Monthly Archives: June 2012

The Anti Chris

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Flash – RIP

Sadly, in April of 2010, we lost Flash at barely five years old. He had succumb to multiple health problems that caused him to stop eating. We might have caught the problem earlier but Flash has always had periods where he would act weird and hide for a week or two before returning to his normal behavior, which was slightly less weird. We noticed his weight loss on a Friday and arranged to bring him to the vet when they opened Monday morning. By then there was nothing that could be done.

Princess

I don’t remember exactly when or why, but close to the same time that we lost a cat, we gained a cat. Our oldest cat Princess, who was living with Rose’s son, was returned to us. This brought the cat count back up to five. Chris, who was used to dominating the other cats, was now presented with a cat who, for some strange reason, was untouchable. Chris would basically avoid her like a telemarketer as he continued on to more easy prey…like Tigger or Abbey.

Princess was easy to understand though. She was a spoiled bitch who hated everyone but people and wanted nothing to do with other cats. I think Chris understood this right away, or perhaps princess stood up to him and showed him that she was not the cat to bully.

Abbey

Abbey, however, was complicated. She was very shy and alway ate her wet food or kitty treats away from the other cats. This is because Chris or Tigger would eat theirs fast and then eat Abbey’s food. When that happened Abbey would walk away and then come back when every one was finished, hoping for some leftovers.

Princess hated abbey and would hiss and growl every time Abbey was near, but shy, timid Abbey would stand her ground around Princess. I think sometimes she would move in closer because she knew Princess hated it and then look around like nothing was happening. Chris played it safe, for a change, and stayed away.

Everybody Loves Chris

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Chris has always had a way of endearing himself to people. Perhaps this is because those people do not live with him. It is like the grandparents who are happy to play with the grandkids and equally happy to give them back to the parents just before they get tired and cranky. Equally like grandparents, when we say they can take Chris home, they always refuse. I think if we want to give him away we have to stop telling people about his bad side.

Of course, we would never give him away because he has endeared himself to us just like he does to everyone else. We also know that nobody but us could handle him for more than a few days.

Chris is not a shy cat and will always introduce himself to new people. Sometimes he will follow them around like a puppy dog. This is especially true when someone comes in when we are not home. A guard cat he is not!

Shortly after we adopted Chris we had a leaky faucet that needed to be repaired. Since Rose was the manager there, she sent one of her maintenance techs to fix it. He later reported that Chris was with him the entire time. He even climbed on top of him when he was under the sink trying to work.

You would think people would be annoyed at that kind of behavior but I think it is so unusual that people can’t help but be amused.

I’ll play nice with the baby only until it’s my turn.

What’s in a Name?

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Chris was the fifth cat that we got from a shelter. The first four came to us with names we didn’t like so we changed them. We waited until we knew their personalities and then named them appropriately.

Alex and Abbey were originally Sloan and Stirling. They seemed rather calm and refined so we thought Alexander and Abigail would fit them.

Then there was Ernie and Dooley. What? Those had to go. Ernie became Tigger because he was always bouncing from place to place. Dooley became Flash because when you tried to pet him he was gone in a flash.

Chris is a fine name for a person, I named my son Chris, but it seems odd for a cat. We decided to change it. We went back and forth on several options and finally after a month we decided on Rudy, because he is so rude.

Somehow that just didn’t stick because we were just used to calling him Chris by then. Rose did come up with a nickname for him: Bratboy. Strangely we call him that when he is being good. Mostly we are yelling, “Chris! Stop that!

Chris resting after investigating box.

Everythig is okay here. Now you can put up the Christmas decorations.

Tub Pooper C

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Chris had a few minor medical problems when we brought him home. Rose said it was common for shelter cats to have issues so we waited to see if they would clear up. The first problem was with his eyes, Especially with his left eye. He seemed to sometimes not open that eye as wide as the right one. He also seemed to always have what we call “eye boogers.” It is like dried up mucus in the corners of his eyes.

We seemed to be constantly cleaning his eyes. Eventually the problem diminished but it never really went away.

This is Chris a couple of days after his adoption. Notice the “eye booger” and the partly closed left eye.

Of course we were not lucky enough to have a cat with one problem. He also had a very loose stool, almost like diarrhea and he seemed to always be pooping. He would poop and then five or ten minutes later he would poop again. The funny thing was, he cried when he had to go. Actually, I don’t know if I would call it a cry, more like an announcement.

Unfortunately, he started pooping in the bathtub. Imagine the joy of coming home to that. The pattern seemed to be that he liked an absolutely clean box and he would use the tub if that wasn’t the case. This was a problem because he would poop once in the box and then have to go five minutes later but not want to use the box with poop in it.

We had to start monitoring the boxes very closely and clean them when they were used. Even that only worked so well because sometimes he would poop in a used box and sometimes he would poop in the tub when the box was clean.  Fortunately he would always pee in the box.

We started listening for the announcement and when we heard it would pick him up and put him in the box. This worked sometimes but not always. It was like potty training a two-year old.

Eventually we started filling the tub with water. This worked for a while but we had to remember to keep water in the tub. After awhile, he started pooping on the floor next to the toilet. This was a game changer. Now the water in the tub was useless and since the tub was easer to clean, we gave up on that idea.

The best thing about having Chris around is that he keeps us entertained. We were even able to find something funny about his pooping. We started calling him Tub Pooper C in reference to Grand Master B from Married With Children.

There is more to this pooping problem that would be better told in future stories. I hope you will join me. Next time I will tell you about Chris’s name.

Chris Takes Over

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It wasn’t long before Chris made himself right at home. He established himself as the alpha male from day one. I must admit that It surprised me that our other four cats let this little, skinny kitten completely dominate them.

Tigger was the alpha cat. We called him the Accidental Alpha because he was more like Baby Huey and would force himself into situations more out of ignorance than intention. Chris, I believe, wants everyone to know he’s boss.

He seems to have a dual personality. One minute he will attack some random cat, the next minute he slides himself in next to them and expect some affection or a bath. If these were people, every one would hate him, but cats are very forgiving.

When it comes time for treats it is no different. He will abandon his treats and eat those of another cat. I am never sure if he is being greedy and wants them all or if he is not totally happy with what he has and thinks the other ones are better. He is not a big eater so I would assume the latter.

Next time I will tell you about his poop. Bet you can’t wait for that.

Chris getting comfortable on his second full day at home.

The Great Escape

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We discovered right away that Chris was not going to be content as an indoor cat. Not long after we brought him home, I opened the front door to come in and he raced onto the third floor breezeway. I wasn’t concerned at first because I assumed he was unfamiliar with stairs and his hesitation to go down confirmed that…or so I thought.

As soon as I tried to pick him up, he shot down the stairs, barely pausing on the second floor before racing to the ground. I set the groceries I was carrying in front of the door and gave chase. When I got to him investigating what was in the bushes, he saw me and ran off to the side of the building.

I was eventually able to catch him and struggled to carry him back upstairs. He was fine until I got halfway up the stairs and then he was determined to jump free.

We had a small patio that I had rigged with screening so the cats would not be able to jump down. It was a fairly long way down and I did not want any of them to get hurt. I also did not want to lose any of them. Shortly after Chris’s first foray outside, he was on the patio one morning while Rose and I were getting ready for work. Rose heard a cat crying outside in the distance and thought a cat was in distress. It was too far away to be any of our cats so I went outside to have a look.

When I got downstairs I saw a gold cat crying to get inside the apartment two floors below. There was a bowl of water next to him so obviously this cat belonged there, but I was amazed at how much he looked like Chris. As I got closer, I realized that it was Chris. How did he get outside and why was he desperate to get into the wrong apartment?

Later that day Rose talked to the woman who lived on the first floor and the pieces of the puzzle started to come together. I can only think of one way he could have escaped the patio. He must have squeezed his body, like a cockroach, through the impossibly small opening under the railing and then jumped to the ground. I only know this was possible because I saw him squeeze under our dresser the first day we got him. We had to pull a drawer out to get him out.

Chris on patio – notice the small opening under railing – Photo taken two days after we brought him home.

Once on the ground, and probably after a thorough investigation of the area, he must have assumed his home was on the first floor so he cried to come in. The women living there opened the door and Chris ran in like he owned the place. She said he ran around the living room in apparent distress. He was probably wondering how we changed the furniture so quick.

She opened a can of tuna for him, hoping that would calm him down, but he wasn’t interested. Eventually she put him outside with a bowl of water. That is where I found him.

He has since turned out to be a great lover of the outdoors which is a shame because he is an inside only cat. Occasionally he gets out but those are stories for another time.

Who Needs Sleep?

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The first night with Chris was rough. Actually, every night for the last two and a half years have been rough, but we were not prepared for Chris at that time.

Normally our cats would gradually filter into our room at night and congregate on my side of the bed, eventually taking up about a third of the space, That was the biggest problem we had no deal with. Suddenly, we had a five and a half month old kitten who loved to bite. It did not take long to realize why he was returned to the shelter.

He would not sit still. If he wasn’t laying accross my neck and biting my nose, he was laying on top of Rose’s head and biting her ear. Rose used to tell people jokingly, “You can wear him as a scarf, you can wear him as a hat…” If the face biting wasn’t bad enough, he would see our toes move under the sheet and attack them. Ouch!

Removing him from the bedroom wasn’t an option because he would cry at the door and worse, dig at the carpet. It was very rough for a while getting enough sleep. Even today, on his best day, he wakes us up at 5:00 a.m.

We tried every thing we could think of. I tried putting something in front of the door so he couldn’t dig at the carpet but then he would come around into the bathroom, which had two entrances, and cry and scratch at the door relentlessly. I would have closed the second door but the litter boxes were in there.

We tried pulling the blanket over our heads so he couldn’t bite us but then it was like a game to him and he would work at digging his way in. I even bought a tube of calming gel but using it on Chris was like trying to calm a hurricane by blowing in the opposite direction. Eventually I felt like my marrage could be in jepordy if I couldn’t find a way for us to get enough sleep.

Day two – Chris attacks stuffed animal

Chris Comes Home

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November 14, 2009, a day that will live in infamy. That was the day we decided to bring Chris home. We made that decision even after knowing that Chris was adopted by another couple two or three weeks earlier and returned the next day because he kept them up all night with his biting. This is like buying a car after finding out it was in a wreck.

We got to the shelter and visited with Chris one more time before making the final decision. Of course, it wasn’t much of a decision because we brought a cat carrier with us, fully expecting that it would come home with a cat in it. We had no trouble putting him in the carrier. We just opened the door and he walked right in. He also gave us no trouble on the way home. I think he was ready for an adventure.

When we got home the other cats were not happy. They hissed and growled at Chris but it did not seem to bother him much. Unlike Abbey and Flash, who hid under the bed the first day, Chris went exploring. He investigated every nook and cranny of his new home. He also stayed clear of the other cats for a while, but that did not last long. Soon he was jumping on them and biting their necks. I’m not sure if he was trying to establish himself as the alpha cat or he just wanted someone to play with.

Next time I will talk about the first night. Stay tuned…

Chris getting comfortable with Rose on his first day home.

Updated 02/18/2015: This is a video of Chris exploring after his adoption.

Decisions, decisions

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Volunteering at the Sav-R-Cats shelter was nice because I finally felt like I could be useful and help get cats adopted. My primary job was to photograph the cats and put them on petfinder.com. That was difficult at first because it had been awhile since anyone had done it and nobody knew the username, password and other important information. Eventually I got that working and I also revamped their website, sav-r-cats.com.

Rose came to visit the shelter a couple times and took interest in a cat named Kinsey. He was a very friendly cat that would jump onto the shoulders of visitors to the shelter. It was as if he was saying “adopt me” to anyone who would listen. We would have taken him in but we were not ready for another cat.

Kinsey

Eventually I started filling in at the Myrtle Beach Petsmart in the morning when they needed someone to clean the cages. They had cats in there on a rotating basis with two other shelters in the area. The cages at Petsmart have small openings between each “cubicle” on the same row. These opening can be shut so the cats are separated from one another or they can be opened to allow multiple cats to visit with each other and share the space. The later is how it was set up one morning when I let all the cats from one row out while I was cleaning.

Not much time had passed when I suddenly felt sharp claws digging into my back. It was a gold kitten who had jumped straight up from the floor to get on my shoulders. He was purring and licking my ear. He then started biting my ear and rubbing his face on my cheek. He then moved around to my nose and started biting my nose. I later found out his name was Chris and told my wife about him when I got home. I thought she would be interested because since getting Tigger, we had discovered that gold cats seemed to be friendlier than average.

Not long after that, around the beginning of October, Rose came to the shelter to visit Chris. He did not disappoint and showered her with attention like he did to me that first meeting. Alas, we still were not ready for another cat, partially because we had a cruise coming up.

Chris meets Rose

Not long after we returned from the cruise, Rose had to go to Alabama to attend a meeting. While she was there, I was at the shelter for another reason and was again warmly greeted by Chris, who seemed at the time like he was a relatively good cat. If only I knew then what I know now… Who am I kidding? I would still adopt him but I not so sure Rose would. Anyway, while I was there, someone used my phone to photograph Chris and I, which I sent to Rose with the message “Can we keep him?”

Can we keep him?

I believe the response was in the affirmative but I wanted to wait for her to see him once again and share in the decision, just in case it was a bad one.

Rose got home from her trip on Friday, November 13 and the next day we went to the shelter to make the final decision. Next time I’ll talk about the big day. I hope you will join me again.

Life before Chris

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Before I tell you about Chris, I feel I need to describe our circumstances that led to his adoption. I guess the best place to start is with another bad cat, Holly.

My sister-in-law is a cat lover who works at a vet and has adopted several wayward cats along the way. One cat, Holly, stands out among the others because of all the trouble she is constantly getting into. Whenever we visit there, my wife, Rose, would get a kick out of Holly’s antics. We would always joke that we were going to take her home because she is such a character.

Holly investigating Gifts

Of course, we were not serious because we had five cats of our own. The oldest cat princess we got as a kitten around 2002. She was part of a litter of feral cats and somehow had most of her tail ripped off. Rose felt bad for the tailless kitten (with fleas) so we took her in. She turned out to be an affectionate, but demanding…cat.

Princess

The next two cats, Abbey and Alex, who happen to be brother and sister, we adopted in 2005 when they were about a year old. Alex was a very friendly cat who liked everyone and Abbey was very shy but affectionate, once she got to know you.

Tigger and Flash came next. Tigger was adopted by Rose’s mom but the shelter called the next day wanting him back because his brother could not be separated from him. Since her mom was not ready for two cats, we took them both. Tigger was a very friendly kitten but his brother, Flash was extremely nervous. We named him Flash because when you tried to pet him he was gone in a flash. He did eventually warm up to me but he stayed nervous around strangers.

Clockwise from left: Abbey, Flash, Alex and Tigger

In the summer of 2009 my wife got a promotion and transfer from Florida to South Carolina. Princess stayed with Rose’s son, Nick and the other four went with us. I had some difficulty finding a job there and when I did it was part-time. I worked about 30 hours a week depending on demand and decided to Volunteer my extra time.

I started at the Myrtle Beach Humane Society. They needed dog walkers and people to let cats out of their cages for exercise. I decided to help with the cats but soon realized it was like spitting in the ocean. They had over 200 cats, most in small cages by themselves. If that wasn’t bad enough, we were only allowed to take one cat out at a time and it seemed only a small percentage would get out of their cage on any given day. I felt bad leaving there because they really needed the help but I needed to do something more meaningful.

My neighbor volunteered at a place called Sav-R-Cats so I decided to give that a try. The Sav-R-Cats shelter was quite smaller than the Humane Society and a bit disorganized but I liked the fact that the cats were in much bigger cages and most were let out during the day to play with each other. Many cats did not even have cages and were left out 24/7. It was here that I was able to actually contribute and it was here that I would meet trouble with a capital C.

Sav-R-Cats shelter

Next time I will talk about my first encounter with Chris and how we ended up adopting him.