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First Impressions of Honest Kitchen Prowl Cat Food

Last week I needed to buy more canned cat food because I was completely out, but I also needed to buy human food and the two stores were miles apart. My first stop was Sprouts Farmer’s Market. If you are unfamiliar with them, they are similar to Whole Foods. While there I looked in their pet food section and saw they had Honest Kitchen Prowl Cat Food on sale for $20.

Prowl is a dehydrated food with relatively healthy ingredients. The box says it makes six pounds of food after hydration. I did the math and decided that six pounds for $20 was better than 8.25 pounds for $40, which is what a case of Earthborn Holistic Chicken Catcciaori cost at my local store (although I just noticed it is less money on Amazon). It also saved me from driving across town to get it.

My biggest concern, besides whether they would like it, is how much patience they would have waiting for me to prepare it. The answer is not much. I followed the directions and mixed one cup of food with one cup of water, which I thought was good for four cats. I waited what I thought was three minutes, although time seems to pass more slowly when hungry cats are waiting. I expected the soupy mixture to thicken up to a more solid consistency but it didn’t. It remained an awful looking soup. I added more of the Prowl and then more again until it looked like it was supposed to.

The cats were not impressed. Frankie ate some but everyone else just waited for the real food.

I tried to show them that it was good by letting them lick it off my finger. My hope was that they would then see that it was good and start eating from their bowls but that didn’t work.

I ended up buying their canned food and mixing the Prowl with it. I start with a heaping tablespoon and then add a small amount of water and mix it. I don’t wait the full three minutes because I have hungry felines to deal with so I open a can of food and add that to the mixture. I stir it all together and divide it onto four plates. I don’t have a picture of that but I can tell you they love it that way. I suppose it is a texture thing for them.

Once the Prowl is gone I will probably go back to making homemade raw cat food and mix that with their canned food like had done before I ran out of everything.

New Furniture, Bad Cats

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We recently got rid of some old furniture in our Florida room, including the sofa that started Puck pooping outside the litter box, and had a new trundle bed delivered. My wife went to Badcock without me and ordered it from a catalog They didn’t have a sample in the store.

It arrived the Thursday before last. Rose was in Orlando for business and I had to stay home and wait for delivery. When they arrived, I had to lock out the cats so the guys could come in and out as well as put everything together without being bothered.

Chris was very interested and Floki was not as nervous as I expected.

Frankie was indifferent.

After it was put together and they needed a signature I asked where the mattresses were. They said it didn’t come with mattresses. I said I’m sure my wife didn’t intend to buy this without mattresses.

Sure enough, the salesman never informed her that the mattresses in the photo were not included. You would think he would want to make more money by selling more products. But on a positive note, the cats loved being able to climb through to the bottom.

We also got a cabinet for the kitchen that was designed to look old. That way when the cats scratch it, nobody will notice.

We had to cover the trundle bed for a week until the new mattresses arrived but nobody minded, especially Chris.

One day after the bed arrived, Frankie decided to make it unreturnable by digging holes in it. Rose was not happy with him.

When the mattresses did arrive, Rose put new sheets on them and covered the bed with a blanket. The next morning Puck pooped on it.

Now we have to have pee pads on it. This is our life with cats.

On a separate note, Puck did not pee outside the box between Monday morning and Saturday morning, but we did wake up the last two mornings to pee. Very disappointing.

Photo Friday: Napping in Chaos

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We had furniture delivered last week so before it arrived we got rid of the old furniture and then pushed everything to one side of the room. I put one of the small cat perches on a chair next to the table to get it out of the way but that didn’t deter Chris. He still managed to nap on it. He even had his Kitty Kix Stick with him.

Seven Days of Ferals

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Here is part eight of my “Ferals at Work” series for throwback Thursday. I was going to write a regular post today but I am just too busy.

Bad Cat Chris

Lately, I have been taking pictures of the feral cats at work almost every morning when I feed them. Of course, this isn’t everyday because I work four days a week, sometimes five. Also, there are not always cats around when I put food out, but I wanted to share with you some of the pictures I have taken recently.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016 – These two usually hang out together but not always.

Thursday, March 3 – I often see this one waiting under the palm tree when I arrive at work.

Monday, March 7 – The cat to the far left of the picture below is the shyest of the three and is difficult to photograph because he is usually, but not always, too far away.

This one is the easiest to photograph.

Tuesday, March 8 – There seems to be a territorial dispute here even though I…

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Photo Friday: Cats of Thanksgiving

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We went to my sister-in-law’s house for Thanksgiving and I was told I need to ignore the cats and take family pictures. I think I managed to get one photo of my wife and her mother and that was it. Nobody wanted to get together for a group photo. The good news is that I didn’t ignore the cats and I have some cute photos for you.

Is it safe to come out yet?

No! Stay where you are. It’s not safe. I’ll take care of your turkey.

Just stay away from my turkey!

I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.

Do you feel a draft?

The door is open, ya know.

I think I need a new coat.

I still can’t believe I ate the whole thing.

We are ready to pack up the leftovers.

Ferals at Work Update

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For Throwback Thursday here is part seven of my “Ferals at Work” series. This was from March of 2016.

Bad Cat Chris

I am still putting food out for the ferals that hang around my place of employment but for a stretch of a couple of weeks I saw them very rarely. The food was always gone when I checked later in the day so I assumed they were just showing up later than usual. That surprised me because there is a school behind my work and activity increases exponentially after I get there.

One day I saw several birds interested in the food.

I worried that maybe the birds were eating it but I never saw the birds after that so I think that wasn’t normal.

Fortunately, I started seeing more of the feral cats again about two weeks ago. Some days I see only one and not always the same one but other days I see all three like this morning and when I took this video.

This fellow usually shows up…

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Morning Mayhem

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This story happened on Monday of last week and involves three bad cats.

My wife, Rose, recently developed wrist pain and she sometimes wakes up and can’t go back to sleep because of it. On this day she got up at about 3:15 in the morning. As I was trying to go back to sleep I heard her open the outside door to throw something out and then I heard her yell at Frankie. She then announced, “Frankie got out.”

That morning happened to be the coldest this season and I was tired and I didn’t want to get up at 3:15 in the morning to chase Frankie around the neighborhood. I knew he would come back so I tried to go back to sleep but him being outside bothered me so I eventually dragged myself out of bed, put on some warm clothes and a jacket, and went out to look for him.

The Jacket I had on was a Florida jacket and didn’t come close to fulfilling its job of keeping me warm. I walked around the area for 15 minutes looking for Frankie but eventually got too cold and had to go home.

I decided to go back to bed because I was very tired but now Chris and Puck were on the bed. I just left them there and got into bed.

Everything was fine for a short time and I almost fell asleep but then Chris started bothering me. He positioned himself next to my face and started licking and biting my nose. When I turned my head away, he started digging his claws into my neck and the back of my head. I tried pushing him away but he kept coming back. Eventually, Rose heard what was going on and came in to help. She removed all the cats from the bedroom and closed the door so I could go back to sleep.

After a little while of trying to go back to sleep, I heard the door open and I heard Rose say, “Come inside you bad boy.” Frankie was back. That made me feel better but I had another problem.

Just before or just after Frankie came back, I don’t remember, I felt Puck get on the bed. Appearently, Rose did not remove all the cats from the bedroom. That concerned me a little because the last time he was trapped in the bedroom he peed on the bed and on me. I tried to put that thought out of my mind but before too much time passed I felt a very warm feeling against my leg. He did it again! He peed on the bed! And he peed on me!

That woke me up fast. I got out of bed and gathered up all the sheets and threw them outside to be washed. Then I got in the shower before I did anything else.

Fortunately, we had a mattress cover on the bed which protected our mattress and our expensive foam mattress pad. I replaced the sheets and blanket with a new set and I put the other ones in the wash.

Washing clothes in our house is a step-by-step process. I might put a load in the washing machine in the morning before I go to work and then put it in the dryer when I get home. We have a high-efficiency washer and dryer but the dryer is not very efficient. Even at the driest setting it never dries on the first try. Since the machines are outside, I never hear the buzzer when they’re done so I always have to remember, which is something I am not good at. Sometimes it will take a full day or more to wash, dry and remove clothes from the dryer. Eventually, I got everything out and folded but decided to wait until we changed the sheets, which we always do on Saturday morning, before putting the mattress cover back on. Bad decision.

Friday morning Rose got up to use the bathroom and all the cats busted through the door when she opened it. This time it was a more reasonable hour. It was almost time to get up anyway. Chris and Puck jumped on the bed like they usually do while I waited for Rose to get out of the bathroom.

When I got up and walked towards the bathroom I touched the foot of the bed for some reason and noticed it was wet. Puck peed on it again! I couldn’t believe it. He was only in our room for two minutes. This time there was no cover to protect the bed.

I pulled the sheets up and I pulled up the mattress pad and noticed some of the pee had gone down through four inches of foam into the mattress. I was able to save the mattress with some urine eliminator but the mattress pad was a goner.

The rest of the story is only appropriate for an R-rated blog.

Photo Friday: Besties

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Even though Chris seems to sleep with Frankie more often than Puck, I think it is Chris and Puck who are probably the two best friends in our house. They are the only two that I never see fight with each other, except for a rare whap now and then. Puck often sleeps in the cubicle on the cat perch or sometimes he naps at the opposite end of the house as everyone else. That might explain why Chris chooses to sleep with Frankie more often.