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…
I decided to dig into the archives and post an early photo that I have not posted before. This is Chris with Tigger on November 23, 2009, nine days after we adopted him. You can see how happy Tigger looks after getting a new little brother.
Chris is now bigger and darker than he was then so he is more like Tigger in this photo.
The other day Frankie tried to get into Rose’s closet. He managed to pop it open slightly but could not get it open far enough to get inside. It was a good effort but the door doesn’t slide easily so I couldn’t blame him for failing. That’s when Chris stepped in. I imagined him saying, “Move aside, let me show you how it’s done.”
I work one day a week in South Tampa and sometimes stop at a Walmart near my job. Several weeks ago I was approached by a friendly black cat as I neared the entrance.
I was at that same Walmart again Wednesday morning and saw the same black cat napping at the door. My first thought was that Walmart hired a security cat that was sleeping on the job. I stopped and pet the cat for a minute before going inside.
I did not know if it was a male or female and thought the cat was either well fed or pregnant. After looking closer at the photo, I think one of the ears is tipped meaning the cat is fixed. I don’t know if Walmart or some of the employees had anything to do with fixing the cat or taking care of her, but if they did then kudos to them.
Here is a post from late 2014 for Throwback Thursday. When we got Frankie early that year Chris was mean to him for several weeks. He then tried to make amends but Frankie didn’t trust him for a long time.
Chris is still hard at work trying to turn Frankie from an enemy to a friend. I am happy to say he has made significant progress these last few months. It is Chris’s behavior toward Frankie when we adopted him that turned Frankie into an enemy and it is now Chris’s behavior that is slowly turning him into a friend.
I was surprised and disappointed in Chris’s attitude when we brought Frankie home but now I am very proud that he is trying to be friends. Just like in the human world, it takes many good acts to erase one bad one and Chris has worked for many months to erase weeks of bad behavior.
They have been laying close to each other for a few months lately but not too close. last week I saw them both napping with Chris’s head against Frankie’s back. I tried to get a picture but…
I took Frankie out for a walk on Saturday. Everything went well for the first ten minutes or so. He did the usual. He smelled some plants, rolled in the grass and sat and listened to the birds.
We ended up near our community’s clubhouse about a half block from home when a nearby car’s alarm went off. Frankie didn’t do anything at first, he just seemed concerned. Then, after a few seconds, he started running.
I should note here that anything other than a very gentle tug on the leash will cause Frankie to turn toward me and then back away with as much force as he can muster. This always leads to him slipping out of his harness, which is extremely easy to put on but not secure when Frankie backs up. Because of that I always try to keep pace with Frankie. If he runs, I run. Usually he hears the sound of my footsteps and that freaks him out a bit so he stops and looks around. That is what happened Saturday when he started running.
After he stopped and looked around, the alarm was still going off so he started running again, and again he stopped when he heard me. By then we were far enough away from the car and the alarm may have been stopped, I don’t remember. I just remember that I thought the running was over so I loosened my grip on the leash. Just then he started running and the leash slipped from my hand.
He was heading straight for home and running at full speed. I tried to keep up but couldn’t. I assumed when he reached our house he would wait by the front door until I could open it. He didn’t. Instead I watched him squeeze through a small hole and go under our house.
He has done that before and it is always a concern but this time it was especially scary to me because he was dragging a leash behind him. I had no Idea how far under the house he would go or what, if anything, the leash might get caught on while he was under there.
When I got home I immediately peeked through the hole and saw he was just sitting there, about three or four feet in. I pulled some bricks away to make the hole bigger and tried to talk him out of there but he wasn’t having it. He seemed nervous, which is unusual for Frankie because he pretty much ignores the vacuum cleaner and barely notices when the garbage truck comes by for our trash.
I fed them a short time before we went out but I thought I might entice him out with some tuna that I bought recently for a special treat for them. I went in the house, opened the can and put it on three plates, because Chris and Floki smelled it and were in the kitchen waiting for some. I put two plates down then brought the third plate outside and put it in front of Frankie’s nose but he ignored it and instead was more concerned with what was happening across the street.
I gave him some time and after about five minutes he decided to come out but his right paw was stuck in the harness. Fortunately he was able to move close enough for me to pull him out. During all that excitement, I forgot to take pictures.
After I put him in the house I went back out and got his plate of tuna. He eagerly ate it all. All’s well that ends well, I guess.
I am not sure how Floki’s bed ended up next to Chris’s, it was probably moved while cleaning, but I thought it was cute seeing the two of them close together but still in their own space.
