Author Archives: Charles Huss

Memories of Shelter Cats

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It has been over two months since the local SPCA told all of us volunteers to stay home. They are still taking care of and adopting pets but they are doing it with just their paid staff. That means the cats and dogs are still finding homes but they have fewer people around to pay attention to them while they are there.

While I was volunteering, I took photos of some of the cats almost every time I was there and I thought this would be a good time to share some of the ones from this year. The last time I was there was March 19th, over two months ago, so I’m sure all of these kitties have found homes by now. At least I hope so. I also have forgotten all of their names except Grampa Hulu who was unusual because he was a male tortie.


Grandpa Hulu


Hopefully they will be letting us volunteers come back pretty soon.

Frankie’s Walk

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Frankie and I went for a nice walk the other day. The first thing Frankie needed to do was get a good sniff on a nearby car.

The cat that he met on a previous walk may have left him a message there.

It was a warm day so we needed to stop in the shade for a while.

Then it was on to the traditional roll in the dirt.

And then more rolling in the dirt.

Finally we stopped to rest on some nice, comfortable concrete.

On a side note, I forgot to mention that Frankie’s paw improved on it’s own after he hurt it a couple of weeks ago. By the next day he was walking fine. I still see him holding it up in the air sometimes though. I don’t know if it bothers him or if that is just something he does. I will have to watch him more closely.

Photo Friday: Undercover

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At eleven years old Chris is still like a little kid sometimes. He loves getting under the cover. It can be quite funny to watch, especially when Floki is around and sees movement under the cover and is compelled to attack.

After a minute or two I feel compelled to partially remove the cover because I am unsure how difficult it is for him to breath.

Chris’s Eleventh Birthday

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It just occurred to me that today is Chris’s birthday. I should have had a big, elaborate post planned for his birthday but instead all I have is a quickly thrown together post with a photo of Chris on top of our kitchen cabinets on his fourth birthday, which I have never posted before to my knowledge.

We don’t know exactly when Chris was born but since he was about six months old when we adopted him I just celebrate his birthday six months before his gotcha day. I will have to make sure he gets plenty of Stella and Chewy’s today for a treat.

Frankie’s Injured Paw

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I came home from work this afternoon and noticed Frankie holding up his right paw when he moved. I could see he was in obvious pain when he placed it on the ground but I wasn’t sure what happened.

I took this photo when I noticed the problem. Sorry that it is a little out of focus.

Rose was home all day and she had not noticed him limping before then. I will admit that I do accidentally kick Frankie every now and then because he tends to walk in front of where I’m walking. This morning I almost tripped over him but I checked to make sure he was okay and he seemed fine. Perhaps I didn’t notice his paw. I don’t know. It can also be something entirely different.

I looked at his paw and didn’t see anything obvious. I then picked him up and brought him to Rose who also examined his paw. She didn’t see anything obvious either.

Since I’m not sure what vets are doing these days I decided to wait to see if he got better. Something like a sprain might show signs of improvement in a day or so. So far, after three hours, he is still limping.

What do you think? Do you think waiting a couple of days is okay?

Photo Friday: Young Chris

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Here is a picture of Chris when he was around ten months old, taken on March 5, 2010. He was playing with this stuffed animal at the time.

I know the quality is not perfect but I like the look on his face. I also have videos from the same day of him playing with a Q-tip. Unfortunately, the videos are too out of focus to share, which is too bad because he was so funny back then.

National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day

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Today is National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day.

During this difficult time people have stepped up and have been fostering or adopting pets at a much higher level than I anticipated, but there are still many pets stuck at shelters.

Volunteer duties have been suspended at the SPCA where I volunteer, but they are still open with paid staff and the shelter is taking reservations for people who want to adopt.

I hope to see an empty shelter when I am able to return.

That probably won’t happen but hopefully the pets at the shelter will be kept to a minimum.

That could happen. I am sometimes almost embarrassed to be human because of all the stupid, mean things that people do but during a time of crisis people tend to put the humane in humanity.

Frankie’s Chance Encounter

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I took Frankie for a walk the other day because it had been at least a week since his last escape and I had been procrastinating about taking him out so I decided it was time. Of course, he helped motivate me by being extremely annoying. Somehow he knows when I make the decision to take him out because he gets very excited and follows me around the house meowing constantly. Then I take his harness out of the drawer and the excitement level rises to epic proportions.

On this day we didn’t go very far when Frankie stopped about ten feet from a parked car and stared. I didn’t know what he was looking at but soon saw a black cat under the car.

The cat had a collar but I could not tell if it was a flea collar. Outside cats are not allowed where I live so either somebody is breaking the rules or someone put a flea collar on a stray cat as a friendly gesture. It could also be a stray or feral cat that someone has been taking care of and the collar is to discourage trapping.

Surprisingly, Frankie did not growl or hiss at the cat nor did the cat growl or hiss at Frankie. That could be because it was female. I don’t know. Frankie quietly inched his way forward and the truce lasted until he was very close and then the cat hissed and ran under the next car.

Frankie didn’t pursue. Instead, he found a tree about about forty or fifty feet away and left his calling card.

What We Can’t Eat in a House With Cats

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We try not to eat too much chicken in our house because when we do we attract vultures, otherwise know as cats, who want to take our food off our plates. Yesterday we ordered pizza and chicken wings for lunch. We ate the pizza for lunch and saved the wings for dinner. This is what happened at dinnertime.

The technical quality is not great because it was taken in very low light without a flash, but I think my wife’s timing was perfect. It really captures the story well. I guess a picture really is worth a thousand words.