Author Archives: Charles Huss

Meet Frankie, Our Newest Addition

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Saturday Rose and I were discussing Valentine’s Day and she surprised me by saying that instead of jewelry, I could get her a Bengal cat. She then added that a Snowshoe cat would be acceptable too.

We were in the car so I brought up Petfinder.com on my phone but there were very few that met her criteria. The ones that were listed were a fair distance away. They also had photos that were poor and descriptions that were almost non-existent. There was one possibility at the Hillsborough County Animal Shelter but they don’t answer their phones on the weekend and their description on Petfinder did not even mention the age, sex or temperament of the cat. I don’t understand why shelters don’t do a better job promoting their “detainees.”

We happened to be near a shelter called The Suncoast Animal League (where I once volunteered) so we decided to look there. There was a female Siamese cat that I thought was very friendly but Rose didn’t like her eyes. They were blue around the outside and had a reddish glow in the middle. Rose thought she looked evil but I would have taken her.

Next we went to The Humane Society of Pinellas County in Clearwater. I was impressed with how the cats were housed there. They had very large cages outside but under cover. Each cage was (and I’m guessing) about five feet by ten feet and housed between two and four cats. The cages were tall and there were structures for the cats to climb on or go inside. If I was a cat waiting for my forever home, I would want to wait there.

While we were there we saw a black and white kitten named Wilma. She was a frisky little girl and Rose liked her but someone else was in the cage with her so we decided to look around and come back. When we did come back that other person had already committed to adopting her.

From there we went to Petsmart in Clearwater, not far from the Humane Society. We found a three-year old gold and white cat that seemed very friendly. When he was brought out of the cage he immediately climbed on my shoulders, just like Chris did when I met him. Actually, Chris dug his claws in my back and scaled me like a mountain so it may not have been just like that. He then went to Rose’s shoulders and started treading (Rose calls it Marching) on her sweater while holding a piece of it in his mouth.

We decided to adopt him even though he was not the female Bengal or Snowshoe Rose was looking for. He was from the Pinellas County Animal Services and didn’t even have a name, just a number, B311304. We had to change that because we couldn’t call him B311304. I mean it is hard to remember. What if I accidently called him B311340? I wouldn’t want to confuse the little guy. Rose decided to name him Frankie after the Snowshoe cat that we wanted months ago but waited too long to decide and lost him (see here).

When we got him home we didn’t separate him from the other cats, which we should have, but Chris has never given a new cat a hard time and Puck is so friendly we didn’t think there would be a problem. We opened the cage door in the living room and the cat made a beeline for the spare bedroom and under the bed, where he remains as I write this. He came out for five or ten minutes on Sunday while we had the door closed and the other cats locked out. He was very friendly and let us pet him but he then went back under the bed and did not come back out until after we left for work yesterday (Monday).

Our new cat Frankie

Frankie was out from under the bed for a short time Sunday.

Our new cat Frankie

Frankie was “marching” and sucking on the blanket.

When I got home yesterday evening from work, he was lying on the bed in the spare bedroom. I closed the door that morning so he could have peace from the other cats and it seems to have worked. He let me pet him for a good ten minutes while Chris sat at the doorway staring. I got up and pet Chris too so he wouldn’t feel left out.

Eventually Frankie got tired of the attention and batted at my arm and hissed at me. Our cat Sneakers used to come around for attention and then bite you when he had enough. I hope he is not going to be like that. I did notice he did not extend his claws when he batted me. We were not informed that he was declawed (which I would never do to an animal) so I need to check that when I can do it without upsetting him more.

Frankie eventually ended up back under the bed again. I’m a bit worried because, as far as I can tell, he has only used the litter box I left in the bedroom once since Saturday. I plan on closing him inside the bedroom again today. Hopefully he will come out and do his business.

Photo Friday: In a Fog

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Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night keeps Chris from wanting to go outside. There have been times when I have come home at night during a cold rain only to have Chris slip past me and run outside. Once out, he doesn’t care that he is getting wet. He only cares that he is outside.

Last weekend he was begging me to open the door on the patio and let him out, despite the fact that it was foggy and wet. I complied and he ran out and immediately started eating grass. He must be getting old. Two years ago he would have raced out the door to look for lizards (see here), now he just eats grass. Granted, he does other things too, but he always starts with the grass.

20140201_Chris outside_218

Sparring Partners

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Since the first day Chris graced our home with his presence, he has had a fighting spirit. He would attack the other cats, hoping to find someone willing to play with him but would instead just get growls and hisses.

That changed when we got Puck, who was a kitten at the time and is now about a year and a half old, still young enough to keep up with Chris. That may change when Puck matures and Chris doesn’t, but we shall see.

The other night the two of them got into a major fight, taking it from one room in the house to the next.

Bad Cat Chris and Puck fighting

My box, stay away!

Bad Cat Chris and Puck fighting

Oww! You’ll pay for that, Puck!

Bad Cat Chris and Puck fighting

This should show you who is boss around here. (Chris will sometimes hold Puck down by the scruff to show dominance)

Bad Cat Chris and Puck fighting

No, wait! That tickles.

Bad Cat Chris and Puck fighting

Let’s dance.

Bad Cat Chris and Puck fighting

Do you want a face full of this?

Bad Cat Chris and Puck fighting

You can’t hide from me!

Bad Cat Chris and Puck fighting

Who’s the boss now, Chris?

We are fortunate that our two cats, while they fight a lot, are also friends. By that I mean Puck is able to tolerate Chris’s behavior and occasionally put him in his place when necessary.

Fun in the Sun

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I believe in an ideal world, every indoor cat would have a cat-door leading to an outside area tightly enclosed by a cat-proof fence so the cat could come and go as they please. Of course, this is not an ideal world so we have to make due with what we have. In our case, I try to let the cats outside for a supervised “recess” once or twice a week.

I think being able to run around outside, eat grass and soak up the sun is good for them. I also think there are many dangers outside which is why I won’t let them out unless I have the time to make sure they stay close to the house. It can be difficult to watch them when both cats are out at once but Rose was out there yesterday for a second set of eyes.

They really enjoyed their time in the sun and both were in no hurry to go back inside when we tried to collect them.

Photo Friday: Kitchen Help

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I usually make lunch for Rose and myself every morning. This lunch usually includes a salad which Puck waits for so he can steal a piece of lettuce. I don’t know why. Perhaps he thinks he is a rabbit.

Chris can’t have Puck on the counter without himself being up there to make sure he is included on anything good that might be given out.

Our cat Puck on kitchen counter.

Our cats Chris and Puck on kitchen counter.

Photo Friday: Puck’s Perch

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Our cat Puck has a few favorite spots in our house. Of of them is on the ledge between the kitchen and living room. From there he has a cat’s-eye view of most of the house. It is also a good place to get attention from one of the two-legged creatures that will occasionally walk by. The ledge is also a great place for jumping to the china cabinet, another of Pucks favorite spots.

Our cat Puck on ledge.

Falling Off the Poop Wagon

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Since the day we got Chris we had to deal with him pooping on the floor. Usually he would poop in the box but sometimes he would poop on the floor or the bathtub. It was a difficult struggle with him and we finally got some relief with a special litter called Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract. This helped a lot but I still had to deal with an occasional poop on the floor.

When we moved into our current home last June, Chris pooped on the floor a few times the first month and then suddenly just stopped. For six months we enjoyed a Chris that was actually good, at least as far as litter box usage was concerned. Then Rose’s son came to visit…

Nick came just before Christmas and spent a week with us. He couldn’t handle Chris annoying him while he was trying to sleep so instead of closing his door, he put Chris on the patio and locked him out of the house… without a litter box. He may have tried to close his door only to have Chris flick the handle up and down, I don’t know.

What I do know is Chris had no choice but to poop on the patio, and he did. Like an alcoholic taking that first drink after months of abstinence, Chris found it hard to stop. Several times since then I have found poop on the patio. Yesterday morning I was late leaving for work because I had to clean three piles of poop on the patio. It has been several days since we spent time on our patio so I guess it was accumulating.

Fortunately it is not everyday that he does it and he hasn’t brought the problem into the house yet. Rose wants to put a litter box outside but I want to first work on trying to stop the problem. I have cleaned the area very well and somewhere lost in the house is a bottle of no-go spray. It hasn’t been very effective in the past but it may help a little. Does anybody else have a suggestion that might end this?

The Toy Box

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Our house gets dirty pretty fast for a home with two people who are gone nearly 12 hours a day, five days a week. Of course the majority of the dirt that accumulates throughout the house is cat hair and cat litter. This means that we do a lot of sweeping and vacuuming. We do what we call a quick vac a couple of times a week and then, once a week, we do a major clean that involves picking everything up off the floor.

The things that populate our floor and must be removed include rugs, cat scratchers and cat toys. It is that cat toys that always amaze me. Every week I pick up more toys than the average six-year-old has in their closet.

Cat toys

These are just a few of the toys I collected one day.

We have a toy box where we keep the cats toys. Actually, it is more of a toy basket.

cat tox box (basket)

Is this too much?

Chris and Puck know where their toys are kept and have no problem taking the toys out and playing with them. Chris is surprisingly playful for being almost five years old. I see both him and Puck (who is about one and a half) chasing toy mice around the house quite often. I just can’t seem to get them to put their toys away when they finish playing. I don’t suppose there are any parents out there that know what that is like…