Author Archives: Charles Huss

I Want to Come Inside Now

32 Replies

Sunday afternoon I had some food to cook on the grill. That is always difficult because I have to go in and out the door several times and each time Chris is always at the door trying to escape. It is usually easier to just let him out and then deal with bringing him in when I’m done. I always feel bad letting Chris out because Puck and Frankie see that and then they want to go out too.

On this occasion I decided to let Puck out too but Frankie had to stay in because he’s a runner. Chris went straight to eating grass as usual and Puck walked about twenty feet and then came back. He started talking to Frankie and pawing at the screen, as if he was pleading with Frankie to let him in. Apparently he forgot where the door was. I noticed there were many people near the pool and I’m sure that made him nervous. I guided him to the door and tried to get him inside before Frankie came out. I then went back to grilling.

After a little while I needed to go in for something and decided Chris had spent enough time outside. Instinctively Chris knows when I am coming to bring him in so he bolted away from me. At that very moment he noticed a lizard and grabbed it. Now he was ready to go inside.

I tried to pry his mouth open to get him to drop the lizard but his jaws were locked shut. He also growled at me to show his disapproval in my behavior. I then thought if I just gave him time, he would eventually want to put the lizard down to play with it but he just stood by the door, with legs and a tail hanging from his mouth, waiting for someone to let him in.

Bad Cat Chris with lizard.

 

20140406_Chris outside_0697

For some strange reason all small animals and insects must be played with inside the house. I don’t know why Chris has this rule but while he was standing by the door I thought maybe he has a bit of OCD. He hung on to that lizard for a good five minutes, pacing pack and forth. Eventually it stopped moving and he put it down to check on it. That is when I grabbed him and brought him in.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t done cooking. I had to bring in the kabobs and bring out the Zucchini. It wasn’t worth fighting with Chris so I let him out again. He just laid down next to the door while I tended to the grill. After a short time the food was almost done and I thought I would put Chris in first. Of course he ran, this time behind the grill where he saw a lizard on the propane tank. There is also a spare tank next to it under the grill and Chris jumped on top of the two tanks while the grill was on, and ended up with another lizard. Bad Cat! Suddenly he was ready to go inside again.

Bad Cat Chris with lizard.Bad Cat Chris with lizard.

I had to wait him out again. Eventually he walked around behind the screen where the air conditioner is and dropped the lizard and stepped on it to keep him close. That was my chance to grab him but I was too slow. I’ve noticed this before but it never really registered until now that cats catch their prey with their front paws and then grab it with their teeth.

Finally, after what seemed like a long time, I was finally able to get Chris away from the lizard. This one was still alive so I picked it up and put it in the grass before bringing Chris inside. I used to worry about the lizard population until Chris started focusing on eating grass when outside. It looks like the hunter is back.

 

Puck Takes a Dust Bath

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Lately we have noticed that Puck seems to want to roll around in the litter box.

Puck rolling in litter boxAt first we thought he was just being weird. It would be like us humans washing our hands in the toilet.

Puck rolling in litter boxBut then we discovered it is common for cats to do this. It is called a “dust bath” and naturally, this is supposed to be done in the dirt, but our inside cats have no access to dirt so this is the best they can do.

dust bathOne of the reasons they do this is to cover their bodies with good bacteria that they then lick off themselves to get this good bacteria into their digestive system. They may also do this to scratch an itch or mark their territory. My worry is that the bacteria in the litter boxes may not be what I would consider good, although so far Puck seems to be in good health and is on the desk as I type this purring and causing typos.

Those Pesky Ads

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When I started writing Bad Cat Chris, it was for the love of writing and I never intended to profit from it. However, when WordPress introduced Word Ads I figured, “What the heck. Maybe I can make enough to pay for hosting.”

It seemed okay at first. WordPress put a small, unobtrusive video after the post and if readers wanted they could watch it or ignore it. I soon realized that the revenue from these ads, at least my share, was pathetically small, so I turned them off.

Once off, I noticed they were still being displayed on my page. It turns out that WordPress.com will advertise on your site whether you authorize it or not. The only way to avoid it is to have a self-hosted blog. All my other blogs are self-hosted but Bad Cat Chris was my first WordPress blog (I actually started blogging on Blogger with Romeo Rooster) and I started it on WordPress.com because, as a novice, it was easier. It was also easier to buy the domain from WordPress than have to transfer everything to a new host. Anyway, when I noticed the ads were still being shown, I turned them back on. At least that way I would get a share, even if it is just pennies.

Recently I noticed that there are now ads covering the images in my posts. This is far from unobtrusive and there seems to be no way to limit the type of ads shown, so I turned off all ads again.

For the next week I will monitor this blog and I ask that you please help me. If you see any ads, please let me know what they are. If you see no ads, I would also like to know that. Thank you for your help and I apologize if you have been annoyed by advertisements here in the past.

Frankie’s Big Adventure

36 Replies

Thursday evening, after I got home from work, I prepared to cook pork chops on the grill. At our house, grilling has become such a chore because every time I go through the door Chris is right there trying to get out. Unfortunately, we had the meat since the weekend and it needed to be cooked before it went bad.

Before I even got close to the back door, Chris had suspected I was going outside and “followed” me from the front. I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle and let Chris out. I figured he wouldn’t annoy me about going out if he was out. Once out, he immediately started eating grass while I turned the grill on. I watched for a couple of minutes while Puck and Frankie became very jealous of what was going on. Frankie was standing on the little table near the grill when Puck jumped up alongside him and pushed him over with his body so he could see better what was going on.

I felt bad for the other two cats but, believe it or not, Chris has become the least bad cat when it comes to bringing him back inside. Puck will stay close but sprint away when I try to get him. Frankie, we learned from his first and last time outside, that he is eager to explore beyond our imaginary boundaries (see here). He went through the fence on the neighboring property and I thought I was going to lose him.

I brought Chris inside so Puck and Frankie wouldn’t feel deprived and proceeded to go in and out while I cooked our dinner. When it was just about ready I went inside, grabbed a plate and then went out the door to shut the grill off and bring our dinner inside.

Just then Frankie slipped past me and out the door. I put the plate down and tried to get him but he moved away from me. I didn’t have my phone on me so I had to decide to pursue him or let Rose know what happened so she could help. I didn’t want to burden her, because she stayed home sick with bronchitis that day, but I decided I would need help, so I quickly yelled through the back door and then went back out to try to catch Frankie.

He was still close when I saw him run at full speed for the fence and then walk through it. He then walked back through it and then again, as if he was taunting me. I opened the gate that separates the back yard from the front yard. Fortunately it was unlocked, unlike the last time he did this. It was then a long walk to the end of the fence and then back again on the other side. I found him but he was not letting me get close and wound up back on our side of the fence and I had to make the long walk back around the fence. He then went back through the fence to the other property and I could see he was very interested in the water. I worried he might end up in the water so I quickly went around the fence again.

By the time I got back around he was on top of the fence and jumped back to our yard, this time in the front yard. I went back around again and Frankie went back through the fence and then again to our back yard. At this point I felt like a sheep herder and eventually got him close to our back door. I took that opportunity to shut the grill off and save our dinner.

Frankie then got past me again and crossed over into the other property. Again, back around only to find him on top of the fence again. He jumped back down to the front yard and I went around to catch him before he started wandering the neighborhood. I tried to corner Frankie but he slipped past me to the front yard where he became interested in the bottom of a truck. I tried to coax him out but he just went to the other side. Eventually he came out and ended up close to our front door. I took that opportunity to knock and say “Hey, I need help!”

Frankie then started to head the other way toward the marina. I tried to get around him to keep him on our property. I did not want him to go on the marina property and I especially wanted to keep him away from the busy road just past the marina. Fortunately he turned back just in time. He then headed south again, past our front door as Rose was coming out to help.

He quickly ran to the edge of our property and onto the next. He seemed to be oblivious to us as many small birds grabbed his attention. We tried a couple of times to grab him while he was distracted but came up empty-handed. We might have tried harder but if we missed and scared him there would be no hope.

He ran into the next yard and then across the street. It was starting to get dark and I was afraid we were going to lose him. He crossed the street again and ran into the next yard. He kept getting farther from home. I wondered at that point how far a cat’s territory stretches. I was hoping we were at the edge. He eventually ended up close to a house and I was hoping to corner him there. I tried to get him but he ran the other way, right into Rose’s hands, to end his big adventure.

Fortunately Rose was there to help or I don’t know what would have happened. I do know that Frankie will not be going out again any time soon.

Map of our cat Frankie's adventure.

Approximate map of Frankie’s adventure.

Lizard Breath

16 Replies

Chris got out last week when I was bringing groceries in the house. When that happens, it is just easier to leave him out until I get everything in the house and then go get him. He spent the whole time eating grass and rolling around on the sidewalk until he knew I wanted him in. He then made me chase him. As he was running away from me a lizard caught his attention and he quickly caught it… Then he was ready to go in the house.

Photo Friday: My Blogging Assistant

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Working on a blog post can be quite a daunting task. It is not coming up with Ideas or finding the right words that are the biggest problem. The hardest part is seeing the screen or typing when a 12 pound cat is standing in front of you or lying across one arm and part of the keyboard. I’m sure many of you reading this can relate.

Bad Cat Chris and Chuck

Notice the keyboard is pushed away because Chris was either stepping on it or lying on it.

Even writing this post has been a chore. My little assistant has done everything but actually help. He started by lying on my right arm, forcing me to push the keyboard away and type left-handed. I then moved him to my lap, which sometimes works but this time he jumped down and started biting my legs. He then got up and decided to help me type. He is now back on my lap allowing me to finish this post.

As soon as I finished that last sentence he got up to stare down Frankie. He must have noticed I was done.

The Baddest Cat You’ll Ever Love… or Not

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I have always found Chris’s bad behavior to be annoying but at the same time loveable, like a toddler that is more adventurous than most. Lately though, that bad behavior has gone from cute to  somewhat mean.

Chris and FrankieI’m talking about Chris’s treatment of our newest addition, Frankie. No longer, it seems, is he the cute, mischievous child but he now acts like the ruthless corporate executive that needs to stay on top at all costs. Okay, that last part is a bit exaggerated, but he has put himself in a position of being “less lovable.” Rose has even used harsher words than that when referring to Chris.

I don’t want to imply that there is a war going on in our house. It really isn’t that bad. Most of the time Chris and Frankie can be in the same room without a problem, although they are by no means friends.

The problems usually occur in the evening when Rose and I are home trying to relax. It starts with Chris wanting to get close to Frankie for a good smell. Frankie, not sure what Chris is up to, gets nervous and starts to hiss. This triggers the fight or flight response in Chris, only Chris doesn’t have a flight response.

At this point Frankie has hidden himself behind the chair or some other object and Chris in now in hunter mode, pursuing his prey, which happens to be Frankie. This ends any chance we have to relax and one of us has to deal with disciplining Chris. I will usually grab Chris by the scruff of the neck and hold him down until I think he is more concerned with what I am doing and will stop going after Frankie. I also want him to know that there is an alpha male in the house that is not named Chris.

This sometimes works but usually Chris just gets up, gives me a piece of his mind, and then starts looking for Frankie again. Now it is time for Rose to step in. She picks Chris up and puts him in “time out.” In other words, she puts him in our bedroom and closes the door. She did that last night and when she let him out we discovered he had broken a picture frame above Rose’s jewelry box, and he did it without even knocking it off the wall. Somehow Chris always finds a way to counter what we do to try to stop his bad behavior.

While I am concerned about Chris losing his lovable status, I did hear something that may keep it intact. We went to the other coast of Florida to Visit Rose’s dad on Friday and when we came back on Saturday our cat-sitter, who is also our neighbor, said her little boy loved coming with her to visit Chris. Apparently, Chris played with the boy and gave him attention while Puck and Frankie stayed away.