I have been busy and have not been taking very many pictures lately so I thought I would dig into the archives once again. This time I found a photo from eight years ago today that I did not even know I had. It is Chris in the bathroom helping my wife get ready.
The time stamp on the photo says 5:01 a.m. It surprises me that my wife was getting ready that early and that Chris was already on the job. It’s possible I forgot to “spring ahead” for Daylight Savings Time on my camera.
There is something about this photo that I really like but I am not sure exactly what makes it special. What do you think?
We usually sit on the bed for a little while before bedtime just relaxing and reading or we catch up on Facebook or play a game or whatever. The cats usually join us at that time. Lately Chris has often been trying to get under the sheets on our bed. The other day he had gotten under the sheet and blanket and fell asleep. I was worried he would suffocate so I tried to hold up one end a little so he would have some air.
Yesterday he started digging at the edge of the blanket so I pick it up for him and he crawled inside. I then pushed the blanket back so he was just under the sheet. This is what happened next.
Floki just can’t resist attacking anything that moves under the cover.
I have a couple of part-time businesses where I make most of my income but work has slowed recently and I ended up with too much free time so I decided to get a part-time job. The person working there wanted to semi retire so it was decided that we would each work 20 hours a week or less, depending on how busy it was. I thought that was perfect for me except there was a problem. The other employee quit the day I started.
That left me working almost full time on top of the work I already had. I had no time to volunteer anymore. I decided to quit my position at the Red Cross and I put the SPCA on hold. After about two months a new person was finally hired and I was able to get Friday off.
There used to be a lot of volunteers at the SPCA but since the pandemic it seems many of them have dropped out. When I signed up for a Friday afternoon shift on Friday morning there were no other volunteers scheduled. That has been common for the last year or so (there used to be two or three per shift) which makes it even more important that I go.
This week the shelter was moderately full. Four of the eight pods had cats in them and about another five or six cats in solo cages. While I was there a few more cats and kittens were added and two cats were adopted.
Many of the cats there were very friendly and wanted attention.
One female cat was friendly but was also being harassed by a young male cat so she would alternate between coming out for pets and hiding. He wasn’t fighting with her but he was doing a lot of growling and hissing.
As much as I like the friendly cats, I feel it is equally important to pay attention to the shy ones, perhaps more important. I think the more attention a shy cat gets the more likely he or she will be less afraid of future visitors and thus more likely to be adopted.
For example, this cat is a two-year-old male named Tony. He was very nervous at my presence at first.
But I slowly gained his trust and before I new it he was rolling around and letting me pet his belly.
Another great thing about volunteering is that sometimes you get to watch kittens play, which is more entertaining than most televisions shows.
On anther note, I am having trouble with Facebook and I can use your help. For some strange reason, Facebook has decided that my blog is a threat to the fabric of society and sharing it could be the end of the world as we know it. Basically they think it is spam. I don’t know why they think that, it’s just a cat blog. I tried to appeal the decision but I don’t think real people work at Facebook anymore, at least not in a customer service capacity.
Can you please copy and past the URL of one of my blog posts and try to share it (the Facebook button below won’t work for this purpose). You will get a message that says “This URL goes against our Community Standards on spam.” Just hit continue three times and then “Disagree with decision.” If you actually agree that it is spammy please let me know what you are seeing so I can try to correct it. Thanks.
By the way, the reason I think real people don’t work at Facebook anymore is because about three weeks ago Facebook sent me a notification that there was suspicious activity on my account and I should change my password. I did that and when I logged in I discovered I was kicked out of Facebook marketplace. I know I did nothing wrong so I explained that I might have been hacked and I got a notification from Facebook that they would review it and get back to me within 24 hours. That was three weeks ago and I still get that 24 hour message every time I click on the marketplace icon.
Today Chris turns twelve years old. In cat years, he is a senior, but he is also like a child and sometimes like a baby who needs to be held. Of course, this is just his estimated birthday. When we adopted him he was about six months old so I just subtracted six months from his Gotcha Day and came up with May 14, 2009.
He has been a part of our family for so long that I just don’t know what we would do without him. Sure, he can be incredibly annoying at times but he is also incredibly sweet and affectionate.
He loved people from the first day I saw him and had no trouble seeking attention from strangers, like my wife the first time she visited him at the shelter.
Chris meets Rose
The above photo was taken almost six weeks before we brought Chris home. Can you imagine a cat as special as Chris being overlooked for so long? I was told he was adopted once and brought back the next day because he was too annoying, but I don’t remember if it was before this photo was taken or after.
Of course, he gave us a lot of trouble too, but we persevered. How could we not? He was so funny to watch. The first thing he did was take over as head cat the day he arrived.
He also constantly threw himself on top of the other cats, much to their displeasure.
Abbey anoyed with Chris.
He still does that today.
Another thing he used to do was get on people shoulders, especially mine.
Other cats would see Chris on my shoulders and they would get on my shoulders too but Chris was a natural at shoulder riding. The other cats always seemed nervous and unstable.
Chris didn’t get his “Bat Cat” moniker for nothing. He gave us plenty of trouble too. It was a constant battle to get him to stop doing things we didn’t want him to do, like get on the counters. All of our cats get on the counters today simply because Chris won the counter wars and we surrendered.
He also started pooping in the tub, at first, and then moved on to pooping outside the boxes. He didn’t always do it but it was enough to where I worried that my wife was going to make me choose her or the cat. I think that went on for four years or more. The solution came on accident when we moved to a smaller home and consolidated our litter boxes in one room, instead of having them spread around the house. It seems if one box was not perfect, he wanted another box right there. He certainly wasn’t going to make the effort to go to another room.
Chris was also good at getting into closets, and still is but he doesn’t care about it as much these days.
This last one was considered for a documentary about cats but didn’t make the final cut, probably because the resolution was not high enough.
Chris was also a champion of getting on top of things that our other cats would not attempt.
I don’t know how he does thisView from below
Many of those behaviors are in the past, partly because of Chris’s age but I think mostly because of his weight. He is what we affectionately call a “carb addict.” He loves his kibble. I try to not give him too much but he wears me down. He annoys the crap out of me when I am working so I give him a little kibble in order to get some work done. I usually do something else first so he won’t associate annoying me with getting what he wants but he is a smart cat and I doubt I am fooling him.
All in all, we have been very fortunate to have a cat that has really touched our hearts the way Chris has. I sometimes think about those people who returned Chris. They just have no idea what they gave up just so they could get a good night’s sleep.
Frankie has been a real pain lately. If you read my post, We’ve Created a Monster, you know it started when Frankie escaped briefly on Thanksgiving and then got worse after I decided to put a harness on him and let him outside.
It seems that whenever we are in the living room, Frankie is there batting at the vertical blinds or digging his claws into the screen. I decided after that post to stop bringing him outside. I thought he would eventually forget about it and stop being such an annoying pest but things don’t always go as planned.
When Rose and Icome home together it is easier to double team the cats to keep them from running out. Chris has always been great at sneaking out the door but we have adjusted to his little tricks. Unfortunately, now that Frankie is aggressively trying to get out as…
This photo was taken eleven years ago on this day in 2010. Alex is on top and Abby, Tigger, and Chris are squeezed together under Alex.
I did a Meme of this picture eight years ago on my blog, Just Fur Laughs, and was surprised I never used it on this blog. This is one of my favorite photos. What do you think?
Here is a post for Throwback Thursday from November 2014. It is when Frankie started going for walks with the harness. It was a difficult begining but now, with a different harness and a better attitude, it is much easier.
Rose’s mom came to visit on Thanksgiving and accidentally let Frankie outside. If you read my previous post, “Frankie’s Big Adventure,” you would know that Frankie is a cat who likes to run and does not stay close to the house. Twice he led us on a wild chase and I fear we will lose him if he gets out again. Fortunately, this time, the three of us surrounded him and Rose’s mom grabbed him as he tried to go under our truck.
That short jaunt outside rekindled his passion for the outdoors and he spent a lot of time that day crying at the door and scratching on the window. I decided this would be a good time to put his harness on him and take him outside. I bought the harness a few months ago but Frankie refused to let me put it on him so I gave up…
Bad Cat Chris 