🎄 Marksville's Cat House Dazzles for Christmas! 🐱✨

Christine Robichaux of Marksville loves her cats so much she has a special cat house for them. And because she loves her herd of cats a whole lot she decorates the cat house. Like right now it's all decked out in Christmas finery with lights and anything else a cat would like at this time of year.

The cat house materialized about a year ago when Gary, her husband, decided Christine's cats needed their own place and NOT his outdoor kitchen and NOT his tool shed, where they had been camping out.

“We didn't have a gazebo,” she began, “we had a 'square-bo' which wasn't being used, so we took the foundation and Gary, and son Travis built a 10x10 house.”
They also built a porch on the front, painted the door red, and gave it a pitched roof and a tall-enough ceiling so when a human is visiting they don't bump their head.

Needless to say, the five cats love it.

“Originally there were seven cats but I lost two,” Christine said. “The last one added was a young female and the rest accepted her. After that they told me, 'no more!'”
Yes, you read correctly, the cats, all male, told Christine they did want any more cats in their well-established domain.

“I tried but they just won't tolerate another cat. They're just happy with their family.”

The house has its own vacuum cleaner and is fitted with water and a sink because Christine washes the food bowls besides other things. The feed is stored in a cabinet and there are two litter boxes that are cleaned daily.

There are windows for the cats to sit and look out, a cat tree to scratch, a shelf and cat beds.

There is no assigned bed for a certain cat. Christine explained,

“They might start out in a certain bed, there could be one or there could be two in a bed; by the morning that could all change.”
Then she added, “sometimes I'll find them with their arms around each other.”

According to Christine,

“Everything is on rollers to move out so the house can be cleaned, it does get muddy and cat litter gets spread all over,” she commented. “It's so much easier to keep clean than when they were in the shop.”

The cats all have their own personality besides physical characteristics.

“Abby is the gray one, I call him the Mayor,” Christine said. “The orange one is Reree and he's the most laid back cat. He loves everyone. CC is the largest cat with blue eyes that are crossed. Oscar is black and white and is my hunter. Tux is my only little girl and rules the house. She's small but mighty.”
The cats range in age from 10 years down to five years, are mixed breeds and rescues.

If you thought cats can't be trained, Christine calls them at night to put them in their house and they do come. Well, except one who plays catch me if you can.

She has always had a cat “ever since I was a kid.” It's been a way of life for her because she is an animal lover. She knows when she has to leave the cat's feed out another animal might come to eat it but Christine is okay with that.

“Feral cats come because they're hungry. I don't mind if a feral cat or a raccoon eats the food.”

Her original three cats were something special, Christine explained.

“I took them wherever I went.”

The cat house is currently sparkling with Christmas lights and more lights. And did I mention lights? There's a Santa on the roof and a decorative flag. Lights border the walk. It's a sight fit for a….well…. a cat!

But wait, there's more. Christine decorates the cat house for Mardi Gras, Easter, July 4th, Halloween and has cat flags for any other holiday in between.

Do the cats like all the décor? Go ask them, I'm sure they'll tell you.