Ike's about a year old. Buffy is almost 4 months old. Ike has been very patient with Buffy, but she's getting too big and rough, so Ikey avoids her at times. Other times, he does things to get her attention. The first time there was a bad thunderstorm with loud thunder and fierce lightning, we heard Buffy crying. When DH got to the door and looked out, Ikey had come out of his Cardboard Penthouse atop the Dog Hut. Buffy had her paws on the step of the Cat Ladder and Ike was reaching down, touching and comforting her. She hasn't cried during a storm since.

I've been told that cats hate the smell of citrus. So orange peels scattered around the garden seems to work. Beyond that, two years ago, I planted hot peppers at various places in the garden (a row of chilli peppers on the outside and a few rows of hot banana peppers in the middle). The cats wouldn't even come near them. While I suppose it would be possible for it to be harmful to the cat, I think most people are missing the point. It's the smell that the cats hate. So, unless you're sprinkling it through their main walkway, I sincerely doubt that it would be a problem. Cats have a pretty keen sense of smell. Chances are they'll get a good wiff of it long before they walk in it if you were particular about where you put it.

Thanks so much for the help! See .. I thought feeding all of those cats out of one big feeder is very wrong too. Thanks for validating one of my concerns. We have the five dogs and there is no way I'd feed them out of one big dish, they all have their own dishes and a few their own eating areas due to when they were strays it caused food aggression issues with other dogs ( not people ). If left to their own being fed out of a large dish, the food aggression dogs would drive the others out and fights would ensue to regain the bowl .. basically everything that's happening to this cat. So, I do blame the people for not getting involved on her behalf. She's an adult cat, my DH ( who had cats as a child ) thinks she's maybe 6 - 8 years old ?? I think right now I'm going to try to get her back into shape, she's eating for me and she seems very content to hang out down here now. As we sat on the porch last night, she hung out on my DH's lap and soaked up the attention. We live in NC and it's been one of the hardest states hit by unemployment, the papers are filled with people giving away their animals. The rescues and humane socities are also filled .. we went through the whole thing with trying to find Daisy ( the Basset my DHbrought home last year ) a home or into rescue and never could, so we just kept her. I'm also going to call and talk to our vet about a dewormer for her, they'll be able to give me an idea how much it would run and if they need to see her first. They are pretty good about giving us a break when the animal is a stray, they did with Daisy and her whole heart worm treatment. Thanks again everyone, hopefully we can get her looking a little better soon :)

Barb, I have sat in a chaise like the Lee one you linked too. Basically it's like being propped up in bed which isn't very comfortable at all with a bad back. I found what I think is a nice alternative at Macy's.com. It's on sale for a very good price too. I've not sat in this since we don't have a Macy's close by, but thought if you did you could check it out. There are other styles out there too that aren't all puffy like what the furniture stores seem to carry. Here is a link that might be useful: Macy's double reclining sofa.