I have gone through several methods for creating the running surface which have ranged from a failure through to very nearly perfect but not quite. Now I have sourced a material which lets me create a perfectly smooth circular track, despite the material cost being very much higher the improvement in smoothness of the surface is worth me paying more for.

I have also invested a significant amount of money upgrading the tools I have to enable me to make them with a much greater accuracy.

So this is the first wheel glued and clamped up, my apologies for the poor quality of the photo but a dusty workshop is not the greatest environment for my DSLR camera so this was snapped with my phone camera.

The hard work has now been done, so next up is the base unit which I do not anticipate presenting any problems.

Keep an eye out for more updates soon

I do not have a great deal of time free just lately, lots of jacket orders and I am supplying the frenzy range of cat toys wholesale to other pet stores via worldwide distributor so finding free time is becoming quite difficult. However, I have recently found someone who is helping out making some of the frenzy refills which is making a difference.

I tried out a few methods of construction for the wheels which failed miserably, but this weekend I tried plan ‘q’ and it was a success. So next step is to get working on the first prototype which will be tested out by a bunch of  Supernova Bengals under the watchful eye of Linda.

The wheel will be different from most (all?) of the wheels currently available in the UK, despite having a wider running surface than the others it will actually have a much smaller footprint. The actual running surface will be 48 inches diameter (internal dimension) by 15 inches wide and will be carpeted to provide comfort, grip and a bit of soundproofing!

I am also looking to add a trip computer to the wheel which will keep track of the max, average and current speed, total distance, trip distance, total time, trip time etc. As yet I do not know if this will be included with all wheels or available as an optional extra but I am hoping I will be able to include it with all wheels.

The final price has not been established as yet but  I am hoping to make them available at under £300 including UK delivery, that is not a promise but I am doing my best

Watch this space for updates or join my facebook group (link on the right)

If you would like to order any of my products including Cat Walking Jackets please nip over to the Happy House Cats Shop

I have a few products available there including quality Da-Bird compatible wands and refills, catnip toys, chopped and powdered catnip.

There are also a couple of special offers – Worlds Best Extra Strength Litter and Feliway Diffuser Refills both at a good price but VERY limited quantities available. You can find them on the Special Offers Page.

For those of you who have already bought products from me you can create an account and leave customer feedback if you wish (Please do)

The items I made for the PDSA are selling quite well too, I will be making a few more shortly

Jacket sales are up slightly as well which has helped a bit.

I made some changes to the website a while back which broke the code showing donations paid/ due. The system which accounts for donations is now and always has been absolutely fine, it was just the code which displays the donations that was in error so every penny donated is still accounted.

Basically the counter was not showing the Happy House Cats donations just customer donations but it has now been fixed and double checked to make sure it is displaying the correct amount.

I apologise for the error and would just like to assure you that it in no way resulted in the PDSA missing any funds.

I have a few new products I am hoping to produce and sell including 100% natural chopped catnip, catnip powder, catnip pillows & fish, catnip kicker toys, catnip playmats,  Da-Bird type wand toys & refills and bungee shock cords for leash walking among other things.

Hopefully I will also be able to build up a number of other items for sale including genuine Flexi extending leashes and a range of other cat toys & products.

This website will remain as a front end where news items etc can be posted, and the shop will be put in a sub domain with links to it on this site.

I am not absolutely sure what I will be doing about the PDSA donations at this time, if I turn the site into a business then I need to maximise profits in order to make a living and currently I make very little on the jackets without matching donations, I am not planning on increasing prices so I may stop the donation match and concentrate on providing free goods to the local PDSA shop. I will decide later on after consulting the business advisor and working out profit margins accurately.

Whatever I decide, I will still continue to support the PDSA in one way or another

So, watch out for future announcements as the new shop gets ready to go live

I had a word with the manager and she said the bags of catnip are selling so that is making a bit more, I am also planning to provide some catnip pillows for them to sell but I have been rather busy the last few weeks working on the new shop site and such like but I will get some made soon

I also took a dozen bags of organic catnip into the shop for them to sell, so hopefully next time there will be a bit more raised (if they sell).