The Cat Who Claimed the Window Seat

When we brought our adopted cat, Pepper, home, we had carefully arranged a cosy bed beside the sofa. She walked past it, inspected the living room and settled on the chair where we usually folded our laundry.

Our small Cape Town apartment had no garden, and we worried that making space for a cat would mean squeezing ourselves out. A large cat tree certainly wasn’t going to fit beside the dining table.

Instead, we moved Pepper’s chosen chair beside a securely screened window. Beneath it, we tucked a cardboard box with a blanket. A scratching post stood beside the sofa, and we found a quiet corner for her litter tray, away from her food and water.

The chair soon became her favourite lookout. We started calling it “Pepper’s office”: every morning, she sat there watching the street while we drank our coffee.

We kept a few toys in a basket and brought out different ones for short play sessions. Some evenings she chased a toy enthusiastically; on others, the empty cardboard box was apparently the better entertainment.

The funniest discovery was that her unused cat bed fitted perfectly under our little coffee table. Once we moved it there, she finally slept in it.

Living together took a few furniture changes and some trial and error. We still fold laundry on the sofa now—but Pepper’s window seat has become one of our favourite corners of the flat.