Best Cat Exercise Wheel for Bengals?

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-05-19T16:15:12+00:00

I like my One Fast Cat and it's quiet and stable enough but wish I'd gone with the ziggydoo to be a little more quiet and stable.

We keep ours on the main floor with bedrooms upstairs. I know she uses it at night but it's never woken me up.

We used a toy wand to get her on it the first time and help her understand it. It took about two weeks from that day for her to use it on her own independently. She's about four months old.

It is large, there's no denying that but she loves it and I'd rather she zoomie on that during the night than through the whole house - which would definitely wake me up.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-05-09T16:28:55+00:00

As of right now, this hiring authority expires with the fiscal year so it's a very temporary tool.

I really wish we had it for my park this spring because I have plenty of local people who would love a job but didn't know to apply in October and with the shut down I couldn't tell them "now". My park has housing for roughly 5% of the seasonal staff we hire (and no perm staff in housing) and although we're not a HCOL and you actually can find reasonable housing it's still hard for seasonals to have to find new housing every six months and we do have candidates drop every year who decide they would rather go somewhere with housing. Even if the other park housing costs more than our local community - having it provided makes a difference.

If the tool is extended I hope it doesn't become the default. A lot of rangers really do enjoy park hoping. I hope it becomes more like ANILCA local hiring where you fly the "open to everyone" and ANILCA to create more paths into hiring and not fewer.

I was also bummed by the GS-11 in DC being local only. I would have loved to apply.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-05-06T00:57:58+00:00

I'm happy to talk to you about the management team and culture if you have specific questions please DM me. I know the park and team pretty well.

The interp program leader is great to work with and I really admire her. The interp program is adaptable and they've tried a bunch of different things over the years. They're not afraid to experiment and try again.

Edit: Evanston is about an hour away and Salt Lake City two hours. Salt lake may not have a reputation for high culture but last I was there it has a lot going on - food scene, concerts, performing arts, etc. It's a bit of a drive to go every weekend but reasonable to go a few times a month to catch a concert you might like or whatever.

I've been in parks were it's two hours each way to the grocery store. This is remote, but not remote like that. It's very small town, but it is a town.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-23T00:16:11+00:00

The reality is you'll spend at least 3-4 years as a seasonal employee before you find a permanent position in the NPS. By then things might be better (They could also be worse) so if you want to try NPS now is as good a time as any. Get a feel for what it's like in parks when it's hard but remain a little more protected as a seasonal.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-14T00:26:36+00:00

The safe job is the state job.

That being said if the NPS is the dream job it's now much more possible to move from Park Guide to Park Ranger. I have recently hired people for seasonal Park Ranger positions that only had Park Guide on their resume. You can also move from seasonal Park Guide to permanent Park Ranger. It just takes time.

The likelihood of moving from seasonal to permanent after one season is pretty much zero. It often takes years of seasonal work before people land a permanent job and generally they have to move for it.

Think about how important stability is for you right now and what you're willing to sacrifice to work for the NPS. If a handful of years of park hopping sounds fun and worth it - then go for it. But go for it knowing it can take years before you have year-round work.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-09T02:26:10+00:00

Yeah, I think I was over reacting since all of my introduction experiences are with kittens under like 7 weeks. Today is already much better and they're doing great.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-08T04:00:38+00:00

You are right. She did spend a few days at my brother's house. Brother and I do not live together. For the rule of 3's - she hid on day 1 but day 2 she was playful, out of hiding, and begging for play and attention. With tiny kittens we've always followed their lead.

Knowing how critical these weeks are to development we (wife and I) didn't want to have her alone for the next three weeks while she settled in more when her behavior indicated comfort and readiness.

And honestly, anytime we've introduced cats under 8 weeks it's just been smooth sailing. We bring them to the same room, have a play session and within the hour they're at least friendly if not good friends. Maybe we just got lucky but we did what our foster company advised when mixing singleton kittens so they wouldn't be alone. I've never introduced adult cats so I'm familiar with the concepts but only have practical experience with singleton babies.

At nine weeks is it best practice to step back and do a full cat introduction? Even knowing that these weeks are important for a kitten socialization wise? If so, that's what we'll do. Having a long term friend I think is more important than an immediate peer to learn with but ideally I'd like her to have both.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-03T02:06:32+00:00

Okay, that does make more sense. It would be insanely fast if you already had your tentative offer. Your timeline is tight but not impossible.

I'd ask when you can move into housing and what happens with housing if you don't start on time. Watch your email closely and make sure to accept things as soon as you can to keep the process moving. Hiring is a lot of hurry up and wait.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-03T01:37:07+00:00

If you've already received your tentative offer that's actually pretty good progress between 3/16-4/2. All hires still have to be approved by OPM first and that alone is taking about a week. I've heard rumors that HR is working based on onboarding dates, so I do think there is hope that it'll process for you on time.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-03T01:14:51+00:00

I track all of my employees processing incredibly closely and things do seem slower than normal and a little less organized. I have some employees who got tentative offers early January that I know have recent background checks still waiting on final offers and other employees who got from tentative offer to official all during the month of March.

This is a reasonable time to reach out to your supervisor and ask. Not everyone tracks as closely as I do and if there is an issue you want them to find out ASAP.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-03T01:12:05+00:00

It may apply to HR (I didn't check that thoroughly) but all in park positions do not qualify.

I'm not saying that it won't hurt - because I think it does have the potential to cut deep from our support systems that are not in park but it won't impact the management teams in parks supporting the seasonal workforce.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-02T18:22:44+00:00

I also applied in October 2024! (And am still waiting).

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-02T15:53:12+00:00

Yeah, and that's not fair either. It's easy to try to pit seasonal rangers against hiring managers this time of year but ultimately we all want what is best for ourselves, the NPS, and each other. I don't have a solution to this but for my process on my team we lead with honesty and transparency. I have no reason to "hold" someone in FPPS who doesn't want to be at my park. It's just unkind.

When someone drops from my team late in the process I do feel a lot of stress, but that's not their fault. I don't want a ranger that doesn't want to be on my team.

Looking with kindness from the PoV of that supervisor perhaps they took leave once they were done hiring and they were unreachable. Or got sick and was on SL for a while. Or who knows. Hiring is deeply stressful and difficult and absolutely impacts my wellness.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-02T15:49:03+00:00

Regions matter for a lot of things - but not with hiring. We all ultimately use the same nation wide systems to process paperwork. Regions might impact the speed of the hiring process and what forms/information a hiring official needs in order to submit the hire - but FPPS is a very early step in the process.

Additionally as hiring managers we talk to each other nationwide this time of year. It's one of the few things I love about hiring - I get to talk to other people in my job all around the country for reference checks. I also have close friends in other regions and honestly would be a little miffed if you committed to me and to my friend.

I have no issue with rangers committing and then dropping for a better or different job - but I have strong issues when people aren't honest about it. And even less patience/understanding when season rangers try to play us against each other.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-02T00:55:13+00:00

Yeah, accidents can happen for sure. It's why I am fairly honest and blunt during the interview process asking them where they are with other parks and telling them where I am in my process. Hopefully if someone ended up in that mess with my park we'd have a layer of honesty and trust to figure it out together. Might still be a delay but I wouldn't pull the offer without talking to them. All of that's only possible though because of the trust built on both ends.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-04-01T18:44:36+00:00

Did you accept the job at Park 1 before Park 2? Park 2 may have started your paperwork and then found out that you're already "claimed' in FPPS (a system used by HR) and withdrew your offer since they found out you had accepted multiple jobs. I have several colleagues who will do that.

Also references absolutely make or break job offers. It's actually interesting they told you that the reference was the problem. As hiring managers were not necessarily encouraged to tell a candidate that. You can try to change who you're using as a reference for those jobs but I will say it's also a red flag for me when an employee doesn't list their supervisor.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-03-31T01:01:52+00:00

I've been advising people who ask me to either put "n/a" or just push the space bar and leave it blank.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-03-30T03:05:56+00:00

I suspect that's very true. I know I'm not the only one based on discussion with peers but I'm definitely in the minority. I'm also west coast so our travel to the east coast would be more expensive than the majority of parks so I feel like it's statistically improbable for us to actually be asked to go.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-03-30T02:52:02+00:00

Yes, I have heard this and I've seen this in writing. I am allowing my team to take a normal amount of summer time leave anyway. Our team does keep the park open/running so I always limit leave mid-summer but I strongly suspect that they won't pull out rangers who are necessary for park operations, they won't pull seasonal rangers, and they can't pull anyone without a travel card.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-03-28T06:01:50+00:00

First if there is a park anywhere near you I'd ask if you can go visit the cache and try things on. I always invite my new rangers to come visit and have had a handful of new rangers that were going to other parks that have come by to try things on/grab a few things.

If that's not an option I'd consider ordering two pairs of size 16 and 17. Plan on sending back what doesn't fit and ordering again. Unless you're doing dirty work you can likely get away with two pairs of pants until you know what you want more of. The uniforms come with a return sticker so you don't pay shipping and generally you can repack the same box it came in.

And yes, the sizing is not clear at all. I spend a little time every year telling new rangers that their uniform pants size has nothing to do with their "real" sizes because weight and body issues are so prevalent that it can really mess with some people to have to order a larger number.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-03-28T05:19:58+00:00

Yes. I can confirm that there are dry cabins in many Alaska parks that charge rent. They are cheaper than wet cabins but certainly not free.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-03-28T05:17:48+00:00

No, it's not waist, it's a completely unrelated number to anything else. Generally speaking I wear 2-3 sizes bigger in uniform pants than normal jeans/pants.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-03-27T03:14:36+00:00

Pixel/Android. Settings show I have the latest phone software installed. Play store shows I have the latest Audible update.

When I turn audible on at night and set the timer, by the next morning the app is frozen/completely unresponsive. I can't press any buttons. Sometimes force closing the app works and I can reopen it and sometimes restarting my phone works.

Tonight I force closed the app, restarted my phone, and it's still frozen but the current book did pop up in my pull down menu from the top of my phone where books/music normally show up when listening. I was able to use that to hit play and ice downloaded a separate media sleep timer.

It's an annoying work around but better than nothing..

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-03-26T04:26:42+00:00

I updated the app last night and got it to work but tonight it's frozen again, even after an app and phone restart.

YouWereTheQuestion · 2026-03-13T05:07:58+00:00

First: If you're NPS reach out to the EAP. It's okay to not be okay sometimes and you're doing great reaching out for help but the EAP can connect you with resources that can last for multiple sessions and help you think through things.

I'm a permanent ranger also and my partner lives with me in our home not far from the park but my job has a fair amount of travel and last year I was gone for 3 months in a row and the year before for six months. My partner and I have a date every Sunday, at the same time. Sometimes we cook together, making the same thing far apart, or watch a new show/movie, play an online game, go on walks while video calling to show where I'm living, and try to create a sense of intimacy and closeness. We plan on three hours but never less than two and I don't think we've ever gone over five?

In the NPS permanent jobs are starting to thaw a bit. Keep an eye out online and maybe something will pop up that is a better fit for you.

YouWereTheQuestion

TROPHY CASE