A New Home for P-Cakes

For weeks, Mr. Pancakes heard nothing but talk of "moving" and "the house." He had no idea what was going on, but was hoping out loud that that didn't mean FOX was moving "House" to the dreaded Friday-night time slot. He really loves snarky humor and medical dramadies.


While we were moving things out of the apartment in into the house, Mr. Pancakes was quarantined in an empty room most of the day so he wouldn't run out on us. Clearly, he was having a little moving anxiety.

[That mattress stays HERE!]

[RAWR! You're gonna have to get through me first!]

I can understand why Mr. Pancakes was so attached to the apartment - It's the only home he's known! It's also the place where all his toys are. Little did we know he'd been hiding them all under the couch for months. We found about 50 of them when we were moving it last weekend.... Along with enough cat fur to knit a pair of mittens. (Or... dare I say, Kitten Mittons?)

He used to make a game of taking out these fake pears and berries from a big, wooden bowl I had out on display. He'd fish them out, one by one, and then bat them around the floor. There were plenty more pears and berries found when cleaning under the radiator cover.

But after I picked out a couple of rubber bands (his favorite toys ever - he prefers the ones that wrap around asparagus) and some fake mousies for him to keep (while trashing the others), I assured Mr. Pancakes he would be very happy in our new home. There would be plenty of places to hide behind when waiting to sneak-attack humans, and there are two sets of stairs he can climb! He warmed up to those ideas, but was really sold on the fact that, at his new house, he would be able to relieve himself in the privacy of the basement. 

It's the little things.

When we introduced Mr. Pancakes to the house, he reacted just as we thought he would: purely terrified. He doesn't take kindly to new situations, and is incredibly skiddish. About four seconds after emerging from his carrier, he ran to the nearest place he could find to hide: under the bed in the guest bedroom.

He stayed under the bed for a few minutes, but slowly emerged and crept around the house, checking things out, jumping 10 feet every time he heard a creak in the floor. I think he was checking out to see if there was another cat in the house - every time he's gone to a different place, there's always another cat around the corner to torture him.

After a few hours, we could tell he was getting comfortable. His new favorite thing to do is lie right in the middle of the stairs to the bedroom - especially when a human is carrying large boxes, trying to get to the top. He is very curious of the outside world - he's only really known if from seven stories up! I can tell he's going to adore staring out the picture window in the living room, plotting his evil plan to eat all the birds outside.

Good God, it just dawned on me I spent an entire post writing about my cat's reactions to moving to our new house. Who am I?? 

Don't worry, I've got a fantastic, ridiculously-easy DIY project to share with you soon - one that takes about 45 minutes from start to finish, and will be completely, utterly cat free.

I think.