I recently started a new blog at JustFurLaughs.com. It is dedicated to funny captioned animal photos. I am trying to get a new photo up everyday and I find myself looking hard to find a funny one without Chris in it. I have a great stockpile of cat photos as well as other animals but it seems like Chris stands out as the one usually involved in funny behavior.
I will give you a sneak peek at two photos that I have not published yet but are scheduled to appear in the next few days. Enjoy.
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
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
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.
Chris tries to catch bird – notice wings on left
This went on for a couple of weeks, sometimes several times a day. A few times I had the window open a few inches and Chris would slide his body between the glass and the screen in a vain attempt to get the bird. I had to keep the window shut because I was afraid he would push the screen out and fall from the third floor.
The funniest part of all that was the bird only picked on Chris. When Tigger and Abbey were laying there, the bird was nowhere in sight. I suppose this might have been a mother bird protecting a nearby nest and to her, Chris just looked like trouble. Only Chris could cause problems by looking out the window.
Mockingbird Tormentor returns
I do know that mocking birds can be pretty mean for their size. I have regularly seen them chasing larger crows and even an Osprey. Rose said when she was young she had an outside cat that lived in fear because a mockingbird would attack it every chance it could. She thought it was payback for something bad that the cat did but I think the cat’s territory just overlapped with the bird’s.
Eventually the bird stopped bothering Chris. It was around June so I suppose it was nesting season and once the young birds were out of the nest, there was no reason to protect it.
Lately, every once in a while, I will hear the sound of a cat in distress. The first time I heard it I thought one of our cats was hurt or stuck somewhere. When I looked for the source, I found Tigger locked in a stare-down with Chris. He had Chris cornered on the top landing of the staircase and surprisingly, was the aggressor in this confrontation.
When I showed up, the distraction gave Chris an exit opportunity and he took it. He bounded down the stairs with Tigger hot on his tail (literally). When they reached the living room, Tigger jumped on Chris and attacked him. I tried to separate them but it was only temporary. Tigger chased him down and attacked him again. Usually once a cat retreats the fight is over but not this time.
It was shocking because Tigger has always been such a nice cat. I know the old saying is true; what goes around, comes around, and Chris definitely was due for something to “come around,” but this was not the play fighting that Chris had annoyed the other cats with for three years. This was an attack by a pissed off cat, and it has repeated several times over the past couple of weeks.
In between the attacks I see the two of them laying together and even washing each other, so I don’t think Tigger has developed a hatred for Chris. I can only assume that he has become grumpy in his old age and Chris is doing something to annoy him (big surprise there), but I have not seen what starts the fights yet so I will have to watch them more closely. Hopefully I won’t have to bring Tigger in for anger management.
I mentioned this briefly in my post, Jealousy but I wanted to expand on this issue. Chris used to have a routine in the morning of hanging out with Rose in the bathroom while she got ready to start her day. He would lie on the counter in front of her, occasionally grabbing her makeup or whatever else she happened to be using and pulling it up against his chest. Sometimes he would collect three or four things before Rose would be forced to retrieve them. This would go on until she turned on the hair dryer, which was Chris’s cue to make a quick exit.
When we got our kitten Puck, everything changed. Suddenly Puck would be the first one up on the counter and when Chris came up for his routine, he would take one look at Puck and go back downstairs. I felt bad for Chris but Rose found Puck to be a little easier to deal with.
At first Puck would steal a cotton swab, play with it for a while, then come back for another cotton swab. Much of this playing took place on the bathroom floor, so it was not really a problem. Along with the cotton swabs, he also had a particular mouse he liked to play with. Now, while he still plays with cotton swabs from time to time, his mouse has become the center of much annoyance for Rose.
I very much want to get a video of him and his mouse but Rose does not want to be recorded while getting ready for work. Too bad, because nobody would believe it otherwise. Puck jumps on the counter with his mouse and drops it in the basket that Rose has some of her stuff in. He then waits for Rose to throw the mouse in the bedroom. When she does that, Puck races to retrieve the mouse and then brings it back and drops it in the basket again.
This goes on until Rose gets tired of it and stops playing, but when she does that, Puck pushes on her hand and tries to get her to throw the mouse again. You can imagine how difficult it would be to get ready for work that way. The obvious solution would be to turn on the hair dryer and scare him off, but he is not bothered by it in the slightest. Now Rose is longing to have Chris back on the counter with her.
I would like to see that happen too, but dispute the loss of one routine, or perhaps because of it, he has developed another. He now lies on the back of my chair while I write blog posts.
Update: I did get a video of Puck playing fetch. Here it is.
I mentioned before that Chris likes to get on my shoulders, although my profile picture probably makes that obvious. He does not always want to be there but there are certain times where he will climb up my leg and beg to be picked up. Other times he will jump on the counter and then onto my shoulders. Sometimes he jumps on me when I am not expecting it.
As much as he likes being on my shoulders, there are times when he just wants to use me as a springboard to reach a higher place. He can be like Ricochet Rabbit sometimes. From the floor to the counter to my shoulders and then to the top of the cabinets. Ping, ping, ping! It is these times where he not only surprises me but also digs his claws in me and leaves a mark like I was bitten by a vampire.
Sometime he just rides around on my shoulders while I walk around the house. Eventually he wants to do something else and gets down. Sometimes I walk by something that interests him and he decides to go up instead. This Christmas he was on my shoulders as I started to walk down the stairs from the bedroom. I paused for a second for some reason and Chris noticed the window that is above the stairs, almost to the ceiling. That peaked his interest and up he went.
Chris in Window
View from below
Chris jumping down from Window
I was a little worried that it was a bit high and tried to coax him down but he wouldn’t have it. I eventually decided he would be fine getting down on his own so I left him there. A few days later I had a repeat of Christmas Day and up to the window he went again. I guess now that he knows it’s there he will be doing that all the time. I don’t care. The more things he can find that interest him, the less trouble he will get into. That is assuming those things he finds are trouble-free.
View from outside
If you are a regular reader, you know that sleeping with Chris in the house can be very difficult. It has been a constant tug-o-war with each side having the advantage until the other side figures out a way to counter it. If you are a new reader, I will put links to some earlier stories about this struggle at the end of this post.
Currently, Chris has not only gained the advantage, but I have run out of ideas to get back to a normal night’s sleep. I feel like my sleep bank is overdrawn and if I don’t make a deposit soon I will get sick and perhaps even fired because I feel tired at work all the time. So far, it hasn’t affected my job, but I know mistakes happen when you are over-tired.
On Christmas Eve I couldn’t keep my eyes open in church. Our pastor is a nice guy and I don’t want him to think that I think he is boring. I was also having trouble keeping my eyes open on Christmas Day when my son and his wife were here. I was actually closing my eyes while he was talking to me. I had to struggle to keep them open.
After finally figuring out how to keep Chris out of the bedroom, I had to abandon it, first because Abbey got sick and then because of our new kitten Puck. For a kitten, he is remarkably well-behaved. Of course he plays and does some things he is not supposed to but he never bothers us at night. He also doesn’t scratch on the furniture or force his way into the cabinets or poop on the floor like a certain gold cat that we know. Because of this, Rose feels bad because to keep Chris out of the bedroom, we also have to keep out Puck and Tigger.
So, for now, he has full access to our bedroom at night, and every morning at four o’clock, he wakes me up. It is a mystery to me how he knows when it is four o’clock but somehow he does. He will get up next to me and either bite my nose or start treading on my bare skin. When this starts, I look at the clock and almost without fail, it is within five minutes of four o’clock.
Last night Rose clipped his nails. I thought that might help me tolerate the treading until he got tired and stopped. That didn’t work. I think having short nails just makes him extend them out farther. I try desperately to block his claws with my hands or the sheet but he just moves to another location. I grab his paws but he pulls away. I push him off the bed but he jumps back on it. I hold him down until I annoy him but he just moves to above my head where I can’t do that.
Sometimes I am succesful in keeping him from treading on my neck or back. When that happens, he pulls at my scalp. Sometimes he grabs my nose or the side of my lips with his claws and pulls. He is trying to get me to turn my head so he can bite my nose. I do not know why he must bite my nose but I do know it is very annoying. Out of frustration, I will sometimes bite his nose, hoping he will get the hint, but he doesn’t.
I think soon I will have to start going to bed at eight o’clock. My senior years are starting early.
Related articles: Who Needs Sleep?, Bad Cat Chris Versus Spray Bottle, Another Big Move, Chris’s Door, The Annoyance Strategy
Chris and his family want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday season.
When I started this blog over six months ago, I said I would tell his story from the beginning. I knew eventually I would catch up to the present and that time has come. I am sure I missed some stories along the way and if I remember them I will relate them to you, but for now, I will tell of Chris’s misadventures as they happen.
I have thought about what I want to do in the future. I have two ideas that I could perhaps tie together.
First, I have thought for some time about starting an animal welfare organization. The thought came to me around the end of 2008, give or take six months. It hit me after I heard about one of the stray cats that my sister-in-law, Felice, takes care of. Someone apparently poisoned this cat and she had to spend $500 of her own money to save its life. She is not wealthy but spends money to feed, fix and keep these animals healthy. I thought, if we could start a non-profit organization, than some of that burden could be helped by donations. Even if we got no donations, except for our own money that we put into it, at least it would be tax-deductible.
The start-up cost was an issue at first and then I moved to South Carolina. When I moved back in 2010 I was unemployed for three months and then under employed for another six months. Eventually, by the beginning of the year I had the $400 I thought I would need to start the organization. I even filled out the form at LegalZoom but something prompted me to investigate the IRS requirements. I had done so earlier but missed the fact that they charge a $400 application fee for tax-exempt status. This put the idea on hold until that $400 was spent on something else. I am still considering it, if Felice is still interested, and perhaps I will actually do something in a couple of months.
My second thought was to write an e-book about Bad Cat Chris. I have already written his story, I just need to merge some of the articles and expand upon some others. If I can put it together in a cohesive way and spend the time necessary to make it a quality story (not that it isn’t already), I think I could sell a few books.
I would put it on Kindle first and perhaps sell it for around $2.99. At that price I would get a 70% royalty ( kindle gives 70% for books priced 2.99 to 9.99 and 30% for all others). If I use the royalties, at least at first, to fund my first idea, maybe each would help the other.
Right now there is not enough people who know about Bad Cat Chris for any real success, but I am working to get the word out. Any help from my readers would be much appreciated. Any advice you can share would also be appreciated. You can also help by “liking” Chris on his facebook page (facebook.com/badcatchris) or following him on Twitter (twitter.com/BadCatChris).
Now since that is out of the way, let’s talk about Chris. He jumped up on the curio cabinet again. I first talked about this in the story Chris Takes the High Ground. I am so worried that the force of his jump will cause the cabinet to rock and fall over. If that happens the damage would be great but my biggest worry is that he could be crushed by it.
I also uploaded a new video to YouTube.
This was taken with my phone so the quality is less than perfect but it is worth watching. I uploaded this to my old channel youtube.com/animallaughs instead of Chris’s channel youtube.com/badcatchris because Chris is not the main part of the video.
I may get a video camera for Christmas (if I stay off the naughty list) so we can see Chris in full HD. I can’t wait.
Rose and I discussed getting a playmate for Chris since shortly after we got him. He has so much energy and always wants to play, but until recently our other cats didn’t want to play with him. That changed when we got our new kitten, Puck. He has turned out to be a great playmate for Chris. They spend a good part of the day pouncing on each other or chasing each other. Sometimes I even see them washing each other.
There is, however, a darker side of this relationship: jealousy. Whenever puck comes to Rose or me for attention, Chris is sure to show up seconds later. occasionally the opposite happens. Puck will come to us second and then Chris will leave, presumably in disgust.
Keep in mind that I have a hard enough time trying to figure people out so interpreting the behavior of another species could be beyond my ability. Nevertheless, I feel Chris is the Alpha male in the house and he feels threatened by the kitten.
I have seen behavior from Chris that is different now than it was before Puck showed up. For example, he sometimes will grab Puck or Tigger by the scruff of the neck and hold them down for an extended period, as if he is reminding them who is the boss.
There is also something that he does not do that somewhat bothers me. Rose gets ready for work every morning by sitting at the counter in the bathroom. Chris used to lay on the counter while she got ready. He was somewhat of a nuisance for her but also a source of entertainment. He would lie there and grab her makeup or whatever he could get his paws on and pull it toward him.
Now Puck has taken over his spot so Chris usually just avoids the bathroom in the morning. That makes me feel bad because that was part of his routine that was taken away from him. Of course, Chris could easily take that spot back if he wanted to, so I am not sure why I feel bad about it. Perhaps it is because he does not want to take it back.
Puck takes over Chris’s spot
All things considered, Chris is generally a happy cat and I believe puck has added to his life more than he has taken. Eventually, Chris will reestablish his dominance and all will be right with the world. Well…maybe not the world.
Chris’s three-year reign of terror has ended. Okay, maybe that statement is a bit exaggerated but there has been a turning point in the Bad Cat Chris household.
Previously, Chris was able to dominate the other cats without fear of reprisal. He would often, out of the blue, pounce on Tigger or Abbey, pin them down and bite them on the neck. After a few minutes, he would then cozy up along side one of them like nothing had happened. Now that Abbey is gone and our new Kitten Puck is here, it is not so easy for him anymore. Puck fights back!
The two of them spend much of the evening going at it. Chris will attack Puck and Puck will counter with his own attack. I often see Chris as the submissive one during some of their many battles. It makes me think of Karma and the saying, “What goes around, comes around.”
Although it is no longer surprising, it is still amazing that at over three and a half years old, Chris still has the energy and personality of a kitten. The two of them seem like a perfect match for each other.
Now they are a great match, but I know that a year from now, puck will have matured and Chris will still be Chris.
Tigger, Chris and Puck
On another note, I just learned that Alex died. If you read the post, The Great Upheaval, you would know that Alex had to be left behind when we moved back to Florida from Myrtle Beach. He stayed with a friend that we knew would take good care of him, and he did.
Alex was the brother of Abbey, who died two months ago (story here). Both were great cats and only eight years old. They will be missed.
Alex (on top) with Abbey, Tigger and Chris
Bad Cat Chris 