undercover dumpster divers

Last week, everyone put out their trash for Thursday pick-up (even though it was a holiday - no trash service 'til Friday! Ha!) and when we were taking Ruckus out for a walk, we spied our neighbor's offering to the Garbage Gods and lo and behold, there were cat climbers!

We snuck back over there later to get a better look (usually if stuff is tagged for bulk pick-up, it's total crap) and these were in pristine condition! There were three, in varying sizes, the largest of which was gigantic. These types of cat climbers are very expensive and while I love my cats, I never quite have the bucks to spend $200+ on one of these climbers. Lucky for our guys, someone else was done with them!

Ryan and I snuck out later that night and decided to take the middle-sized climber. We ran out there quickly and grabbed it and ran back to the house. Why is it so embarrassing to take something from the trash? I mean, I'd much prefer that these things find a good home, rather than end up in a landfill... but still, I feel creepy about taking trash. So we snuck under the cover of darkness and scored an awesome find for the kitties!


It's even a corner-piece climber, which is awesome. At the moment, it's just in the hallway, in front of the linen closet, but after we re-arrange the living room, it'll have a permanent place. This thing is actually really nice and barely used. There is only one spot that has any wear, and even that is lightly scratched - the carpet pieces are still pristine and white. My cats can't wait to wear it in! I think the reason it was out with the trash is because the cat didn't use it (see! That's what happens when you spend hundreds of dollars on a cat climber!). But, when it's free, the cats somehow love it. Both of them have been up and down and fighting over who gets to sit up in the top spot (it's about 4 feet off the ground, which is awesome if you're a cat).

In fact, at our last apartment, we also found a cat condo out by the dumpsters (the first of the month was always interesting and a great place to find miscellaneous stuff that folks didn't want to move) that stood about 5 and a half feet off the ground and Ruckus and Monkey loved it. They'd constantly brawl over who got to be "inside" and who was on top. Ruckus would usually steal the inside spot, so Monkey was always the top bunk.


We still have that condo, too, but it's in the garage because those two beat it all to heck and it's so fugly now that I don't want it in the living room. But when the cats play in the garage, they still climb all over it.

See? It just goes to show you... dumpster finds are the best finds.