This squirrel knew there were two cats watching for him, but he also knew glass separated them, so he had no problem taunting Frankie and Flokie.
Taunted by a Squirrel
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Chris Comes Home
I picked up Chris’s ashes from the vet today. I wanted to show you, so I took everything out and set it on a cat perch to take pictures.
Frankie jumped onto the perch, so I quickly put everything back in the bag before he knocked it on the floor. He was surprisingly curious about what was in the bag. It was almost as if he could smell Chris or somehow sense it was him. I don’t know.
This is the first time we have ever received the ashes from one of our pets. I plan on bringing him to our house in West Virginia when we go there in the spring. We have a fairly large backyard. I think that would be a good place to spread his ashes.
The Boring Lizard
Frankie encountered a very small lizard Friday morning and quickly became bored with it.
Maybe it wasn’t enough of a challenge for him.
Hanging With Mama
Often, when Rose and I sat down to watch television, Chris would get on the sofa and lie next to me. Usually, he would be half on and half off my lap. After a while, he would decide I had enough attention, and it was Mama’s turn. he would walk over to her and lie down at her side. I found this photo from the first of August that shows this. On this day, Frankie happened to be there first, but that was more of an exception than the rule.
Rose returned from her cruise on Thursday. That evening she was saddened to know Chris would not be joining her on the sofa.
Photo Friday: Making Progress
After Chris died, I worried that we would never again see our cats cuddle together. While they aren’t yet cuddling, they are touching each other. It’s progress.
Revised Bad Cat Chris Book is Free
After Chris died, I read the book I wrote about him for the first time since I published it over eleven years ago. I’m embarrassed to say I found a lot of errors, most of which were commas. I feel I am a much better writer today, but commas are still my kryptonite. Either I don’t put them where they belong, or I put them where they don’t belong.
I went through the book and corrected the mistakes I found without changing the story. I also updated the backmatter with information about my current books. In addition, I changed the cover. I was never entirely happy with the cover. I don’t know why I didn’t change it years ago.
I decided to offer the corrected version for free today through Saturday. Unfortunately, it is only available on Kindle, so you can’t get it as a physical book. Maybe someday I’ll look into doing that. To get your free Kindle book, click here.
As always, writing a review of any of my books would be very helpful and I would appreciate it.
My Guilt
When the vet came in to tell me what was wrong with Chris on Saturday, I called my wife so she could hear it, too. She was in Tampa preparing for a cruise with her managers. The vet said they had removed some of the fluid from around Chris’s lungs and had him on oxygen. She said there are two main causes for that condition: cancer and heart disease. She mentioned a number of tests that could be done to determine which is the cause.
“So, you would do the tests, and we will take Chris home and wait for the results?”
“Oh, no. Chris needs critical care. he would have to stay here and be admitted.”
“So, what would his prognoses be then?”
“If it’s cancer, there’s not much we can do. If it’s heart disease, medication might extend his life three to six months.”
That is about how the conversation went, although I may not have the words exactly right. My wife thought he suffered enough. She thought going through all of this treatment for little or no benefit would be something Chris would despise. I had to agree with her considering on top of his current problem, he also had kidney disease, a perpetual ear infection, and arthritis. So, we made the decision to let him go.
After a little while, they took me to another room. This room had a bench seat big enough for two people next to a window. I sat on the end near the door. A women took my credit card information, and I paid the over one-thousand-dollar bill.
She left and came back with Chris wrapped in a towel. She put him on my lap, and I petted him for a little while. I saw part of his fur was shaved and he had a tube sticking out of him from somewhere. He then got up and walked to the other side of the bench and looked out the window.
At that moment, I thought he looked normal. He didn’t look like a cat in need of critical care. My first thought was to tell them I changed my mind and get the hell out of there with him. I then considered the possibility that the vet might know more than me. What if I brought him home and he had another episode where he had trouble breathing? What if he were to die while not being able to get enough oxygen and lying in his own urine like that morning?
I made the hard choice. I picked up Chris, put him back on my lap, and pushed the call button.
Monday night, I couldn’t fall asleep. I kept going over that moment in my head. I convinced myself I made the wrong choice. I thought the vet probably over exaggerated his condition like a weather forecaster before a hurricane. I thought I should have brought him home and let God decide his fate. I’m not qualified.
Are these feelings normal? The last time I was involved with euthanasia was with Abbey about twelve years ago. Then my wife was with me which made it easier but still, I felt grief, but I didn’t feel like we were doing the wrong thing. What do you think?
I want to end this post on a positive note so here is one of my most recent photos of Chris.
Remembering Chris Part Three
Chris was always a happy-go-lucky cat. When we introduced Puck, he accepted him right away. We thought introducing Frankie to our home would go the same way. It didn’t. Chris immediately saw him as a threat and became aggressive towards him.
It took a while but eventually an uneasy truce emerged. that truce was fragile, and fights would often erupt.
After about a month, Chris decided he wanted to be Frankie’s friend but after his earlier behavior, Frankie wasn’t having it. It took several more months before their relationship became relatively okay.
When we introduced Floki to our home Chris was better behaved. I suppose a kitten is far less threatening than a full-grown male cat.
Soon, a sort of love triangle developed in our house. Floki liked Chris, Chris liked Frankie, and Frankie liked me. Sometimes, well, most of the time, Chris would get jealous when Frankie paid attention to me. I was never sure if Chris was jealous because I was paying attention to Frankie or because Frankie was paying attention to me. This usually happened when I was lying in bed winding down for the evening.
Despite his jealous moments, one of his best qualities was his affection for others, both cats and humans. I got so many comments from people who said they wished their cats got along like our cats did. The truth is, Chris was the main reason that happened. He was like the glue that held the other cats together.
Now that Chris is gone, I hope Floki and Frankie can learn to be close.
Remembering Chris Part Two
When we moved back to Florida, Chris’s talent for opening doors flourished.
He also like being high up in the air.
One of the cute things he did was hang out with Rose while she got ready in the morning and put her makeup on.
Next time I’ll talk about his lizard catching ability.
Remembering Chris Part One
As most of you know, we lost Chris Saturday afternoon. We knew his time with us was limited but we still hoped for at least another year. I at least thought he would see his fifteenth Gotch Day in November.
I am grateful to the many people who reached out and offered prayers when they learned Chris was not doing well, and condolences after he passed. As most of you know, losing a beloved pet is very difficult but knowing there are people who really care about you softens the blow.
I would like to thank Ann from Zoolatry for first creating this graphic when she learned Chris wasn’t doing well.
A few hours later she made this beautiful memorial for Chris.
I thought this would be a good time to take a stroll down memory lane, starting with the first two known photos of Chris taken October 3, 2009, when I talked my wife into coming into the shelter where I volunteered to meet Chris.
We didn’t adopt him then. We had a cruise coming up in October and then Rose had to go to a managers meeting. In the meantime, Chris was adopted by someone else. He annoyed his first adoptive parents so much that they returned him the next day. The fact that a five to six-month-old kitten could not get adopted was unusual and lucky for us as well as Chris, because I don’t know many people who could have put up with him in those early years.
Here is a video of him when we brought him home. We didn’t do what we should have done and introduce him to our cats slowly. Instead, we let him loose and he immediately took over. As you can see, Chris was not a shy cat.
I believe this is the first photo I have of him in our new home.
Three hours later he cozied up to Rose on the sofa.
He quickly became friendly with our other cats. Our black cat, Flash, is not in this picture, nor do I have a photo of him with Chris. It’s too bad because he died the following April.
Chris would often insert himself where he wasn’t invited.
While he could be highly annoying to both cats and people, he was also funny and entertaining.
He could also be very cute.
What stood out the most about Chris was his affectionate nature. He was always a very touchy-feely cat. He was the only cat I ever knew that liked to be hugged.
Of course, there were plenty of things he did to earn the name Bad Cat Chris.
Chris was with us for almost fifteen years. There is way too much to remember in one post. I will post part two soon.
Bad Cat Chris 