My beloved cats, majestic and epic cats

My big Norwegian forest cat and his indoor resting places

Mats Bengtsson mib over the years

My Norwegian forest cat had many indoor resting places

Simon was a big white Norwegian forest cat. He had a number of resting places which were his own. In the end, the most important of Simon's resting places came to be his basket.

This white Norwegian forest cat was big. Forest cats tend to be big and with long hair. And they are said to be very smart, which fits well on Simon. He had his own office chair in my work room, which was a little too small for him. He slept on a low lid on my work table just in front of me when I was working at home. He had his own mat in the lower hallway. He had his own mat in Filip's room. He used our carpet in the upper hallway. He did have an inside nice cat house, actually a dog house to give size enough, but he almost never used it.

A forest cat is still a bit wild and a predator

Simon, being a white forest cat acting like he was in the wild, liked to have overview of the surroundings. The Norwegian forest cats has not been domestic long enough to loose their instincts. Being high, being hidden, having the back free, is still in the back of their mind. When I was at home my forest cat would often turn his stomach up. He was quite sure of himself also when outdoor. The view of a white forest cat sleeping outdoor in the open half in the sun, or if we were out even on the back, was a common view. But in spite of that, hiding in a confined space was something Simon would want to do, specially when he was to sleep for real. For example in the cellar, hiding in the cozy space created by a cabinet standing on a bed with some pillows cornering it, invisible from all directions but one. When hidden like that, he would not come when I called. He would come a minute later, when I had gone, so he did not give his hiding place away. Since he had lots of long white fur, it was easy to figure out his places anyway.

Cats, not the least Norwegian forest cats, like confined spaces

A forest cat has a lot of long fur. That was one of the reasons Simon liked being on top of my computer, just to the right of my leg. It was a perfect location for him. Close, easy to demand more attention with a paw. But also warm and well fanned. All at once. There was one time of the year when Simon would be frightened, and that would be new years eve during firework. Then the big white forest cat would hide. He would lie down behind my computer in the work room, in the corner of the room.

Simon trying to press himself into a cardboard crate that has no chance to hold the big white norwegian forest cat.On top of the above mentioned permanent resting places, whenever we got something in a cardboard crate, we would immediately have a Norwegian forest cat demanding the crate as his latest find. Simon directly tried it out to sleep in. We could often easily see it was too small. But this forest cat had different views of his size. If he met a dog, he considered himself enormously big and did not give way. But if he tried to squeeze into a small box, he considered himself very small, although the box would give in quickly. The smaller the box he managed to squeeze his big furred body into, the more he liked it. But it normally did give way. When this 8.5 kilo Norwegian forest cat pressed himself into the walls of a cardboard crate, it normally did not last more than a day or so. If it did, he would grow tired of it within a couple of days.

That would not prevent Simon from trying whatever crate that was brought home after that. And big crates, big enough for being used when moving, they held. However, they were not that confined if I did not place them between things.

Then came the day when Simon found this basket. We did not even think of it as a suitable place for him. But he did. And from that day, he kept using it. We did realize this was special, and placed it in the best spot for him in the house outside my work room. He kept using it until he died, in fact, Simon died lying in it, a familiar place for him, even at the hospital.

Simon did also have many resting places outside. I do not think I know all of them, but I do know most of the ones around the house. For him, the key was to be close to where we were, not to be in a special place. Simon would often move around the garden together with us, even follow on walks. So we did see him both come out and go into his outside rest places. Simon was very friendly and very present. Whenever I went out, he would always come forward to great me, until the last year, when he sometimes stayed lying, and I instead had to go to him and pet him before leaving.

 

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