A post about my cat

Winter is tough for my cat because one of her favorite activities is watching birds out the window. She tracks the pigeons during winter, but it's not the same because she gets much more interested when the window is open, and she can smell and hear the activity through the screen. She often indicates to me that she would like me to open the windows, but it's still in the 30s and the landlord is very stingy with the heat in March, so I can't afford to let any escape.

A couple of weeks ago, she looked sluggish for a couple of days, and I worried that she was bored. I give my cat a lot of attention. I talk to her all day, play with her, pet her whenever she wants, let her sleep in my lap for hours. But I felt like it wasn't enough to keep her entertained, so I have made an effort to change her environment and activities daily.

PsycGirl mentioned that her cat gets interested in his perch when she moves it, so I have been moving my cat's perch around. When I move the perch around, she can see different parts of the apartment from an elevated position, and she can leap to and from the perch from different pieces of furniture. I have also started draping a blanket over the perch, creating a blanket fort with an enclosed tube -- she loves it. Today, she stayed in the tube for hours.

I have introduced new toys, and I dug some old favorites out from behind the couch (maybe she thinks they're new if she hasn't seen them for months?). I've also tried to play new games with her. In one new game, she sits on top of her perch, and I toss cat toys into the tube. She reaches into the hole and flings them out one by one, and then I collect the toys and we do it again. Now that I'm describing it, I realize I do most of the work in this game -- she probably feels like she's playing with me. But it seems to amuse her.

Anyway, she hasn't seemed bored in a while, so it seems to be working. But she will really be excited when it's warm enough to open the windows.