Couple Tailors Home to Cats
(c) The Associated Press
AP-NY-01-05-98
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- If a man's home is his castle, then this
house is a kitty kingdom.
What started out as a small remodeling project -- including the
installation of a floor-to-ceiling scratching post -- has grown
into more than 100 feet of elevated catwalks and a home designed
around the whims of Bob Walker and wife Frances Mooney's nine cats.
"You do something for your cats and it takes on a life of its
own" Walker said.
To say the least.
Walker, 48, and Mooney, 47, are professional picture framers and
artists by trade. They decided to create an area for their cats
that would challenge their feline instincts and keep them active
in a 1,500-square-foot home.
Now, TomCat, Jerry Lee, Bernard, Charlotte, Denise, Frank, Louise,
Little Jimmy and Molly are in cat heaven.
They first installed a support column and beam to hang a leaded
glass window. The column became a fiber-covered scratching post,
intersecting with a bright pink beam for catwalking.
The cats took to it immediately. One problem, though: From there
they had no place else to go.
Soon the couple was cutting cat-sized holes through walls that
allowed the cats to travel from one end of the home to the other --
without ever touching the ground. Then a carpeted ramp was
installed for the older cats to make their way down.
Toy mice hang suspended from their tails in cages, just a paw's
reach away from the catwalks. A mouse skull-and-crossbones portal
leads to a special "cats only" illuminated green room, tucked into
the wall above a clothes closet.
On a recent day, a zigzag, aerial walkway trimmed with neon leads
down the hallway, where a cat that looks curiously like a Dalmatian
dangles her paws at passers-by.
"As I say, cats like to look down on us," Walker said.
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