Floki is always around for bed making and laundry folding events.
Who else likes fresh laundry?
Photo Friday: King of the Laundry Hill
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Author Archives: Charles Huss
Frisky Cat Cafe in Saint Augustine, Florida
My wife and I spent a few days in St. Augustine earlier this week. We decided to go there instead of Nova Scotia, where we planned on going until COVID put an end to that idea. If anyone is looking for a good place to go on vacation, St. Augustine is a great choice. If you do decide to visit St. Augustine, be sure to plan a visit to the Frisky Cat Cafe. You won’t regret it.
I noticed it in passing on Wednesday morning as we were heading to Tuesday Morning. Our destination was not important but in this case it sounds funny to say it. I suggested to my wife that we check it out later and on the way back we did just that.
The place is located in a retail plaza at 1092 S Ponce De Leon Blvd. It must be fairly new because when I looked on Google Street View it wasn’t there.
Inside there is a cafe that sells coffee drinks and pastries. I’m not a big fan of pastries so I just got an iced coffee.
The cats are in a separate room and there is a fee of, if I remember right, $10 for an hour-long visit. The fee is like a donation that helps pay for the care of the cats. We paid for our coffees and for the visit and went into the cat room. A reservation is recommended but we came at a good time and didn’t need one. If you do decide to go make sure they are open first. I believe COVID has limited their hours somewhat.
It was well designed for both kitties and humans. I especially like what they did with plain cardboard boxes. I want to do that in my house but I don’t have the room.
The barista soon brought us our drinks and during the course of our visit, we had a chance to talk more about the Kitty Cafe. It turns out she was not just the barista but also the founder of the cafe and the organization that it helps, Small Lives Matter Kitten Rescue. She told us that they help pull cats and kittens from high-risk kill shelters. The ones that are sociable go to the cafe where they can be adopted. The ones that are less sociable will go to Petsmart where they will get noticed more easily.
I do think that having one or two shy cats in the cafe is actually a good idea becase a shy cat in a group of outgoing cats sticks out like a sore thumb. This calico, for example, was somewhat shy and the girl that was here before us was planning on adopting her.
I checked out the cafe’s website and their about page says this:
We are a cause-focused business, which means that our business operates in order to support our cause to save the lives of homeless cats and kittens.
The cat experience fees enable us to pay for housing, medical care, spay and neuter surgeries, food, and supplies for these cats that are looking for a home for life. Using a cat café business model allows us to support Small Lives Matter Kittens Rescue and their work. This partnership provides the rescue with a full-time foster home where the cats may stay and provide the funding to pay for their care.
We need visitors and we will fail without your support.
When we were there, there were mostly kittens in the cafe, which makes sense because it is a kitten rescue organization. Many were very playful.
Some were resting.
Others were just hanging out looking cute.
One little girl paid so much attention to my wife that she decided she wanted to adopt her. The only problem was that we were not only hundreds of miles from home but our next stop was Melbourne to visit Rose’s Dad. It just wasn’t possible to bring a cat with us.
While we were there we enjoyed a few laughs too. How can you not with a room full of kittens?
I think the funniest thing was the interest that the cats showed in my coffee.
It was as if they were addicted to coffee and this was a coffee rehab center.
Another funny incident happened when one of the kittens noticed the cat food container was left open.
Soon, others took notice.
After a good long visit we said goodbye to the kitties and went back to our hotel, but the visit remains one of the highlights of our trip.
If you are planning a visit to St. Augustine I encourage you to visit Frisky Cat Cafe. If you can’t visit, perhaps you will consider a small donation to help them out. If you click here it will bring you to their donation page.
What do you think? Would you visit this place? Have you visited another cat cafe. I’d love to hear what you think.
Photo Friday: Classic Three’s a Crowd
Here is Tigger, Chris and Alex ten years ago on this day in 2010.
I’m sure Tigger and Alex were napping peacefully when Chris dropped himself in the middle.
I might as well show the other two photos I took that day.
Judging by the photos, Tigger was very happy that Chris showed up.
Photo Friday: Shelter Kittens
When I started my shift last Friday at the SPCA, I noticed there were over 25 kittens there. That was the most that I have seen at one time. I took several photos but the kittens were very busy so it was hard to get a good shot. Fortunatly, these two were resting at the right time.
Everybody loves kittens so I am sure they have been adopted by now. It is the older cats that I worry about. Some have been there for too long and need a home.
Happy Ginger Cat Appreciation Day
Chris and Frankie want everyone to know that today is Ginger Cat Appreciation Day.
But who doesn’t appreciate ginger cats?
Another Change in Our Meal Plan
Chris’s addiction to kibble has always been a real problem. I have not eliminated kibble because he eats very little wet food, even when faced with starvation. Instead, I buy the highest quality kibble that I know of, a brand called Rawz, and try to keep it to a minimum. I have also been giving them homemade raw cat food twice a day that I make using chicken and a premix from a company called TC Feline.
The problem has always been getting Chris to eat the homemade food, or any wet food. I usually give him about half of what I give Frankie and Flokie, who both love the homemade food, but typically he only eats about half of what I give him before one of the other cats come and take it away from him. Sometimes he leaves his food before anyone shows up and I have to follow him around with his plate. I might also put some on my finger and feed it to him like a baby. That usually works once or twice before he turns his head and refuses to look at my finger.
Not long after I feed them, Chris is hungry and wants dry food but the bowls are empty, so he lies down next to the bowls and talks to anyone that will listen.
My wife and I joke that he is “holding vigil at the food bowl.” When this doesn’t work he comes and annoys me in hopes that I will give up and put food in his bowl. Sometimes it works.
Lately he has been eating even less of the homemade food. Sometimes he wouldn’t take even one bite. I did not want to stop giving them the homemade food because it is the healthiest option and Frankie and Floki love it, but I did want Chris to eat something besides kibble, so I decided to split the difference. I decided to give them a can of food in the morning and the homemade food in the afternoon.
Since Chris is also picky about canned food I decided to go back to a food I found after much experimentation years ago that seems to satisfy everyone. It is a food from Earthborn Holistic called Chicken Catcciatori. This is the most universally accepted canned food I have found that is also somewhat healthy. While it is not as healthy as homemade, it is better than kibble.
Please note that the above link and that of the Rawz food are Amazon affiliate links. I included them because there is a lot of information about the products on Amazon but I would recommend that if you are interested, check your local pet supply store first because both products are overly pricey on Amazon.
It has been over a week and I can report that Chris is eating a fair amount of the canned food. Not as much as I would like but much more than he was eating before. He is even eating slightly more of the homemade food. Perhaps he just needed the variety.
Photo Friday: Sleeping Beauty
I have a shelf on my bookcase near where I work reserved for cats. For the most part, it is reserved for Floki because he is the only cat I ever see on it.
The Hard Part of Going on Vacation
Here is a post for Throwback Thursday from almost six years ago. We were going on a week-long cruise plus an extra day to get to Port Canaveral and visit my wife’s dad. That was a long time to be away from our cats.
We took out the suitcases for our upcoming vacation and, as expected, all the cats had to lie on top of them. It happens every time. I think they know what is coming and they want to make sure we know that they don’t want to be left home again.
We’re going with you.
I’m staging a sleep in until you agree to take us with you.
I hate leaving them alone for so long. We do have someone who will come in twice a day but that won’t be the same for them. Honestly, I don’t worry about the diminished attention they will get. They have each other and they can survive a week with little human attention.
What I do worry about is the unpredictable. What if the cat-sitter accidentally lets a cat out? Worse, what if something bad happens to her? What if a burglar invades our…
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Photo Friday: BC – Before Chris
Here is a photo of Alex, his sister Abbey, and Tigger. It was taken eleven years ago tomorrow and was almost three months before Chris came and spoiled their peace.
There is a similar photo taken after Chris joined the crew. You can see it on my other blog here.
Photo Friday: Like Catching Mice in a Barrel
Here is Chris from exactly ten years ago when we lived in Myrtle Beach. I don’t know how his mouse ended up in the barrel. He probably threw it in there. He then went in there to retrieve it.
He was quite the player in his youth.
