Author Archives: Charles Huss

The Anti Chris

There were a lot of changes and upheaval going on in our house five years ago.

Flash – RIP

Sadly, in April of 2010, we lost Flash at barely five years old. He had succumb to multiple health problems that caused him to stop eating. We might have caught the problem earlier but Flash has always had periods where he would act weird and hide for a week or two before returning to his normal behavior, which was slightly less weird. We noticed his weight loss on a Friday and arranged to bring him to the vet when they opened Monday morning. By then there was nothing that could be done.

Princess

I don’t remember exactly when or why, but close to the same time that we lost a cat, we gained a cat. Our oldest cat Princess, who was living with Rose’s son, was returned to us. This brought the cat count back up to five.Chris, who was used to dominating the other cats, was now presented…

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Could This be the End of Outside Adventures?

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We let our cats outside again on Sunday for some backyard fun. This time nobody caught a lizard and Frankie did not get on the roof (although he came close), but there was trouble nonetheless.

Both Frankie and Chris went through the fence to the property next door and the both came back on their own but then Frankie went through the fence again and led me on a drawn out chase like last week. During these chases, I have discovered that Frankie tires a lot faster than I do and then I think that I can just wait until he is too tired to run and then scoop him up, but it is not that easy. This is because Frankie has discovered a trick from Chris’s old playbook. He crawls under cars where I can’t reach him. He did that last week and he did it again on Sunday.

At one point I noticed that he was panting very hard and I worried he would overheat. I was also tired of playing his game so I made a decision that I regret. When I saw that he was close enough to me, I decided to grab him and pull him out from under the car. I knew it would upset him but I thought it would be quick and he would get over it. I didn’t realize how much fight he had in him and I only managed to scare him and piss him off. After that I was his mortal enemy which made me feel like a real jerk. You can watch what happened at the 9:45 mark on the video.

When I was finally able to bring Frankie inside, the first thing Rose said to me was “No More! I’m not doing this again!” Apparently, while Frankie was playing hide-and-seek with me, Chris and Puck were playing hard-to-get with Rose. Perhaps if we do let them out again, I will have to put the leash back on Frankie.

Fortunately, since that incident, Frankie has forgiven me and we are now friends again.

Two Cats, One Box

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I used to be very dedicated to posting new pictures on Flickr but I seem to be so busy lately that I just stopped doing it. This morning I realized that the last photos I posted were from nine months ago. I decided to start posting again and as I was going my photos I found this video of Chris and Frankie playing in a box. I hope you enjoy.

Photo Friday: Frankie and the Cat’s Meow

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Our cat’s love their Cat’s Meow cat toy. Chris will sometimes stand next to it and “meow” to me to turn it on. I don’t know why because he knows how to turn it on himself. I have turned it off several times only to find it back on again and Chris playing with it.

Frankie likes it too but he usually ignores it when it is off. This time was different and I caught him playing with it and rolling around while it was off.

Everybody Loves Chris

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This is an older post where I talk about what a social butterfly Chris is. He hasn’t changed since then.

Bad Cat Chris

Chris has always had a way of endearing himself to people. Perhaps this is because those people do not live with him. It is like the grandparents who are happy to play with the grandkids and equally happy to give them back to the parents just before they get tired and cranky. Equally like grandparents, when we say they can take Chris home, they always refuse. I think if we want to give him away we have to stop telling people about his bad side.

Of course, we would never give him away because he has endeared himself to us just like he does to everyone else. We also know that nobody but us could handle him for more than a few days.

Chris is not a shy cat and will always introduce himself to new people. Sometimes he will follow them around like a puppy dog. This is especially…

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Another Great Outside Adventure

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We let the cat’s outside for their weekly romp in the backyard. Puck immediately caught a lizard and then brought it in the house. That distracted me long enough for Frankie to run up the palm tree and get on the roof, and again I missed recording it. At least now I know how he did it.

Frankie then led me on a wild goose chase around the neighborhood while Chris was busy investigating our neighbor’s patio. In other words, it was a typical day.

Photo Friday: It’s Our Turn

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C’mon Chris! You’ve hogged the drawer long enough. It’s our turn.

What’s in a Name?

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In case you were wondering, we didn’t name Chris. Actually, we wanted to rename him. Here is the original story.

Bad Cat Chris

Chris was the fifth cat that we got from a shelter. The first four came to us with names we didn’t like so we changed them. We waited until we knew their personalities and then named them appropriately.

Alex and Abbey were originally Sloan and Stirling. They seemed rather calm and refined so we thought Alexander and Abigail would fit them.

Then there was Ernie and Dooley. What? Those had to go. Ernie became Tigger because he was always bouncing from place to place. Dooley became Flash because when you tried to pet him he was gone in a flash.

Chris is a fine name for a person, I named my son Chris, but it seems odd for a cat. We decided to change it. We went back and forth on several options and finally after a month we decided on Rudy, because he is so rude.

Somehow that just…

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Cat on a Not Tin Roof

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Chris was not the center of attention during the cat’s weekly outing in our backyard on Sunday. Frankie took that trophy in a big way. He not only caught the only lizard of the day, he managed to climb onto our roof. He then was unsure how to get down.

Unfortunately, I have not perfected my movie making skills yet and was distracted by bringing Puck into the house when he made his way to the roof. I then spent the next 10 minutes following Frankie with the camera as he searched for a way down. Unknown to me then, the last half of that time was spent with the record button off. He did finally jump down to the roof of our neighbor’s truck and everything ended well.

Here is the video from Sunday. If you don’t want to watch the entire thing, I recommend starting at around 5:22.

Once a Biter, Always a Biter

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I know that biting can be a sign of affection but sometimes, if you have a bad cat, they can go a little overboard. Chris was like that when we first got him and it was the reason that the couple who adopted him before us returned him to the shelter. I always hoped he would grow out of that behavior, and he has improved slightly, but once a biter, always a biter.

This morning I just wanted to drink my coffee and read my emails but Chris wouldn’t stop biting me. I managed to record the tail end of his biting frenzy for your viewing pleasure.