{"id":604679,"date":"2024-05-27T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2024-05-27T14:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/?p=604679"},"modified":"2024-05-24T11:11:44","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T15:11:44","slug":"when-cats-enjoy-the-good-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/felines-weekly\/when-cats-enjoy-the-good-life\/","title":{"rendered":"When Cats Enjoy the Good Life: Olga\u2019s Indoor Existence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi, I\u2019m Christopher!\u00a0Read my introduction<\/a>\u00a0to learn more about me and my silly Russian Blue cat, Olga.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although some of them were mummified and buried with their owners, cats in ancient Egypt generally led privileged lives. The pharaohs\u2019 felines had servants to care for them, and some Egyptian deities, like Bastet, were cats. You probably don\u2019t think of ancient Egyptian rulers as peaceful, but they would have been horrified by the ASPCA commercials with abused animals.<\/p>\n

When I see skinny, feral cats eating garbage or a dead cat on the side of the road, I realize how lucky Olga is to be a house cat. She doesn\u2019t have a cat tree made of Brazilian Rosewood, a silk cat bed, or a gold water bowl, but she has a good life.<\/p>\n

Indoor Freedom<\/h2>\n

She doesn\u2019t have to hunt for meals or hide food from predators, and she can scratch up her favorite chair as much as she likes. I won’t let her tear all my furniture to shreds, but I\u2019m pretty tolerant of her wild behavior.<\/p>\n

Besides the outside world, the kitchen counter is the only area off-limits to her. I thought about training her to use a leash and harness<\/a>, but she wouldn\u2019t be allowed to walk with me around the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\"This
This is my contemplative pose.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Canine Dominance<\/h2>\n

I feel guilty that she can\u2019t roam outside<\/a> or walk with me at dawn, but my neighborhood has more dogs than residents, and most of them are large pups. Some of them, like the Chow Chow, go into attack mode when they see me, and I\u2019m lucky their owners can restrain them.<\/p>\n

If I were walking with a little gray cat, everyone in the neighborhood would wake up from their dogs barking in the backyard. The dogs walking around with their owners would break free of their leashes and charge toward Olga and the only fool dumb enough to walk his cat. I support the cat-walking movement, but it\u2019s not practical for me.<\/p>\n

Exercising Indoors<\/h2>\n

Until she learns to walk on a harness in my fenced-in backyard, she has to find entertainment indoors. Preventing indoor cats from becoming overweight is difficult, but for now, Olga is healthy and seems content with her exercise program. She plays with her new silver vine stick<\/a> every day and sleeps on it after enjoying the euphoric effects.<\/p>\n

\"I'm
I’m going to pounce on that crumb you dropped on the floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She also likes playing tag, but it\u2019s not much fun for me in the summer when I\u2019m not wearing long pants, and she carves up the back of my leg. However, I don\u2019t get too upset. Since she\u2019s a hunter without prey, she needs to attack something, and inanimate objects can only hold her attention for so long.<\/p>\n

Olga\u2019s happy with her dull, temperature-controlled life inside my house. She gets irritated if her dinner is late or I\u2019m not paying attention to her when she\u2019s energized, but she doesn\u2019t try to escape when I open the door or care that she\u2019s missing out on the Great Outdoors.<\/p>\n

If you watch the video below of Olga kneading my couch, you\u2019ll see her in her most relaxed state, and if you\u2019re not careful, her large, unmoving eyes will put you in a trance.<\/p>\n