Author Archives: Charles Huss

Our New Old Feeding Routine

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For years now I have been feeding our cats a raw food diet. It was not a strictly raw food diet because I also gave them dry food, mostly because Chris would only eat a bite or two of the wet food and then stop. I thought withholding dry food would get him to eat more of the wet food but that didn’t happen so I gave in. Since then, I have reduced the dry food considerably and Chris is eating more of the wet food, although he still lets Frankie and Floki steal his wet food.

It wasn’t the raw food that Chris didn’t like, it was wet food in general. Eventually, Frankie and Floki became finicky and stopped eating the raw food too. I figured that nobody likes eating the same food all the time so I started giving them a variety of canned foods in the morning, with a heavy emphasis on Earthborn Holistic’s Chicken Cacciatori. I then fed them the raw food in the afternoon.

When we went to our home in West Virginia for two months, I decided to skip making raw food for a while since I did not know how difficult it would be to find good quality meats.

After we returned I bought some Chicken Breast at Sprouts and made another batch of raw food. They loved it.

Floki cried at me the entire time I was making it. I kept putting down pieces of chicken for him and he kept crying for more.

If you want to make raw food for your cats, I recommend TC Feline premix. If you buy the one with chicken liver, you simply have to add ground chicken, or whatever meat you want. Egg yokes are optional.

While I have an affiliate connection with Amazon, I do not have one with TC Feline. I just like their product because it is so easy to use and the cats love it. I will say though that Chicken is their favorite. I did not have success with beef or turkey.

While this is a healthier option than canned foods, it would probably be even more healthy if you bought it without the liver and added your own. I did that when I lived near Whole Foods but now it is a bit of a hassle finding good quality liver. Also, grinding the bones with the meat would be even better for your cats but that is for people who are willing to invest in a grinder capable of grinding bones (I have a simple grinder that attaches to our Kitchen Aid). It would also require a different supplement. I am not that dedicated, although maybe someday I will be.

Our Quasi Catio

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Our Florida home does not have a catio like our West Virginia home but we do have a Florida room that is a little bit like a catio. It is surrounded by big windows and the cats do enjoy being out there.

What makes it different is the glass windows. The feeling of being outside, the sounds and the smells, are lost when the windows are closed, and they are usually closed because the air conditioner is running.

Now that winter is coming we should be able to open them a little but, unfortunately, opening them more than three or four inches will likely result in Frankie or Chris pushing the screen out of the frame

I just need to make a point of bringing them out for walks when I can.

Cat on a Not Tin Roof

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Here is another Bad Cat Frankie post from March of 2015 for Throwback Thursday.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

Chris was not the center of attention during the cat’s weekly outing in our backyard on Sunday. Frankie took that trophy in a big way. He not only caught the only lizard of the day, he managed to climb onto our roof. He then was unsure how to get down.

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Unfortunately, I have not perfected my movie making skills yet and was distracted by bringing Puck into the house when he made his way to the roof. I then spent the next 10 minutes following Frankie with the camera as he searched for a way down. Unknown to me then, the last half of that time was spent with the record button off. He did finally jump down to the roof of our neighbor’s truck and everything ended well.

Here is the video from Sunday. If you don’t want to watch the entire thing, I recommend starting at around 5:22.

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Frankie Escapes Again

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My wife called me at work yesterday to tell me that Frankie escaped. She said she had a hair appointment at 4:00 and if he wasn’t back by then she would have to leave him outside. I looked at my watch. It was just after 1:30. If I hurried I might be able to get all of my important work done and get home before she left.

Fortunately, she called me back at 3:00 to tell me that he was back. She said she opened the window on the door a few inches and the put a chair in front of it. Of course, Chris and Floki jumped at the chance to get a good smell out the window.

Rose was hoping to use them as Frankie detectors and it worked. When Frankie showed up Chris started growling and hissing which prompted Rose to get up and let him in

Not long after I got home, I noticed how comfortable Frankie was and wondered why he is always trying to get out.

He should know by now that there’s no place like home.

Taking Walks Again

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During the two months that we were in West Virginia, I did not take Frankie for a walk one time, although he did escape once. Frankie was generally content with hanging out on the catio and didn’t bother me to go outside so I didn’t bother offering. I thought when we got back to Florida he might forget about going for a walk, but not so.

We spent a good part of Sunday unpacking. We started shortly after waking up that day and by about 10:30 that morning Frankie was following me around the house desperately meowing at me. I don’t exactly speak cat but I think I can understand Frankie pretty well. He acts like that when he wants to go outside and thinks there is a real chance it is going to happen. It is like when you say to your dog in an excited voice, “Do you want to go outside?” Of course, the dog will get excited and go around in circles. That is almost the same reaction I get from Frankie but sometimes I get it without saying anything. That’s when I know it’s time to drop what I’m doing and take him out.

He stayed relitively close for a while. He was busy smelling all the plants in the area.

After a while, he started gradually moving away from the house. When we got about eight houses away I decided that was far enough and picked him up and carried him about halfway back before he struggled his way out of my hands. I didn’t care as long as he was walking in the right direction. He spent a lot of time smelling a plant in front of someone’s house that I worried the owner would look out the window and see me standing there. They would probably assume I had a dog and was letting him poop in their yard so I dropped Frankie’s leash and backed away a little.

When Frankie finally did resume moving he walked behind the houses. When we approached our house I picked him up and put him inside. As per tradition, when Frankie comes in, Chris goes out.

I hung around with Chris for a while, watching him eat grass and relax on the cool concrete. After about ten minutes he was done and asked me to open the door for him.

It was a nice break but then I went back to unpacking for the next four hours.

Home at Last

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We went to bed early on Friday night at the hotel. I looked at the clock when I turned out the light and it said 8:40. Rose fell asleep right away but it must have been too early for me because I just lied there trying to sleep but failing.

The clock said 9:40 the last time I looked before finally falling asleep. Not long after that Chris was on the bed making sure I was awake. He must have thought I had a concussion and spent the rest of the night making sure I didn’t get any sleep. Since it was a hotel room, I couldn’t put him out and close the door.

When I got up at 4:15, Chris decided his work was done and went to sleep. Rose commented on how great her sleep was that night. Grrrrrrrrrr.

We got on the road at about quarter after six and the gps on Rose’s iPhone put us on the highway going in the wrong direction. After about five minutes it figured out we were going in the wrong direction and told us to get off. I’ve had plenty of experience getting erroneous directions from the gps, especially in Germany where the navigation system seemed to delight in sending us in the wrong direction, that I just didn’t trust it.

It was still dark and I couldn’t tell east from west so I opened Google Maps on my phone but it could not get a gps signal so, after intense discussion, we decided to trust it and turned around. Fortunately, it was the right choice.

The rest of the trip went well. I called U-Haul when we were in Tampa to try to change the drop off location for our trailer. There is a gas station that deals in U-Hauls at the end of our neighborhood but when I picked it up that place wasn’t on his map. It took about thirty minutes to get through to someone but then they had to transfer me and hung up instead. Before that call, dealing with U-Haul had been a frustrating experience, except for when I picked it up, which was okay. After that call I felt like I would never rent from them again but they are pretty much a monopoly so what choice would I have?

We got home just before 3 p.m. I shut the cats in the Florida room with food, water and litter and opened their crates.

I then unloaded the truck and trailer in about one hour and forty five minutes. When I finished, Rose and I went to our designated drop off location. When we got there we could find no place to put the trailer and the office was closed. It was a used car lot that also handled U-Hauls and the small parking lot was jammed full of used cars and U-Hauls.

We ended up bringing the trailer back home and took Rose’s car out for mediteranian food for dinner. On the way I called U-Haul and requested a call back, which I got when I was in the restaurant. The guy on the phone said the location printed on my paperwork was not the location in his system. Big surprise there. He gave me the address of a major U-Haul location in Clearwater that was open until seven, so we raced home, got the truck, and made it there with five minutes to spare.

When we pulled in there was a sign that said “Drop Offs” so we pulled through and stopped. I got out and was met by a friendly man who immediately unhooked the trailer and said, “Ok, you’re all set.”

‘That’s it?” I said. “You don’t need my paperwork?”

“Nope,” he said. I just need to take a picture of the number and you’ll get a confirmation in your email.”

Okay, so maybe I will rent a U-Haul again, but only from that location.

Everyone seems happy to be home. The house is full of boxes now but they still seem perfectly comfortable, like we never left. They did, however, do a little exploring before settling down.

As I write this Saturday night, Frankie is napping in the dining room by the window and Chris is napping next to me on the bed. Floki was here next to Chris but he left.

Now we have to figure out what to do with all the stuff we brought back. Once we do, things should get back to normal pretty quickly.

Halfway to Florida

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We got up early Friday morning and did all the last minute things that needed to be done before we could leave. After feeding the cats and giving them enough time to use the litter boxes, I actually threw out two of our four litter boxes. The other two I cleaned the night before and put litter in one for the trip.

We brought the crates downstairs the night before and Chris and Floki actually got inside of one of them.

Chris was also lying in the crate the next morning while I was packing the truck and trailer. This time he was in the correct crate and Floki was nearby, which made Rose want to grab him and put him in with Chris before it was too late and he disappeared. I disagreed because I still had a lot to do and wanted them to have access to the litter box as long as possible.

When we decided to rent our house we had to bring a lot of stuff with us so we booked a 5×8 Uhaul trailer on Monday. By Wednesday it was clear that no Uhaul location within 45 minutes would have a 5×8 trailer so we had to go with a 6×12. Apparently, it is not just rental cars that are scarce.

I picked up the trailer on Wednesday and packed most of our stuff on Thursday. I think if I had two of everything I would have had room to spare.

While I was finishing loading the trailer Friday morning, Floki got nervous and went upstairs. I chose not to worry about it until I was finished but Rose went upstairs for something and saw Floki on the bed and grabbed him by the scruff and carried him down and put him in with Chris. She actually did this without getting all cut up.

We got the cats in the truck and were ready to go at around 6:45.

The cats were relatively quiet, at least compared to the trip last year. It took longer than expected but we got there around 2:40, which left us plenty of time to unwind.

The first thing the cats did when we got to the hotel room was explore and use the litter box.

Frankie was most interested in exploring.

Chris was more interested in relaxing next to me on the bed.

Although Frankie did settle down after a while.

Floki spent a lot of time out of my view. I don’t know what he was doing but I would see him briefly from time to time so he wasn’t napping.

We are now on the road again. It will certainly be nice when it is over and we are home.

Photo Friday: The Best Place to Nap

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Chris and Frankie both like to nap on my lap. In fact, Chris is on my lap as I write this. Usually, having both on my lap doesn’t last long because Chris annoys Frankie, but on this day there was peace.

We will be on the first leg of our trip back to Florida today so any lap time will have to wait until we get to the hotel.