Here is Abbey, Tigger, and Chris from almost eleven years ago on September 11, 2011. I couldn’t help but think of that Sesame Street song when I saw this.
Photo Friday: One Of These Cats Is Not Like The Others
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Author Archives: Charles Huss
Florida Room Versus Arizona Room
In my last post, I talked about our Florida room and jokingly suggested my mother was wrong for calling her Florida room an Arizona room. I had several comments about the various names of the room and decided to look them up. I read several articles and will try to generalize what I learned.
A Florida room is also called a sunroom and sometimes a three-season room or a solarium. It is an addition to a home that has windows on three sides, either glass or screens, and is meant as sort of a buffer between outside and inside. It is usually in the back of the house, but not always, as is our case. It can also be called a Florida room in states other than Florida because it is based on something that is popular in Florida.
According to Wikipedia, an Arizona room is “based on similar concepts as the Florida room,” and “is often decorated with Southwestern decor and furniture.”
There you have it. Everything you wanted to know about the room that I call “the cat’s room.”
Photo Friday: Frankie’s Window Seat
Frankie loves lying on the perch by the windows in the cat’s room, which is what we call the Florida room. My mother calls her patio the Arizona room. I don’t know where she came up with that dumb name.
Sometimes I see Chris or Floki in this spot but it mostly belongs to Frankie.
Come to Mama
The other night my wife and I were sitting in bed, winding down before bedtime. Frankie was on my lap like he often is.
Rose looked at him and said something like, “Do you know that Frankie never lies on my lap? Not ever. And I’m the one that saved him.”
It’s true. We adopted Puck for Rose but Puck took to me more so she wanted her own cat. . . again. When we found Frankie he let Rose hold him and snuggled up to her enough to win her over and get adopted. After that, he was my cat
So, while Frankie was on my lap, Rose said to him, “Frankie, you come see Mama! C’mon Frankie, come to Mama.”
Then, as if he understood English, he got off my lap, walked over to Rose and let her pet him for about eight seconds, then walked back and got on my lap again.
You just can’t make this stuff up.
Photo Friday: Abbey, Chris, and Tigger
Here is a photo from just over 11 years ago. It is of Abbey, Chris, and Tigger taken on August 24, 2011.
It was common back then for Abbey and Tigger to sleep together and also for Chris to wedge himself between the two of them like a small child sleeping with his parents.
Chris’s Stressful Vet Visit
When I got home from work Tuesday I walked into the cat’s room and saw puke everywhere. I noticed puke from wet food, which might have been Frankie’s, but there was also puke from dry food, which was probably from Chris. In addition there were several areas that looked like bile. One of the pukes had something red in it, like blood but with a purple tint to it.
I then looked into the litter boxes and noticed a good sized, unburried soft poop with the same purple red coloring in it. There was also a couple of spots of the purplish blood on the side of the litter box. I took pictures but it’s nothing you would want to see.
I cleaned up all the puke and scooped the poop and ended up changing the litter in the litter box with the blood on it.
I then went back into the living room and noticed several spots of blood that were redder this time. The last spot was next to where Chris was lying in the kitchen. There was also blood on his fur near his butt.
The vet was closed so I looked online and read that blood in the stool could be a minor issue as long as it was not accompanied by a list of other symptoms, one of which was vomiting.
Chris seemed alright at the time so I thought he would be okay until morning. I called the vet and left a message that I wanted to try to get Chris in early if I could.
The next morning he seemed fine. He was eating and drinking and I saw no blood anywhere. Nevertheless, I normally leave for work at 7:45 but waited until 8:00 and called the vet. They could not see us until 4:30, which was fine since I didn’t think Chris was in distress.
I left work early and brought Chris to his appointment. When I arrived we had to park pretty far away because the parking lot was fuller than I had ever seen it.
Inside there were two people with small dogs, one of which was interested in Chris.
They put us in an exam room and I opened Chris’s crate but he was not interested in coming out.
The vet tech came in and asked a few questions and then left. A little while later she came back with the vet. I tried getting Chris out of the crate by pulling the cushion he was laying on but when he got about a third of the way out he started howling, hissing, growling and crying while putting up an incredible amount of resistance.
I don’t know what he was holding on to but I could not pull him out. I tried to reach behind him to push his butt but that had no effect. After much struggle I was finally able to remove him but then he ran under the chair to hide.
I moved the chair and the vet tech picked him up and wrapped him in a towel but it didn’t work very well. He gave her and the vet quite a fight. I kept thinking, “Oh no, they’re going to dread seeing me the next time I bring Chris in.” They’ll probably label him as “Bad Cat Chris.”
To make matters worse, while the vet tech was holding him down and the vet was trying to examine him, Chris started peeing all over the exam table. I don’t know if she was pressing on his bladder or if he was just trying every trick in the book to get free.
The exam was over about 20 minutes after we got there but we had to wait another 40 minutes before we could leave. During that time Chris actually fell asleep in his crate.
When the vet did come back he said Chris has a bacterial infection and that he was going to give us antibiotics. I told him my concern with antibiotics and he said that is why he is also giving me a probiotic. He also gave me another bottle of ear medication because Chris’s left ear is still infected.
When I went back into the waiting room there were two people there with big dogs. Both had cones on their head. I asked if they were making another Conehead movie. I don’t think anybody got the joke. I guess I’m too old.
By then it was raining very hard with thunder and lightning so the woman at the desk said I could go out the back door which would be closer to my car. Another girl led me to the door and I went out into the pouring rain with Chris.
When we got home I put him inside the kitchen and opened the crate which happened to be a short distance from the food bowl. I’m sure you can guess what happened next.
Wrong House, Frankie
My wife is looking for a housekeeper so our next door neighbor, April, recommended somebody that she knows. April is at our house quite often and she watches our cats when we go away sometimes, so our cats are very familiar with her. Of course, when April came over to introduce her friend to Rose, Frankie ran out the door and escaped.
It seems that everything interesting that happens with our cats lately happens while I’m at work. Rose sent me the following text yesterday morning.
A few minutes later I get this one.
When I got home I found out the whole story. Apparently April went back to her house with the lady and must have had her door open because Frankie ran inside her house. I don’t know what happened while he was inside but April then carried Frankie home.
It reminds me a lot of what happened when Chris was young. This might be my favorite story about Chris. You can read it here.
Our Fearless Cat
Chris has always been an unusual cat, which is why I thought he would be a good subject for a blog. One thing that makes Chris different from most cats is his fearlessness. You may remember posts about his indifference to the vacuum, or the post about him watching fireworks with us.
Last week my wife told me about something that happened while I was at work. She said one of those bucket trucks pulled up and a man got in the bucket and proceeded to trim the palm tree next to our house.
The noise freaked out Floki and Frankie, who came running into the house from the Florida room. They were both very nervous as they listened to the noise coming from outside. But Rose did not see Chris so she got up to check on him and was surprised by what she saw.
Chris was sitting on top of his crate, less than ten feet from the tree, watching the man trim the palm fronds.
If someone else has a cat like Chris, I would love to hear about it.
Photo Friday: That Darn Squirrel
This squirrel has learned that the glass makes him immune to cat attacks so he taunts our cats by ignoring them.
Floki’s not happy about it.
Lazy Cat Chris
Chris is no longer the adventurous, trouble seeking cat he used to be. Now he just causes trouble whenever he can do so with little to no effort. For example, I noticed recently one of the food bowls is often turned over on its side. I know Chris was doing it but never actually caught him in the act. He has become so lazy that he can’t even stand up to eat his food. He tips the bowl over and eats while lying down.
While I was at work yesterday my wife sent me the following photos from the scene of the crime, where the culprit was caught on camera.
I guess I need to put up a sign that says, “No tipping, please.”
Bad Cat Chris 