Author Archives: Charles Huss

The Lucky Unlucky Cat

21 Replies

This is a story about a cat I called Lucky. At the time I did not realize how wrong I would be about choosing that name and also how right I would be.

It started on a Saturday Night, October 8, 2005. Our neighbor across the street, Doug, called and said there was an injured kitten under my wife’s car and it was hissing when he tried to get close. Of course, the last thing we needed was another cat (we had six then) but we couldn’t leave it there.

I went outside and tried to coax the kitten out from under the car but she was not going to budge. I didn’t know the sex of the kitten at the time but we found out later it was a female. Her front paw looked broken and she had a hard time moving. She hissed at me a few times, probably because she was scared, but she never tried to bite me.

I put some dry food near her and she ate it all, so I gave her some wet food and a little water. She was very hungry and thirsty. Since I couldn’t get her out from under the car, I decided to move the car. I very carefully backed it up while Rose and her son’s girlfriend watched for any movement. Rose threw a towel over her as soon as the car was clear and we very carefully moved her to the garage.

We got her into the garage and put her on a couple of towels. That’s when we noticed a chunk of skin about the size of a quarter, maybe bigger, missing from her hind quarter. She also had cuts on one of her ears and it looked like her jaw was slightly out of alignment. We suspected right away, but we knew then, that a car hit her.

Lucky

Rose put some antibacterial ointment on her wounds and we moved her near the door and made a make-shift barricade around her so she wouldn’t hurt herself further in the garage. I gave her some food and water and checked on her a few times before we went to bed.

At the time we were raising two boys and six cats and did not have money to spare so a large vet bill for a stray cat was not in our budget. Because of that, we decided to bring her to the SPCA in New Port Richey, Florida, which opened at noon the next day. We got there when they opened and they turned us away before we even got to the door. They said they had no vet on duty and they were full. Vet or no vet, full or not full, they were still in a better position to help an injured cat than I was and should have done something. Since then I have not been a fan of the SPCA, even though I know I shouldn’t judge because of one incident.

Rose was very upset and said to the person at the SPCA, “What are we supposed to do, put him back on the side of the road?” They did give us a list of vets in the area and I called a place called Little Animal Hospital, which was named that because they were on Little Road. They told us to bring the cat in, which we did.

When we got there they took the cat in the back while we waited in the front. We noticed there was a big window showing a room full of cats that needed to be adopted. It was nice to know that they cared enough to do that. A few minutes later we were called to the back where we spoke to the vet.

She told us her foot was broken and would need to be amputated. There was also unknown internal injuries. We didn’t even ask about the cost because we knew that the surgery, combined with all the other rehabilitation costs, as well as the costs of getting her spayed and immunized would be way more than we could afford. Our other choice was to have her put to sleep. I didn’t like that idea but there seemed to be no other choice so we agreed to that, paid the $73 bill and left feeling horrible.

On the way home I told Rose we made a mistake. This little kitten needed us to save her and we failed. We should have arranged to make payments or something. Rose agreed with me but it was too late.

Around the same time, Rose’s Mom was looking to adopt a cat so Rose told her about the cats at the vet’s office that were for adoption. She found a Maine Coon cat there that she adopted and named Monkey.

Monkey

She also came back with a story that we were very happy to hear. Our little girl lucky was not Euthanized. The vet decided to try to save her. They did not amputate her paw either. She did require a lot of rehabilitation. Just using the litter box required human help for many weeks until she healed. I do not know what happened to her after that but I was very glad that the story had a happy ending.

Photo Friday: Creek Ratz Cat

21 Replies

All my recent cat photos are still on my camera and Chris is on my lap so I decided to look through old photos for something to post today. As some of you know, my wife and I spent 16 months in Myrtle Beach between mid 2009 and late 2010. It is where we adopted Chris late in 2009. While there we enjoyed going to a place called Murrell’s Inlet.

Murrell’s Inlet had several shops and restaurants, one of which was called Creek Ratz. We liked eating there but I also enjoyed the company of a stray cat that was a regular visitor at the restaurant. I would always order a salad with grilled chicken when he was around and then slip him most of the chicken.

Creek Ratz Cat March 23, 2010

Have You Seen This Mouse?

30 Replies

We have literally dozens of toy mice in our house but Floki only likes one of them. Actually, “like” is too weak of a word. He loves this one mouse. I often see him chasing it around the house and sometimes the play will last for a half-hour or even longer.

The problem is, the mouse gets lost quite often. My wife is always telling me to “find Floki’s mouse.” The fist place I look is under the coffee table, which has an opening big enough for a mouse but not big enough for the Siamese cat that’s chasing it. I also check under the beds, under the sofa, and in the closets. Sometimes it’s hiding in the closet.

While I am looking, Floki follows me around, waiting for me to find it. Sometimes I think he knows where his mouse is but he enjoys watching me look for it. I think that because there have been a few times when I couldn’t find it and gave up. I would then see Floki playing with it an hour later.

I want to buy a few more of the same mice but a web search revealed no results. I was hoping someone out there could help me identify who makes it so I can by more. Here is what it looks like.

It has a furry cover around what seems to be a plastic interior. It is not soft like some stuffed mice although the plastic is probably hollow so it has some give to it.

If you have seen this mouse please call Crimestoppers let me know in the comments. If you haven’t seen it, tell me about another mouse that your cat loves.

Merry Christmas

23 Replies

Frankie, Chris, and Floki want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas.

As my gift to you, my Kindle book, Bad Cat Chris: The Baddest Cat You’ll Ever Love, will be free all day on Christmas. It is five years old now but if you haven’t read it and are interested in what we went through after adopting Chris, I encourage you to pick up a copy while it is free. The special is from midnight to midnight Pacific time.

Back to Normal

20 Replies

Things are pretty much back to normal in our house since the big fight on Monday morning.

I brought Chris to the vet on Monday afternoon but the vet didn’t find anything wrong with him, other than his weight. We didn’t do blood tests because it didn’t seem necessary but Rose thought it would be a good idea since Chris seems more lethargic lately so we decided to bring him to Frankie’s appointment that Thursday.

Chris and Frankie were separated for a little over a day. After introducing them back on Tuesday morning, Frankie was trying to be nice but Chris didn’t trust him and growled at him for a while. I went to work so I didn’t see anything but Rose sent me this photo.

It was an uneasy truce but it was a truce.

By Thursday things were mostly back to normal.


By Friday everything was completely back to normal.

I don’t know any human who would be best friends with the guy who tried to beat the crap out of him four days earlier.

I took Chris to the vet for blood work and got the results on Friday. Everything is good except for a couple of things that are in a grey area. So for now, we will go on like nothing happened.

After the Fight

29 Replies

We had a major fight yesterday morning between Chris and Frankie. If you didn’t see the post you can find it here. Since Frankie was the aggressor we decided to bring him to the vet but after making the appointment we thought Chris should go instead. That decision came because Chris has seemed slightly more lethargic lately and because Frankie was getting along fine with Floki and with me so I doubted that a physical condition was making him irritable. 

Since moving, I haven’t found a new vet. When I looked for one yesterday morning none stood out above the others so I just picked the one that was the closest to home. I made a 3:30 appointment at The Animal Care Clinic of Largo. 

I put Chris in Floki’s carrier, which wasn’t easy, and made it there five minutes early. After a short wait someone put us in an exam room and an assistant, or vet tech, came in and asked a few questions and then took Chris away to weigh him. She came back with Chris in one arm and the carrier in the other. I guess she knew better than to try to shove him back in there. She told me he weighed 18 pounds, which was just over the 17.9 pounds on his last vet visit. 

While we waited for the vet, Chris did some exploring. 

He then settled down next to me.

The vet then came in with her assistant and we talked for a bit before she examined Chris. She did a lot of squeezing around his stomach, which Chris did not like. She also tried to look in his ears but Chris has always had a problem with some kind of black gunk that grows in his ears. Another vet gave us an ear cleaner for him which we don’t use as much as we should because he is such a pain to work with.

She did say that when cats lose a sense, such as hearing, they become more defensive. She offered to clean his ears and when I found out she would do it for only twelve dollars I said go ahead. It wasn’t easy. They had to wrap him in a towel and he kept breaking free so they had to keep rewrapping him. 

After the exam, she thought Chris was okay. She didn’t think he had diabetes because of his weight. I said that I thought diabetes was associated with weight gain but she said that cats lose weight and then gain it again after they are put on medication. She offered to do blood tests to rule out certain illnesses but she also seemed to doubt they were necessary so didn’t push them. She said basic blood work was $88 plus more for additional tests. Since I didn’t know what my cost was up to already I thought it would be better to save the money and bring Frankie in.

The vet spent a lot of time with us, more than any other vet in recent memory. That is why I was shocked when I saw the bill was $54. It seemed we could never leave our last vet for less than $180. If I had known, I might have said to go ahead with the blood tests. I might still bring him back after Frankie goes there.

Many of you were concerned about my injuries and I appreciate that. I can tell you that all my wounds seem to be healing fine except for my left index finger which is swollen right now. I am keeping an eye on it. 

When Chris got home Frankie seemed fine with him and almost five minutes passed before a fight started and we had to separate them. Chris slept in our room last night (which means I got very little sleep) and we tried to reintroduce them this morning. Frankie seems over it but Chris hasn’t forgotten and growled at Frankie so we decided to keep them separated for a while longer.