Saturday, June 23, 2012

Ruminations on futility

Futility - when you spend $15 in Canadian Tire for a fancy cat scratching contraption


and you set it up next to the chair that the cats like to scratch, in order to entice them into scratching something other than the chair (classic transference theory)


and the cats totally ignore it for three days and then start to use it -- to stand on to give them a better vantage point for shredding the chair.



It's hard being the less intelligent species in the house.

13 comments:

  1. Our cat Gwen, a very elegant old lady now, likes to use the wood between the two panes of the sliding glass doors. I've been trying to remember to bring in a bark-covered log from the wood pile for her to use, but of course now it's summer and she scratches on trees outside. Then winter will come, and the logs will be all wet, and the task will seem overwhelming . . . and so it goes.

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  2. But you are the species that has opposable thumbs. What about a spray bottle full of water that would be aimed at any feline that dared put a claw near the chair?

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    1. Opposable thumbs and spray bottles are only effective when they are in the room at the time the cat is scratching. Opposable thumbs that are at work are not effective at all. :)

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  3. I'm sorry, but I cannot stop laughing.

    The cat scratching contraption (from Canadian Tyre? What sort of cars do they fit for goodness sake?) looks like a combination of an upgraded mouse mat and the final product of a very severe Brazillian wax.

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    1. "the final product of a very severe Brazillian wax." Eeeouch. The 'Emorycat' consists of corrugated cardboard layers glued together and then cut in strips, so that the the surface of the pad is the ends of the rows, if you know what I mean. Then it's treated with some kind of glued-on sand to act as an emory board. Both cats ignore it.

      Canadian Tire is a large retailer that sells automotive supplies and has repair bays. It also sells sporting goods (like skates), barbecues, patio furniture, plumbing supplies, lighting, camping equipment. I read somewhere that 90% of Canadians live within 15 minutes of a Can Tire.

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  4. Anonymous10:49 AM

    You really need to get those cats a TALL scratching post. Some sort of log would probably do it...

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    1. Maybe I can find a chair-shaped log.

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  5. My trainer has a scratching post JUST like the one in the first picture. I've never seen the cat use it.

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    1. Max added insult to injury yesterday by lying on it for a couple of minutes before wandering off.

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  6. margaret3:05 PM

    Greetings from Alberta. I came to your blog by way of 'In This Life'. Always nice to read a blog from a fellow Canadian, especially since I lived in Ottawa on 2 separate occasions in the 60's and 70's before moving to the Yukon, Northwest Territories and ultimately Alberta. (We lived in Vanier, Cyrville, Gloucester and Hammond.)

    Now my question: I know the heading of your blog is not a picture of the Rideau Canal or the Ottawa River. Could it possibly be a picture of the boulevard in Nice, France? I was there in 2005 and that picture makes me nostalgic.

    Agree with you on the cat scratcher thing. Mine much prefer my Lazyboy.

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    1. Hi Margaret! Thanks for stopping by. You have a good eye. My banner is a picture of the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, with me and my daughters doodled in. I was lucky enough to visit there in July/August of 2011 and fell in love.

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  7. *snort*

    Sorry, that's just too funny :)

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