Category Archives: Uncategorized

Work and Cats Don’t Mix

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Here is a post from January 2015 for Throwback Thursday. Chris does not bite legs as much these days but he has found other ways to annoy. I work from home more now and while I am working he will scratch my legs to let me know he wants to be picked up and put on my lap. He will then sometimes nap but usually he starts digging his claws into my face and chest. The problem is, if I put him down he then retaliates by biting my legs.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

My wife has been sick the last couple of days and has not slept well due to difficulty breathing through her nose. In spite of her need for rest, she brought several hours of work to do at home. After we ate dinner she was too tired to work and went to bed early. At 2:30 this morning she was again having trouble sleeping so she got up to do her work. I woke up briefly when she got up but quickly fell back asleep until 4:30 when I heard Rose yell, “Chris! Stop that!” I think I may have heard swearing as well but I might have been dreaming.

I knew what was going on. Chris was biting her legs. He does that sometimes when he is not getting the required amount of attention. I decided I needed to drag myself out of bed to distract Chris so Rose…

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Would You Scoop Twice a Week?

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I was at the store buying cat litter the other day and saw a bag called Ultra Clumping Litter that said “Easy Twice-a-Week Scooping.” My first thought, and pretty much only thought, was that’s nuts.

I don’t care if this is super litter from Krypton, scooping twice a week, at least in my opinion, borders on animal abuse. I am sure it probably controls odors for that long but no cat wants to maneuver around a minefield of poop looking for a place to do their business.

I have three large boxes for three cats. Each box holds about fifteen to twenty pounds of litter. I scoop the boxes a minimum of twice a day but usually three or more times. The bag shown contains five pounds of litter. Imagine three and a half days of poop and pee in five pounds of litter.

Personally, I think this is designed for lazy people who probably should not have cats in the first place and this just encourages bad behavior. Maybe I’m wrong. What do you think?

Photo Friday: The Takeover

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Lately Frankie has taken to lying by my feet while I am sitting in my recliner and watching television with my wife. When I get up to do something I don’t retract the foot of the chair so as not to disturb Frankie. On this particular evening I came back to see my seat had been completely taken over so I had to sit on the part of the sofa that does not reline.

A former coworker used to call situations like this “First World problems.”

Our Brush with Hurricane Elsa

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Before I even knew there was a storm brewing, one of my coworkers told me, very concerned, that we were going to get hit by a hurricane. I had not seen the news and had no idea what he was talking about but since he just recently moved to Florida I told him not to worry, we don’t get hit by hurricanes here. I told him of a local Indian legend that says there is something under the ground here in Pinellas County that repels hurricanes.

Indeed, I believe there is no record of Pinellas County Florida ever getting a direct hit by a hurricane, although a few have come close. Several years ago Hurricane Charley was predicted to slam right into Tampa Bay but suddenly, and unexpectedly, veered east and hit the Ft. Meyer’s area. Maybe the legend is true.

Yesterday that same employee asked our boss about the company’s inclement weather policy. I couldn’t help but laugh. Since we are a small business, I pictured that written down in a big manual somewhere.

My wife was concerned too but not about our safety. Her concern was that we might lose power and thus the ability to cool ourselves. She wanted me to make sure I had the batteries charged on our alternative power supplies.

The worst of the storm was supposed to pass by, just offshore, between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. We watched the weather that evening but there was barely a breeze.

We went to bed around 10 p.m. but left the bedroom door open incase the storm got bad and the cats wanted to be with us. Chris showed up around 2 a.m. and proceeded to bother the hell out me by scratching my neck and face. After a while I put him on the floor and lured them all out of the bedroom buy getting out the Stella and Chewy’s. I then went back to bed but realized I forgot to look out the window so I went back out to the kitchen and looked out the window. None of the trees were moving from the wind except a lone palm tree. Not sure what happened to the hurricane. Perhaps it was repelled.

This morning everything looks fine. There is no flooding and no debris that I can see from my house. Now I have to go to work. No excuses today.

Photo Friday: Classic Holly

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Here is my sister-in-law’s cat, Holly, from ten years ago today. Holly was the original bad cat and my wife and I loved watching her antics. Being naughty can be quite entertaining. Before adopting Chris we would joke that we wanted to take her home but we knew that Felice would never part with her.

Chris was like a male version of Holly, perhaps even a little more naughty, but Chris eventually became overweight and his naughtiness died down a bit while Holly is about fifteen now and can still hold her own in the bad cat category.

A Healthy Alternative to Cat Treats

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Here is a post from early 2015 for Throwback Thursday. A few things have changed since this post, like I now prefer Rawz over Blue Buffalo, but I still give them Stella and Chewy’s as treats and they have not grown tired of it.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

If your cats are like mine, they love their cat treats. For years I was buying very small packages of treats for three to four dollars each to help bring a little happiness to my furry friends. I’ve also known that they were not exactly a healthy food for my cats but I figured the small amount once or twice a day wouldn’t hurt them.

I have since changed my thinking. For several years I have been learning about natural health for humans and have tried to apply some of that knowledge to our cats. It has been a slow process. I spent a few years buying frozen, raw food and then struggling to get them to eat it. My plan is to buy a meat grinder and make it myself but I’m not sure that will be any more successful. In the meantime, I feed them a quality, grain-free canned…

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Photo Friday: The Moth Hunter

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Our house is relatively free of bugs partly because we have cats. Chris used to be a great bug catcher but now the duty is performed quite well by Floki. Here he is waiting patiently for a moth to make a mistake.

I don’t think he got the moth that time but I didn’t see it after that so he probably got it after we went to bed. Does anyone else have good bug hunters living with you?

Floki Loves Chris

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Since adopting Chris, no cat has gone to him for attention until we adopted Floki. I have always seen Chris seeking attention from others but not the other way around. Puck may have occasionally gone to Chris but not enough to be memorable.

It makes me feel good now to see Floki seeking attention from Chris. I probably shouldn’t be thinking of this in human terms but I imagine sending a child to school but that child has a hard time making friends. Then a new student shows up with a funny Viking name that wants to be your child’s friend. I think any parent would be happy about that, assuming the new child is not a psycho. Floki may be a little weird sometimes but he certainly is not a psycho.