These two cats are a year and a half old. They’ve lived in this house since they were 2.5 and 3 months old. Neither of them has any idea that the house has a full unfinished walkout basement.
It’s been easier to deal with either only going in and out of the basement from outside, or shutting them in a room before using the door in the kitchen to go down stairs, than to let them discover there’s a messy place with tons of nooks and crannies below us. Someday I’d like to get it all ship-shape and get a new cabinet for all the paint and other dangerous-to-pets chemicals down there, but probably not for a few months.
So at the moment they live in blissful ignorance that there’s another 1000 square feet they could explore if I wasn’t such a monster.
So, what secrets have you kept successfully from your furred and feathered (and maybe scaled) friends?
Our cats, Sadie Mae and Wilson, have a serious addiction to the Feline Greenies (salmon flavor specifically). Sometimes we run out of them before the next Chewy order arrives. Instead of going to the store and getting another bag to tide them over, I just refill the Greenies container with regular kibble. Three years of Greenies addiction, and Sadie Mae and Wilson haven’t figured out the difference yet.
I don’t own a cat, but one of the neighborhood cats has been visiting me every evening for a few hours for over half a year, and I kind of adopted her (or rather, she adopted me). I have one room though she never was allowed to enter: it’s my former work/computer room, but it also my room for storing everything that doesn’t fit anywhere else. The room is a mess, and she could wreak so much havoc there with all that stuff that I’ve never let her in.
And btw, OP: is one of your cats derived from a lynx? (beautiful cats anyway)
Got a catport in the kitchen-to-cellar door for litterpan access, so no secret there - rather Spike has a secret from me; where the hell does he sleep when he wants alone time?
When I lived in an apartment in NYC, my two cats had no idea that beyond the apartment door were lots and lots of other apartments, many of which had other cats or dogs. My cats would never meet these other animals.
There’s another room with an extra bed that is perfectly nice for sleeping. But they didn’t know because I kept the door closed for over 10 years.
The door is open now and my one dog was sleeping in there a lot over the summer, when it was just too hot to share a bed with me and his sister (another secret: it is not his blood sister).
Pluto has never realized that in another room of the house is a large cold box and cabinets full of delicious food that we can eat or give him anytime we want.
I have a secret from my two cats right now. They know that sometimes (in winter) the three neighborhood cats they see from the windows come to stay in the spare room for a few days. And they are ok with that. What they don’t know is that the one who has been in there alone for the past week is going to join them in the house in a month or so. Surprise!
Ours don’t know that I can give food to cats. The only time I ever give them any food is when I’m giving them medication or those rare times hubs isn’t home to do it and then I do it wrong. Hubs gives them food and treats. This means I can go into the kitchen and open the fridge or cans or pouches and I’m not being mobbed while trying to cook people food.
(beautiful cats anyway)