Billy and Annabelle update - Cat Tree

It's been two weeks since the last update, and the news is that Billy and Annabelle are maturing into nice well-adjusted cats. They now greet us with their tails raised, will sniff an outstretched finger, and will subject themselves to being stroked, Annabelle enthusiastically, Billy reluctantly until he remembers how much he enjoys it.

Annabelle has turned into Bella in this household, so that's how we'll refer to her from now on. She's becoming a small, lithe, graceful and cunning sister to her much bigger, clumsier, endearingly goofy brother. Billy's likely to grow to be the size of a panther.

Which is why we've bought them a section of fun-fur and sisal covered rain forest to play on. Here's a photo of the top section of it. It's huge, and we've put it in front of the book case in the living room because there's nowhere else to put it. It runs from floor to ceiling, with platforms to jump up and down from, hammocks to lounge in, tubes to jump through, poles to climb and sharpen claws on, and a cave to sleep in. It's so big I can't get it all in one photo. They both love it.

Bella has developed an obsession with a green feather duster. Here we see her chasing after it. It was originally much more feathery than this, but she's pulled most of the feathers out.

There tend to be two different climbing techniques going on. Billy will hop from platform to platform, collecting magic rings as he goes, while Bella prefers to take a shortcut. She will pick a pole and then shimmy up it until she reaches an obstacle, like the underside of a platform. Then she will twist and turn until she's negotiated the obstacle and then continue up the same section of pole till she's reached her objective.

Bella rests on top of the cave. The cave tends to be Billy's. He'll lie down inside, Bella will hop on top and then they scrabble at eachother. He's also adopted the right hand hammock as his own.

"What do you mean I'm meant to sharpen my claws on the other side?" Bella can be seen just off frame in one of the hammocks. There's a card I drew for Valentine's Day just above Billy's head, from the cats to Linda. It shows the views we usually had of the two cats at that time (only six weeks ago, believe it or not), of single eyes and ears poking out from the side of the page, or a set of back legs underneath a bookshelf.

This is a pose that was unimaginable a few weeks ago. Billy, sitting down right in front of me, having just had his ears scratched and trying to pretend he hadn't liked it.

When not bashing seven bells out of her feather duster, there's nothing Bella enjoys more than an episode of American Dad on BBC Three.