Public holidays.

This past weekend was a long weekend for us here in Australia for Anzac Day. For the first time in years I didn't attend dawn service which I am a little annoyed with myself about, but I did enjoy the sleep in all the same. The weekend was spent in a very lazy mode. I did get to the gym on Saturday for bounce class (aerobics on a mini-trampoline) and on Sunday for a weights class. So I didn't feel completely lazy. Next weekend is also a long weekend for Labour Day - so looking forward to that!

Yesterday afternoon all hell broke loose in our house. I was doing a wonderful thing and purchased a lovely new cushy bed for Max the cat for winter (below). It is made from this a great knitted material - really snuggly. I popped it into the lounge room and all of a sudden Max went crazy - and hasn't really settled since. We let him sleep in our room to try to settle him overnight - which is a big no no in our house.

This morning I picked him up to give him a snuggle and he scratching the living crap out of my stomach and ruining one of my favourite tees in the process. I cannot for the life of me work out why he has reacted so badly to the new bed. I thought it was smell and removed it from the room, but he hasn't really settled since.

I rang the shop where I purchased the bed from and they were dumbfounded as to why he would react the way he has. I asked if there was any chance the bed was returned and had a cat smell to it? Whether there was a chemical sprayed on it that they were aware of? If the dog smell from the dog cleaning service may have an effect? If they had seen similar problems with other customers? But they drew a blank. They told me I could bring it back if I wanted to and they would talk to the manufacturer.

Spoke to our vet and they are also equally flumoxed - they have never had a cat react in this way to new beddding. The only thing they can think of is a dog has laid on it in the shop or something.

Any ideas?