My sister-in-law, Felice, has rescued many newborn kittens, including her latest two that I mentioned three months ago in my post, The Kitten Whisperer, At that time, she was raising two more rescued kittens after saving our Miss Luis. She decided to keep those kittens and they are doing well today as you can see from the video.
I thought this picture of Chris was too cute to pass up.
We adopted Frankie on February 8, 2014. When that date came around this year I forgot to mention it so I thought I would re-blog his rescue story.
Saturday Rose and I were discussing Valentine’s Day and she surprised me by saying that instead of jewelry, I could get her a Bengal cat. She then added that a Snowshoe cat would be acceptable too.
We were in the car so I brought up Petfinder.com on my phone but there were very few that met her criteria. The ones that were listed were a fair distance away. They also had photos that were poor and descriptions that were almost non-existent. There was one possibility at the Hillsborough County Animal Shelter but they don’t answer their phones on the weekend and their description on Petfinder did not even mention the age, sex or temperament of the cat. I don’t understand why shelters don’t do a better job promoting their “detainees.”
We happened to be near a shelter called The Suncoast Animal League so we decided to look there. There was a…
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These days, Frankie has proved to be more of a pain-in-the-butt than Chris. Both of the cats are very eager to get outside so coming and going can be a daunting task. What makes Frankie a bigger pain is he will run away while Chris stays close to home.
I had the day off from work on Thursday and needed to get something out of the car for Rose that morning when Chris came out of nowhere and ran out the door. While I was distracted with trying to stop Chris, Frankie ran out the door behind him. Chris usually just rolls around on the driveway or walks to the edge to eat grass so I wasn’t worried about him, but I was worried about chasing Frankie around the neighborhood with my bare feet so I had to run back inside to get shoes.
Chris is content eating grass.
When I returned Frankie was nowhere in sight so I walked around looking for him. I walked around the house and around several nearby houses and finally decided to go home and hope he returned. When I got there, Frankie and Chris were standing in the driveway smelling each other. I took that opportunity to grab Frankie and put him inside.
A short time later Frankie slipped past me again. This time I was able to grab him relatively quickly. It was almost like he wanted to be caught.
Later that day I came home with groceries. Getting in the house while loaded down with bags is always a challenge. I usually open the door quickly and shove the bags in the doorway with hopes that will block someone from escaping. It doesn’t always work and this time Frankie slipped past me and was off. I dumped the bags in the house and took off after him. Fortunately I had my shoes on this time.
This is an older picture of Frankie evading capture because I was not able to get a picture of him this time.
He led me on a good chase and then I lost him. I looked for him for about ten minutes but he was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, I heard a meow and he was standing right behind me, taunting me. I tried to pick him up but he ran and I lost him again. This time he disappeared for a long time. I decided to go in for a few minutes and I opened up a can of wet food and put it in three dishes, even though I only had two cats in the house.
I then went back outside and looked for him again with no luck. I got on my bike and rode around the neighborhood but saw no sign of him. I finally decided I was going to give up for a while and give him time to come home but the sun was starting to get low and I didn’t want him outside in the dark so I took one more walk around to look for him.
This time I saw him about two houses down and walked towards him. When I got close, I could see he was tired and panting and thought it would be easy to catch him but he was not ready to come in. He didn’t run away but he walked very fast. I walked fast too. I didn’t want to run and scare him. Finally after several minutes, he gave up and l picked him up and carried him home. He hissed at me but was happy when we got home because there was food in the bowl waiting for him.
When we can afford it, we want to have a screened area put in at the side door as a buffer zone. Hopefully I won’t lose Frankie before that happens.
This is almost a repeat of last week’s post with Chris and Puck on Rose’s suitcase. She left for a business trip to Las Vegas the Sunday before last. Since her trip was already paid for and since I hadn’t seen my mother and sister in several years, we thought it would be a good idea for Rose to extend her stay and for me to fly to Las Vegas. My mother and sister live near Phoenix and planned to drive, with their husbands, to meet us.
While I was packing, Puck did what cats always do when a suitcase is out, he climbed inside.
Does anyone have a cat that does not do this?
We don”t see many mice around here. This post was from 2013 and I haven’t seen one since. Now we have rabbits outside the house.
I meant to post this two or three weeks ago but I forgot about it until I noticed the pictures on the camera.
Chris and Puck were going crazy at the front window and I walked over to see what they were so interested in. There was a mouse on our sidewalk. It looked like he was eating a bug and he was totally oblivious to the turmoil he was causing just four feet away. I believe it was the first mouse I have ever seen in the wild, if you can call our sidewalk “The Wild.”
After I took pictures of the little guy, he picked up his bug and moved under the bush, even closer to the cats, still oblivious to their presence. This was like eating a steak in front of a starving man. I actually felt bad for them and almost wanted to open the door…
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Even though Chris is a bad cat, he has many good qualities. His affection towards others is a notable one. In the video below, he demonstrates that by thoroughly washing his brother Puck.
Don’t you just love it when your cats get along?
Rose packed a little for her business trip and then left the suitcase in the hands of two very capable guard cats until she could finish the job.
A few weeks ago I was honored to be selected for the Sunshine Blogger Award and I have struggled to find the time to acknowledge it until now. It was given to me by Spence’s Girl who has a great blog that is worth checking out.
While I am honored to receive awards like this, I typically don’t perpetuate them but this time I thought It would be fun to follow the first half of the rules which are as follows:
Thank the person who nominated you!
Answer the 11 questions you were asked.
Nominate 11 other bloggers and let them know they were nominated.
Ask the nominees 11 questions
I am not sure where the Sunshine Blogger Award originated. I tried to find the origin but could not. I did find the Liebster Award to be very similar. So anyway, here are my questions:
What is a fun fact about you, never shared until now on your blog?
I stopped watching television news because it is always too negative. Instead, I get my news from reading headlines on the internet and then choosing what to read, which isn’t much.
Early riser or night owl?
My job has conditioned me to get up early, even on the weekends.
Glass half-empty or half-full?
Three quarters full.
Who is your favorite author?
Warren Murphy, co-creator of the Destroyer series with Richard Sapir. I was friends with him on Facebook but he passed away recently.
What inspires you?
People helping others.
Favorite vacation spot?
St. Augustine, Florida. First went there on my honeymoon and have gone back countless times since.
Peanut butter – crunchy, smooth or peanut allergy?
Smooth but I don’t eat much bread or peanut butter or any more.
If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
Become friends with Mark Zuckerberg.
Sunrise or sunset?
Both but sunset is easier because I’m usually driving to work when the sun comes up.
Are you a multi-tasker, procrastinator or laser focused?
I am a laser focused procrastinator. I think multi-tasking is the fastest way to get nothing done.
What was the last great movie you’ve seen? (theater, rental or streaming)
I’ve seen some pretty good movies but I have not seen a great movie in recent memory. I was hoping the new Star Wars would be it but… not so much.
The second part requires me to give this award to 11 more bloggers,
which I am not going to do because I don’t want to participate in something that is so close to a chain letter, even though it is a positive chain letter. I also don’t want to have to choose who I like better than the rest. I’m not sure I even know myself, everybody has certain qualities about their blog that I like.
What are your thoughts? I don’t want to seem that I am criticizing those who give out the award. In fact, I really appreciate being thought of for the award and I can see how it can be a great way to make people feel good about what they are doing. I just don’t feel comfortable passing it on myself.
Frankie has been having sneezing attacks for a couple of weeks now and I avoided taking him to the vet because I didn’t think there was much they could do about a cold. After about a week he was sneezing less but a few days ago he started sneezing again. This time there was a lot of Phlegm that went with it. It wasn’t long before we had cat snot all over the house.
Sometime late Friday or early Saturday we noticed a little blood mixed with the mucus on a closet door near where Frankie just sneezed. We decided then that a vet visit was required but Saturday was the only day we could bring him so I called Puck’s latest vet as soon as they opened to see if they could squeeze him in. Unfortunately, they were already overbooked and they closed at noon so I had to try another vet.
I called Puck’s first vet and they were able to squeeze him in that morning. I liked that vet but I prefer vets that only use drugs as a last resort.
Chris was fighting with Frankie most of the morning and we even had to lock Frankie in our bedroom while we went out to bring Rose’s car to the shop. When we got home and let Frankie out, Chris started picking on him again so we decided to leave with Frankie a bit early. Rose was able to go with me to the vet this time and she picked up Frankie and put him in the carrier. When she picked him up, he let out a noise that made me think she was hurting him.
After the short drive to the vet we waited about five minutes in the waiting room. Someone brought in a cat in a bunny cage and that got Frankie’s attention.
They then moved us to an exam room and I opened up Frankie’s door but he was hesitant to come out.
When the vet tech came in to look at him she decided to take the top off the carrier and leave him in it.
She had to remove him to get his weight.
Then it was back into the carrier.
They did have to take him out again to take his temperature, (which was 104.4 instead of the normal 102.5) and then back into the carrier again.
I don’t remember her telling us exactly what was wrong with him but I think it is a respiratory infection. She gave him a steroid and an antibiotic and sent us on our way.
I am starting to see a pattern here. Almost every vet I have been to solves almost every condition with steroids and antibiotics. I’m not sure what the point of going to veterinary school is if all problems are caused by a steroid and/or antibiotic deficiency. After they learn that, what do they do with the rest of their time?
Bad Cat Chris 