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The favored Meowfia Felt Cat Cave is so delicate and delightful it makes you wish to be a cat. The light wool, the subtle colours, the thought of a toasty hidey-hole. It’s so interesting we want they made them for people! However that’s the arduous factor about selecting out merchandise for pets, and cats particularly—what appeals to our senses doesn’t at all times have the identical draw for them. Do cats assume felt caves are as great as we do?
There was clearly just one factor to do: we put the Meowfia cave mattress to the check.
The Evolution of the Felt Cat Cave
It’s not clear the place the primary felt cat cave got here from, however now the web is filled with them. I’ve seen them at commerce reveals, in pet provide shops, and in mates’ houses. What I can let you know is that they’re not all the identical. Some are thick; some are skinny. Some are coarse; some are luxuriously delicate. Some hold a pleasant, spherical form, and others are inclined to sag. And a few are extraordinarily sturdy, whereas others shred after just a few months.
In case you’re like me, you’re most likely questioning: why the craze for felt?
It seems felted wool goes all the way in which again to the Center Ages, within the type of boiled wool (a kind of felted wool).
Whereas spinning and weaving wool from sheep, goats, and different furry animals is a reasonably advanced course of, felting is far easier. Often, this entails soaking handfuls of soppy, fluffy wool in sizzling water after which rolling or squeezing the recent water out of the wool in order that the fiber turns into tightly packed. (In case you’ve ever by chance washed a wool sweater on the “sizzling” setting and shrunk it, you’ve seen the outcomes.)
As soon as the wool is packed down, it may be additional compressed utilizing a wide range of felting strategies. The result’s a dense cloth that’s glorious at containing warmth. (If there may be quite a lot of pure lanolin within the wool, felted supplies may even be extremely water-repellent.)
Quick ahead to the world of cat beds: Cat caves are created out of two circles of wool joined throughout the felting course of to make a roundish cave form. The felted cat cave is much like a large pita bread—with an entrance gap left for the cat.
You’ll find YouTube movies like this one by Chezlin that present make your personal felt cat cave from scratch! Not being the DIY sort, I checked out the cat caves in shops and chosen a Meowfia, which is thick, delicate, and has a fame for sturdiness.
The Meowfia Felt Cat Cave
The massive Meowfia Premium Cat Cave I acquired measures 19 inches vast (at its widest level) and 12 inches excessive. The spherical entrance is 8 inches throughout. Briefly, there’s loads of room for even a hefty cat to get in, flip round, and cool down. (The medium-size Meowfia is 16 inches throughout and 10 inches excessive.)
The Meowfia cave is made from top-quality New Zealand Merino wool. Merino sheep, initially from Spain, are recognized for his or her extraordinarily delicate, advantageous wool. Nevertheless, the cat cave itself is fabricated in Nepal by Nepalese craftswomen. (The Meowfia web site explains this in some element.)
Don’t be shocked by the small bundle that arrives, although. The Meowfia is shipped flat, and the flat disc is folded into quarters and tied with string, which makes it a very fairly bundle. It even features a felted wool ball in your kitty to play with—ours was shiny aquamarine.
Tink and Tippy examine the folded felt cat cave.
The Meowfia got here with a felted toy.
The directions that accompany the Meowfia clarify reshape the folded cat cave right into a extra evenly rounded form by stuffing it tightly with a filler. They recommend material or pillows, however some individuals use crumpled paper or bubble wrap. (The Amazon page for the Meowfia suggests utilizing a clothes steamer to attain the peerlessly rounded form.)
Meowfia reshaping directions.
My cats confirmed quite a lot of curiosity within the Meowfia bundle, and as soon as it was totally operational, they beloved it . . . not as a cave-style mattress, however as a storage basket for all their toys.
In hopes of getting the cats to discover the Meowfia, we tossed in some catnip mice and different playthings. The end result was that they’d spend the night time reaching in, grabbing the toys, and scampering madly round the lounge. However then they’d pad off to sleep of their common beds as a substitute of the cave. The three older cats favor closely cushioned cat beds, and the three youthful cats favor sleeping on my mattress or the couch.
On the plus facet, the gorgeous two-tone wool Meowfia seems a lot nicer in our front room than a basket filled with cat toys.
Perdita retains her toys at nighttime gray Meowfia.
Is a Meowfia Proper for Your Cat?
To get a bigger pattern dimension, I threw the subject open to my cat-owning mates. Because it turned out, that they had loads to say in regards to the Meowfia and different felt cat caves, each professional and con.
I discovered that in case your cats like cat caves, they’ll love the Meowfia. It’s thicker than most, and many snug.
Kittens particularly go wild over a felt cat cave. Linda Jordan-Eichner studies that her new kitten, Nut, took to a cat cave instantly.
Older cats, nevertheless, will be skeptical. What one cat finds cozy, one other can discover claustrophobic.
“My cats collapse the cat caves and sleep on prime of them,” my good friend Bob reported. Certain sufficient, I got here into the lounge one morning to search out that the cats had squashed the Meowfia and Zoe was perched on prime of it.
Zoe sits on the flattened cat cave.
Two purchasers of felt cat caves reported they have been troublesome to scrub completely after a cat threw up in them—cold-water washing didn’t get the scent out. My very own expertise with cleansing the Meowfia was constructive: The dense felt is straightforward to hoover utilizing a bit of hand vac. I attempted spot-cleaning an space utilizing chilly water and a cold-water detergent, and the cave dried properly with no signal of any harm.
One good friend, who has Siamese cats, was cautious about felt cat caves usually. She says sure breeds of cats chew on wool, which may trigger intestinal issues. Certain sufficient, WebMD confirms that Siamese cats and Birman cats tend to suck on or eat wool. In case your cat has these points, a Meowfia will not be a sensible choice for them. (Try a non-wool cat cave as a substitute.)
What we appreciated in regards to the Meowfia:
- Lovely presentation. A Meowfia would make an exquisite cat-warming present.
- Top quality. This delicate felted wool made me wish to climb inside it myself.
- It’s straightforward to scrub and to maintain clear.
- The Meowfia might simply deal with two mid-size cats or a gaggle of small kittens.
- Nice colours. Wealthy grays and beiges match properly with streamlined trendy decor.
What we didn’t like:
- Not all cats are considering cave-type beds.
- Felt is probably not a sensible choice for cats who’ve proven a bent to suck on wool.
- Lack of padding. The thick felt of the Meowfia cat cave provides much less help than an everyday cat mattress, so it might not work for an older or arthritic kitty.
Conclusion: The Meowfia cat cave is nice for households with younger cats and kittens, and it’s very best for pet mother and father who need one thing extra enticing than a run-of-the-mill faux-fleece cat mattress. You probably have cause to assume your cats would love a cave, that is the one to go for.
The Premium Meowfia is available in slate gray (with brown stripes), gentle gray (with darkish gray stripes), darkish gray (with gentle gray stripes), asphalt (with aquamarine stripes), and—for individuals who wish to go actually daring—shiny aquamarine with gray stripes. (Simply my opinion, however I feel the aquamarine would look nice with an orange cat.)
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