Shropshire Star

This former military man is making cardboard tanks for the cats he looks after

Beware the feline army.

Published
Charlie the cat sits in his home-made tank

Good cat sitters will take care of the mog and little more, but great cat sitters make armoured vehicles out of cardboard for their feline friends.

Justin Huegel, 42 from Maryland, was formerly in the military and now manages a network operations centre. Huegel has five cats himself, and that experience is useful to have around when your own cats need looking after.

With that in mind, he stepped in to keep tabs on the whiskered friends of a colleague who was away – but those cats weren’t prepared for what was to come.

“The tank idea started as a joke,” Justin told the Press Association. “I remembered making my (own) cats forts and Christmas trees to destroy, and told her (his colleague) she would return to a house full of the same.

“She actually loved the idea so I thought, why not go for it?”

The idea was in place then, but how was it made and who was the lucky cat who would receive it?

“The cat’s real name is Charlie – I call him Charlie Tuna – and he loves the tank,” said Justin. “I had to work around him the whole time building it because every time I turned my back he was in it.

“I think in all it probably took an hour to make. I just grabbed some boxes, a razor and some hot glue and went to work.

“I was in the military for 21 years and can visualise this kind of thing, despite trying not to really replicate any particular vehicle.”

Charlie Tuna also has a room mate who will be receiving their own tank in the near future, Justin said, and for anybody hoping to make their own, he has plans to help.

“I plan on putting together a little tutorial for anyone that likes to be creative, but it might take me a few days before I can post it,” he said.

If the cats rise up and take over the world with their cardboard vehicles anytime soon, we’ll know who to blame.

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