It is unusual for two cats in our home to touch while lying down unless Chris is somehow involved. Here, Floki is touching Frankie and Chris is nowhere in sight. Sure, he’s not lying halfway on top of Frankie like Chris would be doing but it is encouraging.
I originally posted this almost three years ago and can tell you that Miss Luis, which I believe is what she is now called, is doing well at her forever home.
My wife, Rose, runs one of the largest apartment complexes in the area. Recently there has been an increase in the feral cat population on her property. I told her that she could get traps from the Humane Society and once caught, we could have them fixed (out of our pocket, of course) and returned to the property. Unfortunately, Rose has so much work and is chained to her desk eleven hours a day that she has no time for anything else.
Yesterday evening, while eating dinner, Rose got a call from Luis, her maintenance supervisor. He said a resident had informed him of an abandoned kitten. When he got there, he found blood on the sidewalk and a solitary kitten with no mother in sight. He decided to take the kitten home and call Rose to ask for advice.
I know it is very difficult to raise a newborn…
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One night, shortly after Puck died, Chris was lying on my chest and rubbing his face against mine. My wife saw this and said, “I don’t know what you will do when Chris is gone.” She then said that she thought Chris would be the next to go. I assume she said that because of all the weight Chris has gained recently but he still remains pretty healthy as far as I can see.
What got me thinking was the possibility that love could be quantified. Could a person love two individuals but love one of those individuals more than the other? Or is love an absolute like pregnancy? Can a parent love one child more than the other? As a parent of only one child, I can’t answer that but the truth is, I will miss Chris more than Puck.
I feel bad saying that and it makes me seem like a horrible person but I can’t deny it. In my defense, I will say that missing someone is possibly not directly related to loving them. What we miss in a person, or animal, are the good feelings that they gave us when they were around.
With Chris, I would miss the funny ways he would figure out how to open a cabinet or drawer before climbing inside. I would also miss the amazement of him getting on top of things that seem impossible for a cat to reach. These are things I miss already since his weight gain has slowed him down. I think what I would miss most is Chris’s affection. Chris is the most affectionate being I have ever met. This affection, I think, is Chris’s way of showing us that he loves us back very much and I think this has a way of reaching down and touching the soul.
His affection is what drew me to him in the first place. The first time I saw him he jumped on my shoulders and licked and bit my ear and nose while I was trying to clean the cages at Petsmart. The next time he was on my shoulders again at the shelter. I sent the following bad photo to my wife asking if we could keep him.
When Rose met him he showed her equal affection.
Chris at adoption center with Rose.
It wasn’t an act to get out of the shelter. Once he arrived at our home the affection didn’t stop.
Chris getting comfortable with Rose on his first day home.
Chris loves everyone and is not afraid to show it. He will go from lying on my lap to lying on my wife’s lap and then to lying up against one of our other cats. I have seen and heard about him jumping on the shoulders of complete strangers. I still laugh when I hear the story of a plumber under our sink who had to deal with a cat on top of him while he was trying to work.
Historically, none of our cats have been very affectionate with other cats. The exception to that would be Tigger. He sometimes would be seen cuddling with Abbey or her brother Alex.
Abbey and Tigger in Abbey’s cat bed.
Tigger and Alex
After Chris came on the scene, he became an annoying third wheel.
Abbeys bed could sometimes get over crowed.
Abbey annoyed with Chris.
Alex (on top) with Abbey, Tigger and Chris
While Tigger sometimes cuddled, it is almost mandatory with Chris. I do occasionally see Chris sleeping alone but he usually seeks out someone to lie with. He is like the glue that holds our family of cats together, going from one cat to the other as if trying to create a universal scent.
Of course, nobody is perfect and Chris will get into fights just like every other cat. Chris can also be jealous. Whenever Frankie is on my lap, Chris has to be on my lap. I’m not sure if Chris is jealous of me paying attention to Frankie or Frankie paying attention to me.
Yes, we do miss Puck very much and yes, we will probably miss Chris even more when the time comes but whether that has to do with the amount of love we have for each of them is unknown to me. What do you think? Are there any parents out there who can admit to loving one child more than another? Liking a child more is not the same. My wife will sometimes tell me she loves me but doesn’t like me very much right now.
It is so cute when cats cozy up to each other. In our house, Chris is almost always involved. 
Chris has always loved attention. This post was from 2015 but he is the same now as then and as he was as a kitten. He doesn’t bother Rose as often in the morning anymore but he was on the sink with her the other day.
Chris used to hang out in the bathroom with Rose while she got ready for work but he stopped doing that until recently. Now he is in the bathroom with her every morning taking up the little space she has. There is even less space in this house because there is a fan on the counter to compensate for the lack of an air conditioner vent in the bathroom.
Chris can stay with her as long as he stays on the other side of the sink, but that is too far for Chris so a conflict always arises. Rose either has to push him off the counter or she can ask for help in the form of, “Chuck, Come get you cat!”
This morning, Chris decided he was going to get attention one way or another so he got on the toilet and unwound the toilet paper roll. Maybe next…
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A cat who displays his or her belly is showing that they are content and that they have total trust in you since this is a very vulnerable position. Frankie spends much of his nap time this way.
Last week we had an incident that I can’t really explain. We had the door open to the new catio just enough for a cat to get through. Chris was lying inside looking out the door and growling. It was that growl that you sometimes hear when a cat encounters an unknown cat. I looked out to see what the problem was and saw he was directing that growl at Frankie. When Frankie saw me he tried to come inside and Chris attacked him. I had to break it up and for a long time afterward, we had to keep them separated.
Rose thought an outside cat had sprayed Frankie through the screen but I never heard of a cat spraying another cat. Besides, there was no sign of a wet spot on the screens. I assumed he got into something that made him smell different but a quick inspection of the catio revealed nothing unusual.
What was unusual was that his ears were twitching and he was scratching himself. Rose checked him for fleas but nothing was obvious so I brought her the flea comb and she tried again. This time she combed out at least three live fleas.
Since they were due for their flea medication we put it on Frankie and on Floki, which wasn’t easy, at least for Floki. Chris had a three-month flea med put on him a couple of months ago so he wasn’t due yet. Rose also said she didn’t want them going outside anymore, but that didn’t last.
The next morning Chris and Frankie were getting along and nobody was scratching themselves. I put some diatomaceous earth down in the house to help control any stray fleas and I plan on getting a flea spray to put around the perimeter of the house. I am told there are environmentally friendly sprays out there so I will be looking for that today.
As far as what happened to Frankie that got Chris so upset, I still don’t have a clue.
One other issue I noticed, and it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, is that everyone seems to have a hard time deciding on what side of the door they want to be on.
When they do make a decision, they change their minds as soon as the door is closed.
The last Photo Friday featured Frankie in his favorite spot. At the same time that photo was taken, Floki was sleeping on the daybed behind him.
Here is the scene from a wider angle.
Aren’t they cute?
Here is a story of false accusations for Throwback Thursday. It was July of 2015 and someone pooped on the new sofa. It was the beginning of Puck’s pooping problem that later turned into a peeing problem as well, but on this day we blamed Chris because he was the only cat in the house that would do something that bad . . . or so we thought.
“If this behavior continues, I will take that cat to the animal shelter so fast your head will spin!” Yes, those words actually came out of Rose’s mouth on Thursday morning. She wouldn’t really do that but she was very angry, and rightfully so.
To explain, I need to back up this story to last weekend when we got new furniture for our patio. We got a sofa/sleeper along with a baker’s rack and a dinette set. The sofa came with a sign in cat language that said, “SCRATCH ME,” so Chris and Frankie complied.
I covered it with a blanket and a couple of towels over the arms, not just because of the scratching but also to keep it clean and free of cat hair. When guests would come for a visit, we could remove the covers and they could wonder how we keep it so clean with three cats.
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Recently, Rose started pushing her office chair near the window when she is done using it. Frankie figured out it is a great place for a nap and spends much of his nap time now on her chair, including now as I write this.
