Curing Cat Cabin Fever

Build a cat tree for your cat. Start with a floor-to-ceiling beam and add two to three horizontal shelves and at least one box. Cover all with carpet remnants or thick-coiled rope. Placed by a window, cat trees provide a lasting source of exercise and fun, and they make a terrific napping perch. Spend extra time grooming the loose hairs from your cat. These "nesting" months offer a great opportunity to reintroduce routines for which you seem to have run out of time.

Provide a variety of scratching posts that your cat will actually use. Although each cat is an individual with her own scratching interests, many cats enjoy horizontal corrugated cardboard scratchers (available at many pet supply stores) and anything wrapped with sisal rope. Go for a mixture of horizontal and vertical posts, and see which ones your cat likes best. Place these posts in central locations or near any place you've witnessed scratching in the past.