page_title: Château de Vendeuvre
section_title: Pet pampering
hierarchical_section_title: Château de Vendeuvre / Pet pampering
caption_attribution_description: Cat's bed
context_page_description: The Château de Vendeuvre is situated in the commune of Vendeuvre, near to Lisieux in Normandy. Classed as a Historic Monument both for its exterior and interior, Vendeuvre is a prototypical aristocratic Norman country house. It was opened to the public in 1983.
context_section_description: In a room next to the kitchen is a unique collection of pet-carriers, baskets and kennels. Small dogs and cats were the object of much care and attention, as testified by the refinement and variety of sumptuous places in which they lived, slept and travelled. Some were even provided with bedding matched to the full-sized furniture of the room in which they were placed, others were miniature versions of the furniture, but gilded. Some of the very ornate kennels had three compartments.
  The cat's bed, in the photograph opposite, is à la polonaise with a dais and drawn-up curtains, and was made for one of the daughters of Louis XV of France for her pet. Louis XV himself had a King Charles Spaniel called Filou (Rascal). Its bed was a cushion of crimson velvet and it wore a gold collar encrusted with diamonds. Louis XV said of his dog: “He’s the only thing in the world that likes me for myself”. 
  These small ‘pet-dwellings’ are extremely rare and unusual reminders of times past, when pets were often looked after better than the workers of the estate.
caption: Cat's bed - France, Louis XV period
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