Author Archives: Charles Huss

Chris’s Kitten is Back

Chris is one of those cats that continued to play like a kitten well into adulthood. Lately, however, the kitten in him did not come out very often. That changed the other day when Rose found a mouse under the refrigerator. It was a small mouse that I had never seen before. It must have found its way under the fridge shortly after coming out of the package.

I don’t know what is different about this mouse than all his other mice but he plays with it like he is a kitten again, and after several days, he has not become bored with it. I still see him chasing that thing around several times a day. It’s nice to know my lovable “bad cat” has not fully grown up yet.

Photo Friday: Hang Tight

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This is Puck hanging from the cat tree under Chris. Sorry about the less-than-perfect quality of the photo. I think the lens fogged up when I brought the camera from the cool house to the hot and humid patio.

Review of Cat’s Pride Cat Litter

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Cats's Pride cat liter In a recent post I mentioned that I had finally settled on using a litter called Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat litter. It took awhile to get Chris to stop pooping on the floor so I decided that I would stick to what works. Well… I didn’t. Last week Rose and I came across a very good deal on Cat’s Pride cat litter and we decided since Chris seemed like he was cured of his floor pooping habit it was worth a try.

The litter is lighter than standard clumping litter which doesn’t matter much to me except when I change it and have to put it in a trash bag and hope the bag doesn’t break when I am caring it to the outside trash container (it’s happened). It is also a somewhat finer grain and is much easier to scoop. The litter scoop travels through the litter like a knife through warm butter.

The bad news is that the litter is somewhat dusty. It’s not as bad as some of the cheap brands but it is worse than what I am used to. It also tends to track more through the house. Those two problems alone would not be enough to regret my decision to buy it but there is a third problem that is much worse. It does not clump anywhere good enough to be useful, and the container says “Improved Clumping.” I try to be very careful when scooping but still the clumps break apart and some of the pieces fall back into the box, too small to be picked up with the scoop. That means that there is a build up of urine that just stays in the box. We even found a poop on the floor next to the box after just two days.

It has been six days since I put the litter in and I already bought more Precious cat litter so I can change back as soon as I have time to do so. Lesson learned. if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Photo Friday: Sleepy Time

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While Chris and Frankie still don’t get along, at least Puck is here as a good nap buddy for Chris.

Originally I was going to share only these two photographs, which were taken several days ago, but when I removed Chris from the keyboard and put him on my lap so I could write this post, he left to go hang out with puck on the bed. This is what happened next:

The Food is Always Better on Another Cat’s Plate

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Since the first day Chris entered our home, he has established himself as the alpha kitty in all areas except food, especially canned food. He likes the canned food and will eat it but doesn’t place a high value on it like our other cats (past and present) do.

Puck, however, was originally named “Chow Man” because of his love for food. Indeed, we named him Puck because, in part, he was into food as much as Wolfgang Puck.

I feed the cats wet food twice a day, in the morning, when I get up, and when I return from work, or around 5:00 on the weekends. The same thing happens every time. Puck and Frankie jump on the counter while I am opening the cans. Frankie then jumps back down to the floor where Chris is waiting. He knows that is where he is fed so he wants to be there waiting. Puck doesn’t think that way. He is on the counter eating out of the first bowl as soon as I scoop food in it. That is when Frankie starts talking to me, telling me to hurry up. I quickly scoop food out for the other two cats and set it down in front of them.

Chris will then eat for about thirty seconds and walk away. I think he anticipates Puck coming to take his food so he just leaves it before that can happen. I then have to pick up his food and bring it to him because Chris is somewhat of a dry food addict and I want him to eat as much wet food as possible. Sometimes I move his food two or three times but every time, before he finishes, Puck shows up to take over.

Let me help you with that, Chris.

Oh, you’re done? Thanks.

I don’t know why big, bad, alpha-cat Chris allows his food to be taken from him so easily but he does. I also don’t know why Puck has to leave his bowl, which still has plenty of food in it, to take the same food from another bowl. I usually then grab Puck’s bowl and put it in front of Chris but it isn’t long before Puck covets that bowl of food.

This kind of behavior reminds me so much of another species. Hmm… I can’t quite put my finger on which species that is. Anyone have any ideas?

Photo Friday: Frankie in the Hole

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I don’t think I need to say much about this one.

The Cat Tree

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Out of our three cats, Chris is the only one I feel comfortable letting outside. Puck is okay when let out. He doesn’t go far but he is near impossible to catch when it is time to go in. Frankie can never be let outside. It is unfortunate but after leading us on a long chase through the neighborhood… twice, I feel if he ever got out again we might lose him. When Chris is let out he usually starts by eating grass, nothing worrisome there, but I do have to remind myself that he is still a bad cat and I need to keep an eye on him.

Sunday afternoon I had to bring the trash out and Chris was at the door crying to be let out so I thought a few minutes outside wouldn’t hurt. As unusual, he ate grass while I brought the trash to the barrel at the side of the building. On the way back I got into a long conversation with the neighbors. While this was going on, I kept checking on Chris, who was gradually working his way toward the side of the building. When he got far enough away, I ended my conversation and went to get him.

Naturally, Chris doesn’t want to get got so he runs away from me, which I expected. My main goal was to herd him toward the front door. I’ve noticed lately that Chris tends to be very casual while outside until he knows it is time to come in, then he desperately starts looking for a lizard while avoiding getting caught himself. A few times he has shocked me by actually catching one with such short notice. On this day there were no lizards in sight but he wasn’t ready to be caught yet so he tried something new. He ran up the side of the tree in our front yard.

I was a bit surprised at first, especially because he went up it like he had done it a hundred times. I took my phone out and took a couple of quick pictures but then had to put it away because he started climbing higher and I wanted to get him while I could still barely reach him. He wasn’t too happy about being pulled out of that tree but unfortunately tree climbing is not one of the benefits of being an indoor cat.

Our Second Blogiversary

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Early picture of Chris and Rose

Today marks two years since I started writing Bad Cat Chris. Time sure does fly when you are having fun. I must admit that I had my doubts that I would make it this long. When I started the blog, we already had Chris for over two and a half years. I spent the first six months telling Chris’s back story and when I caught up I feared that I wouldn’t have much to write about. I also thought that he might become “less bad” when he got older but those fears proved to be unfounded.

I want to thank all of you who read this blog. I really do appreciate every one of you and I hope that my writings have been, and always will be, worth your time to read them. I chose to write this blog as myself, even though there are so many successful cats who blog out there. My first blog ever, Romeo Rooster, was dictated to me by Romeo himself. That blog was pretty successful, getting over 5000 views by the first 25 posts or so. It ended after only 28 posts because Romeo disappeared. For Chris’s story, I thought it could best be told by someone who is most affected by his antics. I hope you agree. Perhaps someday Chris will start his own blog at GreatCatChris.com.

Adopt a Shelter Cat Month

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Frankie at Petsmart Adoption Center

June is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month. I assume it is because most kittens are born in the spring so shelters become overwhelmed with kitties that need homes. I would love to help by adopting another cat but Frankie put us over our limit so all I can do is remind people that there are so many cats out there that need a home right now.

If you or anyone you know could use a great companion, please check out your local shelter… and don’t forget that in addition to the kittens, there are many older cats that have been behind bars for too long.

One Night Suspension of Bedroom Lockout

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Do you think putting this sign up would help?

I always feel bad for the other cats, Puck and Frankie, because they must be locked out of the bedroom because Chris is bad and can’t be in there. The reason Chris can’t be there is because he is the most annoying cat ever when we are trying to sleep. Nevertheless, I decided to leave the bedroom door open last night since Rose was away. I decided I would just give him a chance and if he was too bad I would just throw them all out and shut and lock the door (I have to lock it because Chris knows how to open it).

Chris and Puck immediately took advantage of the open door. Puck laid at my feet like the good cat that he is and Chris laid down by my head and immediately began clawing at my face and biting my shoulder and my nose. I expected that and put up with it for about ten minutes. I was hoping the excitement would wear off and he would get tired and go to sleep.

Hah! That’s like hoping a root canal won’t be that bad. Chris, of course, would not stop annoying me so I picked him up and put him down next to my side and held him there. That almost never works but this time I annoyed him and he got up and left, taking Puck with him.

The next thing I know it is 4:45 and Chris is crying and poking my face. I guess I would rate that experiment a moderate success.