Dear Cherished Feline Design Customer,

I'm pleased to be able to share this news with you today....Feline Design is 30 Years old. Simply put, this company has been out here in Pennsylvania, day after day, year after year, under the same ownership, and outfitting your cats for three decades!

It's a little mind-boggling, to be honest. As with many companies, mine was begun a bit timidly - quite tentatively, to be sure. In a nutshell, it was at a time when my wife & were renting a house a little north of Philadelphia, next to an apartment complex. As you may imagine, there were PLENTY of stray cats around. We found ourselves taking care of a couple, then a handful, and then...well, probably 11 or so. All with names, and all with problems, baggage, nasty infections, diseases.... YOU NAME IT! And so, since we could never bring them all into our house, I began making little houses and shelters for them. And my first little version of a compact cat condo was also created. I called it the "Paw Pad" and at some point in 1986, I took it to some pet stores and sold a few. It was pretty much of a flop, actually, and as I recall now, the repeat business was just not there.

One store owner - guy named Charlie - suggested that I make some scratching posts. So, taking my cue from Charlie, I started producing scratching posts, using, as anyone else would, carpet and wood. They were just good, strong scratching posts. And with all of my youthful energy and intensity, I started to add store after store to my bourgeoning dealer network.

At some point, I began wrapping sisal rope around the posts, and started to specialize in sisal scratchers. My trusty wood cutting guy and a very competent all around mechanical whiz, Bill, designed a couple of machines for me some time in the early 1990's. I still use these machines today, and I often wonder where Bill is. I'm going to need him when they begin to fall apart! Lucky for me, I'm also just handy enough to keep this excellent machinery working. I'd like you to know, though, that Bill had no small part in the creation of your sisal column!

Meanwhile, inside the rented house, we had a few cats who had found their way in. One cat in particular, was Eddie. Eddie was a mutt - a mixed breed. He was certainly part Maine Coon, and he was easily 20 pounds. Eddie had such a playful way about him and was always getting into some mischevious trouble of one sort or another... and he was my cat, to be sure. I was the one who had rescued him from the highest little branches of a very tall tree in a cold, driving rain. And ever since then, I was also his human. Eddie was the one who taught me that a cat needs a solid and stable cat tree - one that'll stand up to a rambunctious critter without falling over. He knocked over post after post! Finally, I arrived at the right formula for something that a big cat would want to use again & again. And I can tell you without hesitation that I owe much of my expertise in this business to my dear Eddie. We had some great fun, some exciting adventures, countless naps, all cuddled up, and many tender moments. One interesting fact about Eddie: He had a few nasty allergies that wreaked havoc on his beautiful fur, and he had bare patches that itched him to no end and were really hard for him to live with. But one day, our very competent vet - also a professor at the University of PA's vet school - concocted a regimen of HYPER DESENTIZATION treatments for Eddie. This meant that we had to give him shots containing small amounts of the substances that he was sensitive to... on a weekly basis, as I recall. This cured Eddie for good. And he soon had his fabulous coat back for good!