Pre Release: Cat Shelf Cat Toy

As the final touch for the Cat Perch project we figured we needed some sort of cat toy, so I had the idea to hang a dog tag in front of the shelf. So i put a mouse on one, but one of the staff suggested I put the hospital logo so when anyone takes a picture of their cat, it will have the hospital info on it.

So first engraved the hospital logo (and a mouse) on an anodized dog tag (figured a star shape would be interesting to a cat)

Originally I was just going to use copper wire, but I figured A) it bends and stays bent too easily and B) how is that crazy enough for me to have done it.

So I realized I had a pack of expired sternal sutures… yeah the things we wire your chest back together after open heart surgery. It’s a high grade springy stainless steel.

Then I cut a little escutcheon and engraved a channel into a second plate to hold the wire in place. Behind the escutcheon are a pair of fender washers to clamp the wire. There is a small dab of epoxy over the end where it is twisted to blunt the sharp end.

A stunt kitten was fetched by my daughter who is home from college and loves animals.

OK, the kitten has a 2 second attention span, and the beta test went awry…