For Throwback Thursday here is Chris in 2014 trying to get into the cabinet where we kept the catnip. Unfortunately for Chris, the cabinet did not open at the end he needed it to open at.
We keep the catnip in the cabinet above the stove because it is the one cabinet in the house that Chris can’t open. Nevertheless, he knows it is in there and he is on a mission to get to it.
Several months ago the SPCA was looking for volunteers to help transport animals. At the time, I did not really know what that meant but I thought it would be something that I might like to do so I signed up for it, submitted all the necessary paperwork, and waited. I then waited some more, and then forgot all about it until I got a group email that said they were looking for people to transport animals. I signed up again and this time I was not forgotten.
I went to orientation a couple of weeks ago and learned they were taking in injured and sick wildlife. I’m not sure why but all the wildlife being cared for at that location consisted of just opossums and baby blue jays. I watched as she fed the blue jays and she cleaned and fed the opossums, which are very dirty considering they poop in their water bowls. We then went to a local vet to pick up a baby blue jay.
After orientation I was set up as part of a group in an app called GroupMe. I was also given a carrier, several cardboard boxes and some envelopes in case someone wanted to make a donation. The app is similar to a Facebook group. If someone calls the SPCA and says they have an injured animal, it will be posted to the group along with the address and the caller’s phone number.
At around this same time my wife got sick. She had a fever of 102 degrees and very bad headaches that no amount of pain killers would alleviate. She also had other minor symptoms that caused us concern. We wanted to get her tested for COVID-19 but it turned out to be very difficult. CVS was completely booked and other places did not answer their phone. We drove to a testing site at 9:00 a.m. one morning that didn’t require a reservation but there were about 50 people standing outside in the hot sun in close proximity. Rose was already sick, there was no way we were going to stand in line with a bunch of other sick people.
We then went to Tropicana Field where they were doing drive-up testing but they, we learned later, only did 350 tests per day and were already closed. This was on a Monday. We eventually learned that you have to sign up on CVS’s website just after midnight because they only have three days worth of appointments and midnight is when they add the next day. So we set an alarm and just after midnight we made an appointment for that Thursday morning.
My wife was very sick for about three days and then she improved significantly over the next few days after that. By Thursday the fever and headaches had diminished but we still wanted to get her tested. Actually, we needed to get her tested because even though I never got sick, I was exposed to what she had and I didn’t want to spread it, so I felt compelled to cancel my shift as a cat counselor, cancel my shift with the Red Cross and not take any animal transport calls until the results came back. I was also not allowed to go to work during this time.
When Rose took the test they said it would take 2-4 days for the results. They then changed that to 5-7 days. She got the results back on Sunday evening, over 10 days later. The test came back negative.
Rose and I were actually hoping for a positive test result. I know that sounds weird but considering that Rose had already recovered and I never got sick that would have meant that neither one of us needed to worry about this disease again for a while. Instead, we ended up back in the same boat that we started in.
A negative test result was also good news because it meant I was able to get back to work. I signed up to work in the shelter on Friday and I started paying attention to the texts so that I could get started transporting animals.
Friday morning, as I was getting ready, I noticed a text that said “Rabbit at…” And gave an address and a person’s name and phone number. I replied that I could get it and quickly got dressed and left. I called the number as I was leaving and the man that answered gave me instructions on how to get to his apartment. When I arrived, he met me there and showed me where the rabbit was.
He was just sitting there eating grass (I say “him” only because it sounds better than “it”). At first I wondered what was wrong with him but as I got closer I could see that his fur was missing in several areas on his body. I had brought a carrier with me and I grabbed a towel from my car. I put the towel over the bunny and gently picked him up and put him him the carrier. I probably should have photographed him first but I didn’t think about it until I got to the car. By that time it was too difficult to get a good photo. The photo I did take is not worth sharing.
I drove the rabbit back to the shelter but I think they needed to bring him to another building so someone could examine him so they just gave me another carrier and I was on my way.
That afternoon I was back at the shelter working as a cat counselor. It had been a couple of weeks since I had been there so most of the cats there were new to me. There were also several kittens as well. Two kittens were adopted as soon as I arrived.
This one was very friendly and let me pick him up and hold him.
This calico was also very friendly but she was not a big fan of being held.
Then there were these cuties.
There were more kittens but my phone’s battery was almost dead and I wanted to conserve energy.
While I was there, a woman asked me about a certain kitten. She said it was white with black ear points. I thought maybe she was talking about a Siamese kitten but there was no kitten like that, at least not in the adoption room.
She then told me that her roommate found it under a truck’s axle when it was about four weeks old. They brought it to the SPCA because they didn’t know how to take care of a kitten that young and because they didn’t know if it would be safe to bring it home since they had an older cat in the house.
They wanted to adopt the cat but normally you can’t turn in a cat and then have it back. I think since this was a special circumstance and because it was never their cat to begin with, she was told to come back in four weeks when the kitten was old enough to be fixed and adopted out.
Coincidentally, my wife texted me this photo the evening before while she was at the hairdresser with the words, “I want her.”
She told me her hairdresser fostered cats for the SPCA. It suddenly occurred to me that this might be the same kitten so I took my phone out and showed her the photo. She agreed that the kitten looked similar but her kitten was a boy and this was a girl.
We talked to one of the employees who did some research and found out that the kitten was being fostered and the name was “Ewok.” I texted my wife and asked what the kitten’s name was that she wanted and she said “I think her name is Opal.” That pretty much settled it. These were two different kittens. Or were they?
When I got home Rose asked me why I wanted to know the kitten’s name. I said because someone was looking for a kitten named “Ewok.”
“Ewok was her name,” Rose said, “but she (meaning the hairdresser) didn’t like it and changed it to “Opal.” Mystery solved.
I guess this woman is not going to get the boy she was expecting but I’m sure she will be happy. Rose is disapointed but she did the right thing by giving up the kitten to the people who found her.
I found this rather cute photo of Chris, Tigger and Abbey napping together eight years ago today in 2012.
Of course, it didn’t start out like that.
Chris gradually worked his way into a comfortable third wheel.
Regular readers may recall the trouble Chris was having with his ears. His regular vet said the ear polyps in his ears were too extensive and refereed me to another vet. In a nutshell, they charged me almost $1000 and did nothing for him except give him a medication that helped somewhat. I will post a link to those posts below.
Since then I was able to get my regular vet to order that same medication compounded for a much cheaper price. It seemed to help for a while but I know an antibiotic won’t work forever and his ear polyps won’t just go away so the problem will just keep coming back.
I put the medication in his ears for a few weeks and then took a break for a little while and then continued with the medication. I needed to order more medication but since Chris is still shaking his head from time to time I decided it would be wise to have the vet check his ears again.
He had a 2:00 appointment today but I was not allowed to bring him inside. When I got there I had to call and someone would come out to get him. I arrived a little before 2:00 but nobody answered the phone. I assumed they were at lunch and sure enough someone pulled into the parking lot a few minutes later and went inside. A few minutes after that she came out, asked me a few questions, and then brought Chris inside while I waited in the car.
Some time passed and I got a call from the vet who said that his right ear was okay but his left ear had problems. She asked for permission to take a sample to determine what pathogen was invading his ear.
Of course I gave her permission and she called later to say that in addition to the bacterial infection that was already determined from the last vet, he picked up a fungus as well. She said that sometimes happens when an antibiotic is used. I learned years ago that the same thing happens when a woman gets a bladder infection.
While Chris was there I asked her to microchip him. None of our cats have been micro-chipped and I have felt uneasy about it for a long time but every time one of the cats is at the vet I either forget to mention it or I don’t want to add to their trauma.
When we got home I let Chris out of his carrier outside as a reward for handling himself well. In other words, he was good for me but perhaps not so good for the vet.
When I brought Chris inside Rose suggested I bring Floki to get his nails clipped and get him micro-chipped as well. I called the vet and asked if I could bring him with little notice because he is nearly impossible to catch so making an appointment would be hard to keep. She said that should be okay and they could just slip him in between appointments.
It was a long shot but I brought his carrier inside and set it on the kitchen chair. Floki did not see me bring in the carrier but his psychic abilities alerted him to danger and under the bed he went.
Frankie, on the other hand, was not alerted to danger and climbed inside the carrier.
Rose then suggested that I bring Frankie to be micro chipped because he needs it the most. I agreed and zipped the top shut. I then brought him to the car and called the vet. I told her I couldn’t get Flokie but I had Frankie. She put me on hold for a long time. I decided to start driving and was half way to the vet when she said that I would have to leave him there because it might take an hour or more before they could get to him. I said I didn’t want to leave him in that little carrier for that long and turned the car around and brought him home. Perhaps I will just make an appointment for Frankie since I know I can catch him.
If you want to read about Chris’s ear problems, check out the posts below.
Ear Polyps, Arthritis and 19 pounds
All of our cats are interested in fresh laundry but Floki is the one cat I can count on to always be there when clean laundry is ready to be folded.
I hope all of our American friends had a great Fourth of July. I know it can be a difficult day for people with pets, but our pets are not normal.
I vacuumed the house in the morning while Chris and Frankie were napping in the Florida room. They weren’t bothered by the noise in the slightest.
Later that evening is when the fireworks started. Judging by the sound, a very close neighbor spent a fortune on fireworks. I think it peaked around 9:30 when there was a continuous stream of loud bangs over our house but all of our cats were napping on our bed like nothing was going on.
How did your pets handle the Fourth of July?
Here is Frankie on a recent walk. During our walks, he often takes a time out for some rest and relaxation.
Here is something I posted in 2014 for Throwback Thursday but I could have just as easily posted it today. Somethings just never change.
I have learned that if you want to get a cat’s attention, start making the bed. They could all be sleeping in the other room but once you start to pull the sheets up, you’ve got a party.
I didn’t always know that bed making was a favorite activity of many cats. I first noticed it with our cat Tigger many years ago. I would pick him up and put him on the floor and he would jump right back up on the bed. This became the routine every morning. I started singing a song by Chumbawamba while making the bed; “I get knocked down but I get up again. You’re never going to keep me down.” I never knew the rest of the lyrics so I would just repeat those to Tigger while I struggled to finish the bed.
Now that Tigger is gone, Chris and Puck are happy to…
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About a year after I started this blog, I started another blog called Just Fur Laughs. It is a blog featuring memes with animals. I worked on it diligently at first but after a while it sort of faded into the background.
Meanwhile, Bad Cat Chris continued to gain followers on the blog but not so much on the Facebook page. So I decided to put Chris in charge of the Facebook page and he managed to get 2500 followers by 2015. At the same time, or maybe shortly before, I considered dropping the Just Fur Laughs Facebook page for a lack of followers.
Since 2015 however, Chris has pulled in less than 300 more followers and is at 2792. I’m not sure why that is because we post on that page quite often. Just Fur Laughs’ Facebook Page, on the other hand, has been steadily climbing lately and I am not sure why because I have not been very consistent about adding new content, although I plan to do better.
Even though Bad Cat Chris has way more blog followers. Facebook is a different story. Every day recently I noticed that Just Fur Laughs was gaining and has now surpassed Chris with 2846 followers as of Tuesday morning.
I guess the reason I am writing this is because I don’t know how I feel. On the one hand, I am very happy that people like my work, but on the other hand, I wonder why Chris’s Facebook page has become stagnant. I guess even after all these years I am still learning. What do you think?
The SPCA announced recently that they were allowing the volunteers to come back. I took that opportunity to trade my 4-7 shift on Thursdays for a 1-4 shift on Fridays. This means that I will be volunteering at the same time I am on call at the Red Cross but I have gone on two calls in six months so I thoght it would be no problem.
When I walked into the cat room I noticed that all of the pods were empty, at least all that I could see.
I thought maybe they moved the cats and didn’t tell me but as I continued I saw a pod with four cats in it. I was pleasantly surprised to find seven of the eight cat pods empty. The next room has the smaller cages where cats are kept in isolation, either because they are recovering from surgery, they have a special diet, or the don’t play well with others.
There were four cats in that room, including a very friendly black cat named Sassy who had a skin condition from a flea allergy. I took her photo but it is too blurry to post.
There were also six kittens in the room in three separate cages, probably separated by litter. There were two black kittens that I failed to get pictures of. There was also a single gold and white kitten who was curious but shy.
Then there was three kittens together in one cage, a ginger boy and two females including one tabby and one tortie.
The ginger kitten was the most outgoing of the three and would come down from the shelf for attention.
The four cats inside the pod were pretty shy except for a white and gold cat named Max.
When Max wasn’t busy catching some rays he was busy looking for attention
While I was there, a man and his two boys came in shortly before a woman. All of them decided they wanted to adopt the ginger kitten but the woman recognized that the man was first and let him take the kitten. Perhaps if he didn’t have two young boys who wanted the kitten, he might have let her have him. Unfortunately, the woman left without a cat.
Another woman, who had been in earlier, decided to adopt an eight year old male Siamese cat named Sage. He was hiding under their homemade cat tree so I had to pull him out and put him in a carrier. I’m sure he wasn’t happy about it then but today he is living the good life.
While I was there I spoke with someone about doing animal transports. It is an on call position that I know almost nothing about yet but she did ask if I would be comfortable handling wildlife and mentioned birds of prey and a few others that I don’t remember. My guess is these are animals that are injured and need medical attention but I don’t know. I have an appointment to meet with her at 7:00 am this morning where I will learn more about the job. I think it will be interesting.
Bad Cat Chris 