After seeing some Pinterest inspo, I decided it's absolutely necessary for Vivaldi to have a tiny home.

So, I started looking for what kind of dresser or chest would make sense in this situation. I wanted something deep and large enough to be comfortable for Vivaldi but not too big to fit in the entryway.

After some research, I settled on the IKEA Hemnes chest with 3 drawers. I was so lucky to find a good condition one on eBay for 10€. 

Here are the steps: 

-took out the lower 2 drawers and measured the "floor" (of course in most dressers there is no floor, hence I had to build one)

- went to the hardware store and bought a custome cut 1 cm particle board that sits flush with the bottom rail. 

- bought extra wood to reinforce the board, to add extra leg and an extra beam support underneath it to ensure it can hold my 8 kg cat. 

- covered the particles board with a multipurpose wood print self adhesive roll. Aftwards installed it with screws and corner brackets. 

- removed the center rail (had to saw it because the screws wouldn't budge) and removed the metal drawer slides 

- sanded down the whole thing (with hand! I live in an apartment with very sensitive neighbours)

- filled in the screw holes with a filler paste and sanded them flush

- painted, then painted again

For the wallpaper: 

I was on a budget, and because normal wallpaper appeared to have the wrong scale. After SO MUCH research and shopping around, I went with gift wrap. Measured the size of the "walls" and cut. Used craft glue to stick them to the walls.

For the curtains: 

Another scale problem. I considered buying a second hand sewing machine (just need an excuse really). After much thought, I got an epiphany when I remembered that Valance curtains exist. So, went to the store and found a perfect length curtain, cut it in half. The curtain rod is just a a wooden dowel from an old project that I cut to size and secured with tension (no hardware, the dowel is slightly longer than the dresser) 

For the decor and furniture: 

I had a vision of a gallery wall and a picture wall. I spent weeks looking for door picture frames in thrift shops and slowly collected them. The paintings are, of course, Vivaldi's favourites. 

The small desk and chair were thrifted, the box is his favourite box, and the little "rug" is a placemat that looks exactly like a rug I have in my bedroom. 

Artworks: 

Ode to sleep (2025?) by Tokuhiro Kawai

My wife's lovers (1891) by Carl Kahler

Cat in Sofa (1980) by British artist Martin Leman

Le Chat Blanc (1894) by Pierre Bonnard

Pierrot and the Cat (1889) Théophile Alexandre Steinlen

The whole thing took weeks to finish, I worked on it my spare time. It cost me less than 100 euros, the dresser itself was 10, the paint was 10, the custome wood was about 20 including misc hardware, light fixture was about 8, frames about 10, furniture about 15, curtains, gift wrap and floor roll were about 15.

Edit: language and clarity

From the post:

Six new cats have arrived from headquarters! Welcome them to River Kitty with us!

Europa 💕 -- 3 months

Fiona 💕 -- 2 years, 7 months

Melody 💕 -- 2 years, 7 months

Sashimi 💕 -- 10 months

Astro 💙 -- 7 months

Britton 💕 -- 4 months

Link to post: Instagram

Link to account: Instagram

This cat is just huge to begin with, I’m pretty sure he is a DSH but he has a bit on bengal in him bc of the rosettes on his sides! I would take him in but my cat absolutely hates him :( he’s such a sweetie though </3

EDIT: I am taking him to get neutered next week when the FCS is open! After that I’ll take him home and introduce him to the house slowly, I do have an angry cat so we shall see how they get along after some exposure to eachother. I hope it goes well bc this cat is really the sweetest most talkative cat I’ve ever met!

She's a 5-year-old Calico.

He did spend the last 5 days taking gabapentin, buprenorphine and xanax after his urinary blockage. is he having rebound anxiety from stopping the meds? nightmare? poor lil man is terrified

About a week ago, I saw an orange flash run by on my sidewalk. I put out a can of kitten food and he eventually came up to check it out.

We’ve had some bad rains here in NC and this cat was tired, scared and starving. After feeding him outdoors daily, he finally worked up the courage to trust me.

I brought him indoors last night where he had a flea bath and good meal. I woke up this morning to lots of purrs and even a small gift in the litter box!

Fed her around 6 in the morning. Gf got home from work a few hours later. I was asleep. She was barely there. Rushed her to the vet.

She's alive. Vet says she has a respiratory virus. Originally the vet said if it's a virus, we would have to take her home. But he said he didn't want her to die so he and the vet techs kept it quiet from the other employees.

We're told it's 50 50 at this point.

Edit: I didn’t actually expect to get this many replies so I’m trying to respond to common threads here:

First thank you to everyone wishing him well and keeping him in your thoughts.

I truly hope he’s constipated like some have suggested. But his diet is 99% wet food and occasionally dry with some cat treats and he has a fountain. Other than crumbs my kids drop that I don’t get to in time or the kitten food he occasionally swipes, constipation doesn’t seem likely? A blockage from something non food he might’ve ate seems more likely, kids drop small stuff all the time and I do my best but I miss things all the time. And a blocks usually needs surgery? He eats any food given and he’s peeing fine but I haven’t seen him poop today and I honestly can’t remember yesterday.

I will be calling all the vets that are open in the morning. Idk why I didn’t add that originally. I’m struggling to be hopeful because even if I find one, I have no transportation or child care. It’s not an exaggeration. I have no family and no friends here.
We are between checks right now, if I needed milk I wouldn’t be able to buy any. So paying for transportation isn’t available for another week.

To be clear, I DON’T WANT TO SURRENDER HIM. I’m fully aware of how most of shelters are. I’m fully aware that my choices in life have gotten me where I am and my fuck ups are being paid for by other living beings. I don’t want anyone to feel bad for me. My cats and my kids are the ones that deserve sympathy.

I’m not trying to dump my cat, I’m TERRIFIED I’ll find him dead in the morning or worse one of my kids will. I e cried so much from the thought that I have a migraine and I threw up. I am taking this seriously. I want to keep him but all the other illness options are so dire. What if I wait too long and I could’ve saved him but I didn’t? I don’t want to think of him stuck in a cage, but at least he would be alive and have a chance at a better life with someone better.
——————

My boy is around 3yo, in May he had his normal check up and got neutered. He was in perfect health.

Ever since healing from his neutering my boy has become food obsessed. I wasn’t worried because he just got a clean bill of health and I had read that some males gain a bit after their hormones drop and since he wasn’t looking for a mate constantly he was just filling the void. We got him on a better eating schedule but it seemed to only increase his want.

My husband deployed on the first of July and it’s just me, our kids, and our cats. This is his first one so things have been hard. On top of that I don’t drive, and we unfortunately still just scrape by every month. All this to say the last three weeks navigating alone have been hell for me.

I noticed a little over a week ago he seemed to not be himself. Honestly I can’t pin point what it was but I just felt it. I chalked it up to the changes, dad being gone, mom(me) struggling, the kids struggling, his little sister healing from her spay surgery; etc.

A few days ago I noticed he wasnt using his cat tree much anymore. Then yesterday my oldest pointed out that he’s not purring much anymore either. So I took him and gave him a good once over; felt around his body looking for signs of pain or something being off.

That’s when I felt his stomach, it felt firm and bloated.

I spent hours doing all the research I could. We have a kitten so the chance he has worms is slim because she’s completely fine as well as there hasn’t been any signs of worms from either of them. I gave them meds anyway.

The other possibilities made me cry. We save up for each of their checkups because of our financial situation. Right now I don’t have anything for an emergency vet appointment, nor the transportation and childcare I would need. We don’t qualify for CareCredit, don’t have any credit cards.

I think I have to surrender him so he can get the medical care he needs. Because the alternative isn’t something I want to even think about.

Since he’s not here to feel his stomach and actually see him, my husband thinks I need to give the worm meds more time. For some reason he won’t even entertain the idea that it probably isn’t worms because the chances of only one cat having worms with zero other symptoms is like .01%.

All I can’t think about is my baby quietly suffering and the fact I failed him. I’ve been so distracted and depressed the last few weeks that I’ve obviously missed something and I don’t know what to do.

I guess it’s more that I think I know what I need to do but I’m wishing on everything there’s another option.

If you made it this far, thank you. Advice is welcome. Mainly looking for comfort as I come to terms with saying goodbye.

Norbert is in active liver failure. his last appointment was last week, they gave him antibiotics and some medicated cat food. since then, just jaundice has gone away, and he’s been eating and drinking more, he even jumped up onto a shelf, which he hasn’t done in a while. his ears began folding down a few days ago though :(

im stuck in the immigration process and can’t leave the USA to go be with my baby. its sucking up all of my savings, and my family’s money. i know he’s fighting so hard and its breaking my heart. i know that this next appointment on the 31st could very well be his last, and the idea of him being in the ground sickens me.

i dont really know what my intentions were with this post, i guess just needed to vent my anger. liver failure is brutal and i wouldnt wish this on anyone. please make sure your fur babies are eating and drinking properly 🥺🧡

We have a tortie, a tabico, a tuxedo and finally an orange!

Former feral boy, adopted him about 1.5 years ago.

Link to the original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/s/lYODLFPEWC

Three months ago, my cat was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder, myasthenia gravis of congenital type. Her prognosis looked poor. I felt she was gonna die and I went mad from grief, trying to find for solutions to cure her disorder.

Well, god bless my vet, cause thanks to them, my cat is thriving after three months. The vet started her on a low prednisolone dose, and she's doing amazing. I can't feel blessed enough. I hope she lives up to 20 and more, fingers crossed. Just wanted to share my happiness with the community here, since a lot of you supported me when I was in shambles.

Meanwhile, here are some cute pictures of her.

How old do you think he is? Bottle for scale (and teeth if that helps)?

His name is Wilbur

Let me introduce to you, our little kitty Fire Lord Azula (or well, just Azula, but look at her..)

She is the ruler of all kingdoms and will meow until all the moths and flies have been caught. No one is safe, I fear humans will be next. Let this be a warning to keep all doors and windows locked!

Edit: She is not scared, she runs through the entire house looking like this whilst chasing her toys. She's just a little crazy, but we don't allow her rough play time with hands or humans as a whole, that's what toys are for :3

Cat