Author Archives: Charles Huss

Feral Cats at Work

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We have feral cats that hang out behind where I work. I don’t see them very often and when I do it is from a distance. There is a large fenced in area that has been abandoned for about a year now, although the cats have been there much longer. Because seeing the cats is rare, I thought there was no colony of cats, just a few loners who’s territories intersect near my work. If there was a colony, I thought, my work is at the outside of their territory.

About a month ago I saw a cat walking the perimeter of the fence behind my work and I thought maybe the cat has a routine. As an experiment, I brought some food to work and put a handful near the fence, on a plastic Verizon cover. By the end of the day the food was gone so I decided to continue to put food out.

I don’t want to feel responsible for these cats because I only work four days a week, but I thought a handful of food three times a week would be more like a treat for them. I have been doing that for a month now, never seeing the cat, or cats, that have been eating it.

Yesterday morning, to my surprise, I went out with the food and surprised a beautiful feral cat that was walking across our parking lot. I don’t remember if it was the same cat I saw last month, but it could be. It immediately ran to the tall grass to take cover. I said some friendly words to it and then set down the food and went back inside, but I peeked out the door and watched the cat walk toward the food. I then quietly walked back outside and saw the cat eating the food I put out.

Feral cat

Later I went out again to empty the trash and saw the cat not far from the dumpster, watching me. He made no attempt to run away as a dumped the trash inside. 20150706_Feral cat_1809I went back inside and about ten minutes later I decided to bring out another handful of food. My hope was that the cat would see me as a friend, but when I got outside, a man on a riding lawn mower was outside and, of course, the cat was gone.

As I edited these pictures, I noticed the cat had its ear tipped, which means he is probably part of a TNR program. If that is the case, perhaps there is a colony nearby and perhaps someone is looking after them. I hope so.

On the Cat Walk

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Saturday morning Chris and Frankie were being very loud and annoying in their efforts to be let outside. Since Chris was throwing up a lot on Friday and a little more that morning, I thought eating some grass might be good for him, so I let him out. He didn’t go for the grass as expected but instead went up the driveway and found Rose’s plants. He then did some nearby exploring before settling down and eating grass, which he soon  up when he got inside. I guess he needed that.

Bad Cat Chris in flower bed.

It was then Frankie’s turn. He’s a runner so I had to put his harness on before going out.

I then grabbed my Canon Powershot camera and then walked out the door with Frankie. The camera is about six years old, ancient but today’s standards, but it takes good pictures. It was also close and my good camera was in the closet, too far away to make an excited cat wait. I turned the dial to video mode, pushed the shutter button and off we went.

Frankie is quite the explorer and we went here, there and everywhere. He even saw a bunny before I did and ran after it, surprising me and probably him too when the leash tightened up. Towards the end of the walk we came across a couple of neighbors which made him a little nervous and hastened our return.

Later, when Rose’s mother and sister came to the house, I cooked some hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill. As I was bringing in a plate full of food, Frankie ran out the door. I quickly put my shoes on and went after him. Eventually I ended up on the next street over trying to coax Frankie out from under a car. I actually was giving him space, hoping he would move on.

That is when Rose’s sister, Felice (our hero kitten rescuer), showed up to help. She kneeled next to the car to see where he was at. I knew she was thinking about grabbing him and dragging him out from under the car but I remembered when I tried to do that Frankie scratched up my arm and became even more entrenched and angry as well. Felice managed to grab Frankie and drag him out without getting a scratch.

When everybody left, I was excited to upload the video I took of our walk but I had an unpleasant surprise. I discovered that the video was set to the smallest resolution possible. It was so small that it was essentially worthless except for maybe an iWatch.

I did find another video though. It was Frankie and me walking around the neighborhood for the first time about two weeks ago. That day Chris escaped when I took out Frankie. He normally stays close so I was trying to watch him while I was walking Frankie but he wandered too far and I had to put Frankie away and get Chris. When I came back out I couldn’t find him at first. When I did find him, I brought him in and took Frankie out again.

Walking a cat is not like walking a dog. They go where they want and if you try to influence them too much the resistance increases. The best I could do is keep him from going to far into people’s yards.

Cat Frankie outside

Kitten Update

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My wife’s mother and sister came to our house today to help celebrate The Fourth of July. If you read my post from last week, Newborn Kitten Rescue, You would know that Rose’s sister, Felice, played a major role in saving a kitten’s life. Because newborn kittens require so much attention, Felice decided to bring it with her.

Felice informed us that the kitten is a girl so we will not be calling her Luis like Rose wanted to if it was a boy. The name is not important anyway. What is important is that the kitten is in pretty good health and will probably be okay.kitten

Felice and Kitten

Felice and Kitten

Bad Cat Chris Versus Spray Bottle

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This post was about a time when we actually thought we could control Chris’s bad behavior.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

Most cats hate to get wet so a handy spray bottle with water in it is a great tool for curbing bad behavior. At least that is what we thought when we bought one to keep Chris from getting on the counters.

Whenever he would jump on the kitchen counter, one of us would squirt him and he would immediately jump off.  We thought after getting wet a dozen times or so he would stop jumping on the counter. Unfortunately, that idea may work with other cats but Chris seems to be immune to many of the behavior correcting techniques  that you might read about.There were times when we had to squirt him three or four times within a five-minute period and still, he would come back for more. It was as if he had no long-term memory and would immediately forget what just happened. I know his memory happens to be fine though because many…

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Our New Cat Tree

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When we moved, the plan was to get rid of the cat’s old, beat-up cat tree and replace it with a new one for the new place, but the high cost of moving delayed that plan until now. Saturday we found a very large, slightly used, Armarkat Cat Tree Condo for the ridiculously low price of twenty dollars. On Amazon it sells for $124, and even more elsewhere, so I think we got pretty lucky. It was in excellent condition except the second shelf from the top was broken, as if a very heavy cat jumped on it. A more likely scenario is someone attempted to move the cat tree and it tipped over.

We were in Rose’s Mustang and did not expect that we would be bringing home something so big. We didn’t feel like driving home to get the truck so we had to figure out how to make it work. We put the top down and tried standing it on the back seat but it was very tippy and I was worried it would fall out. It also didn’t work leaning to one side. I finally leaned the front seat back on put it there while I got in the back to hold it.

Once we got it home, we cleaned it good and I screwed a piece of wood under the broken piece to hold it together. We then scared Puck under the bed when we brought it inside.

Frankie and Chris weren’t scared. They jumped at the chance to investigate the new tree. They checked out every inch of it, including the top shelf which was very close to the ceiling. They also seemed to like the little built-in house. Frankie even squeezed through the little window, I feat that Chris can only dream about these days.

The ceiling in our Florida room slopes down to its low point near where I put the cat tree so the top shelf is almost useless, but as I said, they are able to get on it but since the first day, I have not seen it get used. The rest of it does get used though so I am very happy with our purchase.

Frankie and Chris playing on new cat tree

Wow! This thing is awesome.

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

I call first dibs on the house.

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Hey Frankie, lets rub our scent on this thing before Puck sees it.

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Chris, do you get the feeling we are being watched?

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Hello Dad! Don’t you have somewhere better you can be with that camera?

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

As king I claim this as my castle.

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Hey Frankie. I can see you through this hole.

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Do you think this is what they call an outhouse?

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

If this is an outhouse, I need to figure out how it works.

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Hey Chris! I’ll bet you can’t fit up here like I can.

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Oh yea? I’ll bet I can.

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

There, see?

I wouldn't call that fitting.

I wouldn’t call that fitting.

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Who cares? I like this shelf better.

Frankie and Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Too bad Puck isn’t here to see this.

Frankie, Puck Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Did somebody say my name? Hey, why didn’t you tell me we had a new cat tree.

Frankie, Puck Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Not my job, Puck.

Frankie, Puck Chris playing on new Armarkat cat tree

Where are you going? Don’t you want to check out the condo?

Newborn Kitten Rescue

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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 kitten without its mother. Many don’t make it. I also know that some people will take the kittens thinking that they are helping, not knowing that the mother is close by, perhaps hunting or just hiding, waiting for the humans to leave. She could also be in the process of moving the kittens. In this case, it seemed the mother was not returning.

Rose hung up with Luis and called her sister, Felice, who is an expert in rescuing newborn kittens. She works for a vet and has brought many kittens back from the brink of death, while also losing a few along the way. She told Rose to bring the kitten to her and then started the process of turning her bathroom into a makeshift nursery. Our Puck was saved in Felice’s bathroom.

We immediately put our food away and headed to the property to pick up the kitten. Luis had it on a towel in a small box. He handed it to me and Rose sped away, driving her Mustang like it was an ambulance. She was very careful not to break any speeding laws (fingers crossed) while we raced the 24 miles to Felice’s house.

Newborn kitten

When we arrived, Felice picked up the kitten and said it was too cold. She brought it into the “nursery” where she had a cat carrier set up with an electric heating pad on the bottom topped with a towel and another towel or two covering the top of the carrier, making it an incubator.

She put the kitten inside for a few minutes and then took it out and gave it some formula. She squeezed a small amount of the mixture in the side of the kitten’s mouth.  Putting it directly in the mouth was not good. I believe she said it could introduce air bubbles into its stomach. That is not what she said but that is how I interpreted it. After only a couple of drops of food, she put the kitten back in the incubator for about fifteen minutes. She then took it out and gave it more food.

Feeding Newborn kitten 20150626_Newborn kitten_1705

Taking care of a newborn kitten is a lot of work. Felice says it will need to eat every two hours for the first couple of weeks of its life. Once it is old enough, we might have to adopt it if we can’t find someone to give it a home. We do not want to leave that burden with Felice but I hope we find it a home because we already have more cats than allowed. I would hate to be forced to get rid of cats after they have become family members.

By the way, if the cat is a boy, Rose want’s to name him Luis.

The Bird Tormentor

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This post is a classic that shows Chris can cause trouble while doing nothing.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

The following was meant to be published last August so it is out of sequence. I just happened to notice today that it was marked as a draft. Oops

Bad Cat Chris laying in sunshine Chris enjoying sunshine while looking out window

Considering that cats tend to nap most of the day away, Chris is no ordinary cat. He is usually looking for trouble to get into while Abbey and Tigger are snoozing. That being said, there are times when he will relax. When we lived in the condo, he would often lay on the spare bed and look out the window. This was a favorite spot for all the cats.

Mocking bird finds Bad Cat Chris Mocking bird finds Bad Cat Chris

One day a mockingbird spotted Chris in the window and started hovering just outside, trying to intimidate him to leave. This of course just caused him to become more interested in the bird.

Bad Cat Chris tries to catch bird Chris tries to catch bird –…

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There’s No Hiding the Catnip

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A few days ago I took the blender out of the cabinet and before i could close the door, Chris was in the cabinet. I knew getting him out would be difficult but I was certain I could lure him out with cat treats, so I took them out of the cabinet, that was right next to Chris, and made a big announcement that I had kitty treats. Puck and Frankie came running but Chris held his ground.

bad cat chris in cabinet

I passed out the treats to the boys, thinking Chris would not be able to resist, but when I looked back, he was gone. He didn’t leave the cabinet but made his way the five or six feet, over all our clean dishes to the other side. The cabinet above the sink has three large doors and no dividers between them. When I opened the door on the left, there he was chewing on the catnip bag. I moved the catnip there after he managed to find it in one of the drawers. (see “Catnip, I Have You Now“).

I took it away from him and thought about pulling him out of the cabinet but that would have resulted in some of our good dishes crashing to the floor. Instead I had to reward his bad behavior with the catnip.