Last week I built, primed, and painted a cat platform and ramp for the dining room. A few days later I attached them to the dining room windowsill. The cats had zero interest in the ramp… and Darwin had only marginal interest in the platform. Meh. I was hoping they’d love it! Maybe a bird feeder on the window would help…
I was originally going to attach the platform to the wall below the window with 2 metal brackets. But when it actually came down to it, it seemed easier to just screw the platform directly into the windowsill itself. That way it doesn’t protrude as far from the wall, and ends up being a few inches higher, which cats always appreciate. Once that was in place, I screwed 2 circle hooks into one side of the platform, about 4″ apart, then screwed 2 latches into the ramp and hooked it onto the platform. Now we’ll be able to remove the ramp whenever we need to:
One nice thing about the platform is that we can enclose it with the curtains so no one from the street can stare into the window, and the cats can have an enclosed cave where they can observe the outside world. See? You can’t even see the platform when the curtains are closed:
But after a week of enticing [treats], encouraging [kind words], tough love [dropping on ramp and saying “up up up!”], I realized the cats [particularly Bonkers] were never going to use the ramp. Darwin can jump from the floor up to the platform, but Bonkers would pace frantically alongside the ramp, staring up at the platform, letting out little anxious chirps, but not using the ramp. Sometimes I’d have pity on him and pull the dining room chair out from the table and he’d instantly jump up onto it then onto the windowsill platform.
So… it appears I’ll be building a step for Bonkers to reach the platform! Stay tuned for Part 3…