapes. I love kittens more and kittens will climb drapes. They can’t reach the valance I use now.
Yes, I’m afraid cats have helped me to decorate my home. They’ve taught me what I can’t 
bring in. I can’t use raffia or ribbon around vases or to dress up a wooden rabbit or duck decoration, for example. I had the cutest birdhouse decoration with both raffia and a pretty bright bow. I still have the birdhouse, but the foo-foo stuff on it had to go. Sophie eats it and Lily chews on it, too.
I like a tidy house, but Lily would rather see her stuffed toys scattered all over. Soooo, I just smile and step over her stuffed turtle, hedgehog, eagle, and lion.
I bought an outdoor rug a few months ago for our deck. But it had been raining, so I put it in the hallway temporarily. Lily took it over immediately. She lays on it most of the morning. She likes to drop her toys on it. Whenever I think about putting it outside, there she is laying on it. How can I disturb that sweet girl?
Finally, I had my chance. I snatched it up while she was elsewhere and put it on the deck. For the next few days, I noticed Lily sitting where the rug had been looking at me with those sad eyes. Day after day, she’d give me that pitiful look like she’d lost a friend. So what did I do? Of course, I brought that rug back in and put it in the hallway for Lily. She was one happy girl. (It didn’t really look good on the deck anyway.)
