I know that there are dogs who obsess over blankets and often claim a special one as theirs, but I have had two cats over the decades who have had their own blankets. The first one was Pebbles (1988-2000), an extremely sassy but loveable tortoiseshell who essentially threw hints at me while I was analyzing a knitted afghan project. I had laid out eight knitted squares in front of me and was trying to decide whether to continue, or unravel the squares and start over, when Pebbles proceeded to walk onto the squares and knead on them. The gesture amused me so much that I figured I would stitch the squares together and see if Pebbles would continue with her biscuit making. She indeed did continue to knead on what I later referred to as her blanket, and she would also suckle on the blanket and drag it around while it was hanging out of her mouth.

Whenever I threw the blanket in the washing machine, Pebbles would become quite agitated and would keep meowing at me until the blanket was fully dry and ready for her. I’m not exaggerating when I say that Pebbles’ sessions with the blankets occurred several times daily, up through October of 2000 when she became very ill with kidney disease. She was so attached to that thing! When Pebbles passed away in December of 2000, I put the blanket in storage, and I still have the blanket to this day.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRc1vN5B/

The second cat in my household who has exhibited a keen interest in a blanket is Tenshi, my blue American Burmese who just turned 15 years old on December 29th. Last February, we had an issue with our HVAC furnace, resulting in home temperatures around 58 degrees Fahrenheit (NOT fun). The property owner dropped off a heated throw to help us battle the cold, and Tenshi promptly claimed the throw as his main hangout spot, visiting it on a daily basis. He will knead it every once in a while, but since he isn’t a wool sucker like Pebbles was, he doesn’t engage in that bizarre behavior. The main draw for Tenshi with the heated throw is that it imparts lovely warmth which his arthritic super senior body definitely appreciates. We have even gotten into a routine in which I turn on the throw right when I enter the living room each morning, and Tenshi heads over to it within a few minutes and settles in for a snooze.