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Floki’s Trauma


Yesterday morning, Saturday, my wife and I brought Floki to the vet. It was nothing serious but we wanted his nails trimmed and his ears checked. The last time they cleaned his ears because they were dirty and Rose thought they needed cleaning again.

Rose also wanted them to apply his flea medication that we had but couldn’t put it on him for the same reason we can’t clip his nails or clean his ears. He is a tornado in a cat’s body.

Our vet still makes the humans wait in the car which is something I do not like because I think it is important for the pet’s human to be there for psychological comfort and because it is easier to know what is going on if you are in the exam room.

When the vet tech brought out Floki, she mentioned that his ears were dirty again when he came in and he might have to shake some remaining fluid out of his ears from the cleaning.

When we got him home, he immediately ran under the bed. I figured he would hide for a little while even though there was no logical reason we would bring him home just to catch him again.

Later that day Rose mentioned she saw Floki briefly and watched him lose his balance and fell down. He then went behind the sofa to hide. Later he was back under the bed again. When he didn’t come out for their late afternoon meal, we started to get concerned.

I put his food next to the bed but by late evening he still hadn’t eaten anything so I picked it up. I then sat in the bedroom for a while with Rose. We usually sit on the bed and wind down before going to bed. The cats often come in during that time and hang out with us. Since we have to close our bedroom door at night because of Chris, we want to give them that time.

We still had not seen Floki and were worried so I looked under the bed and he was not there. I checked behind the sofa and in the Florida room but no Floki. I eventually found him hiding in the dining room and started petting him. He put up with me for thirty seconds and walked quickly away, falling over once as he went. He ended up back under the bed.

Earlier, Rose thought the dizziness was due to the ear cleaning but I suggested that maybe it was a side effect of the flea medication. At first she discounted my idea, but the fact that he was dizzy so many hours later made her look up the side effects of flea medication and found that one of them was dizziness that could last up to 72 hours.

I have always hated putting flea medication on our cats because it is a poison but Rose hates fleas, which is understandable. I try to push out the treatment as long as possible but sometimes, like recently, one of the cats is affected by fleas and we have no choice but to apply it.

We left our door open last night hoping Floki would come in our bedroom but as soon as we tried to go to sleep, Chris was on the bed digging his nails in my face so we had to kick them all out.

It is now 1:30 on Sunday afternoon and Floki is not only still under the bed, he has worked his way up inside the box spring. It is concerning and we will have to call the vet on Monday if he doesn’t come out.

Has anyone else had these issues with flea medication? The brand we use is called Cheristin.

A Good Day For Being Outside… and Hunting Lizards


Here is a post from February 2015 for Throwback Thursday. Those were the days. Chris is more interested in eating grass than hunting lizards these days.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

Sunday was a beautiful day so we decided to put the harness on Frankie and let him outside. He has been terrible lately with his picking at the screen by the front door. Counting yesterday, he has pulled the entire screen off the window at least five times, three times after I put tape on it to hold it in and once after I put extra tape on it. Rose thinks he was an outside cat and we are being cruel forcing him to stay inside. I understand her concerns but I think we live too close to a busy road for that to be an option. Perhaps if we lived down the road a bit I would consider getting him a collar and letting him out during the day.

Our cat Frankie on his leashI got Rose’s help and let all the cats out the back door on Sunday. I held Frankie’s leash while Rose…

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Black Cat Appreciation Day


Today is Black Cat Appreciation Day. We no longer have a black cat but I thought this would be a good time to remember the two black cats we did have. We lost both at a relatively young age.

Flash was the brother to Tigger.

cats Tigger and Flash

We adopted both of them around September of 2005.

Abbey and Flash

Sadly, Flash died around April of 2010. He was around for a few months after we adopted Chris but I do not believe I have a photo of the two of them together.

We adopted Puck as a kitten on September 15, 2012. He was the first cat we adopted after I started this blog.

Chris greets Puck as he comes out for food.
Frankie and Puck

Puck was mild-mannered and everyone liked him.

Puck and Chris
cats sleeping together

Puck had a lot of problems with crystals in his urine and was often at the vet.

Sadly, he died in February, 2018, on the nineteenth anniversary of my father’s death.

Who else has, or had, a black cat? Who wants a black cat?

Bad Cat Tag Team


Here is a post from February 1, 2015, for Throwback Thursday. Things haven’t changed much.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

Ripped screenWe got up Sunday morning and discovered the window screen near the front door was tore to shreds at the corner near the door. We knew right away it was Frankie because he “picks” at the screen when he wants to go outside, and he wants to go outside a lot lately. It doesn’t help that he is an inside kitty and is not allowed outside because, unlike Chris, he is a runner.

Frankie has been picking at the screen for months and has not caused more damage than a couple of small holes, this seemed like an act of desperation.  I made a mental note to try to put the harness and leash on him again. Last time he put up quite a fight and it was very difficult to get it on him. It is also just plain difficult to put on which may be part of the…

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Cardboard Cat Homes Review


Last week I was contacted by someone from Cardboard Cat Homes and asked if I would do a review. He told me I could have my cat’s name printed on the box, which I thought was pretty cool. I asked if he could squeeze three names on the box and his reply was that he would send me three boxes. I couldn’t argue with that. To be clear, I did get the boxes at no cost to me but I was not compensated in any other way. The opinions written here are my own and that of my cats.

When the box arrived on Thursday Frankie was immediately interested.

When I opened the box I saw there was catnip in it which I thought explained his interest but he seemed to ignore the catnip packages.

I decided to put one together and save the other two for Friday and Saturday. That way there would be renewed excitement. The first one I opened was the Cat Condo. That one had Frankie’s name on it which was great for reasons you will see later. I read the directions on it but I am terrible with assembly directions and my mind just glazed over.

I thought the picture was clear but some of the pieces were hard to identify. At first I thought maybe stamping numbers on the pieces would be helpful but then I realized that I could easily figure it out from the picture alone so that is what I did and found it to be really easy to put together.

Of course, everyone was interested in what I was doing.

When it was done, Frankie had to test the sturdiness of it.

It met with his approval so I decided to put a towel on the top and inside to see what happened.

Suddenly Frankie had a new favorite place to hang out and Floki liked it too.

Then Chris discovered how great it was.

I was busy Friday and did not put the second cat house together that day but Frankie continued to enjoy hanging out on top of his cat condo. The workout bench was his favorite place to nap but he completely forgot about that.

He still liked it on Saturday.

Saturday is when I put the next cat house together. This one was called “Kitty House” and is probably the best looking one. It was a little more complicated than the first but still fairly simple.

This one had Floki’s name on it and coincidently it was he who was most interested at first.

Floki’s interest waned but once I was finished, Frankie became interested.

Unlike Frankie’s condo, this one has two doors. What it does not have is enough room on the roof for a cat to nap. I guess it would depend on whether you cat likes to sleep inside or outside.

Sunday I put together Chris’s “Cat Castle.” It is fitting that one has his name on it because Chris thinks he is king around here.

I only got it halfway put together when Chris decided to get inside of it. That made assembly more difficult.

I managed to get it mostly put together but Chris’s twenty pound heft was pushing against the side and it was too difficult to finish snapping it together, so I just decided to wait for him to get out.

There was a bit of a cat fight while I waited. Apparently Chris was defending his castle.

Eventually he got out and I was able to finish construction before he got back in again.

I think Chris is too heavy and he is pushing the sides out. I suppose it doesn’t matter since it seems to be holding together. I just hope he doesn’t try to jump on top of it while it is apart like it is here. He has not yet tried to get on top of any of the houses so I don’t know how well they would handle a twenty pound cat. They do seem perfectly capable of handling a twelve pound cat though.

As I write this post Frankie is still enjoying hanging out on his condo where his association has no code of decency.

If these cat homes interest you check out their webpage at https://cardboardcathomes.com/

So what do you think? Is this something your cat might like?

Update: I forgot to mention that the company also donates to pet shelters. Here is a line from their website: To give back to our feline community we work closely with shelters, aiming to donate supplies and goodies to at least one shelter for every five orders we receive.

Frankie’s Big Adventure: The Movie


Here is a post from January 2015 for Throwback Thursday. It is a fairly long video of me trying to catch Frankie after he escaped. At the time, we lived pretty close to a main road so my concern for his welfare was very heightened.

Charles Huss's avatarBad Cat Chris

Sunday, Rose and I went out to do a few errands and have lunch. When we returned, Frankie ran out the door again. This time, by pure chance, I happened to be carrying my GoPro camera and turned it on as I gave chase. He led me on a bit of an adventure and I actually lost him a couple of times but the chase was cut short when Frankie caught a lizard and wanted to bring it home. I think he is more like Chris then he would care to admit.

Related Posts:
Frankie’s Big Adventure
This and That
We’ve Created a Monster
Bad Cat Frankie
Another Big Adventure for Frankie

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Photo Friday: Safe From Capture


Frankie escaped a couple of weeks ago and ended up under a car in front of my next door neighbor’s house. Frankie learned from Chris that under cars are like safe zones where humans can’t go. Once under the car he felt safe to ignore me.

He was so confident that I couldn’t catch him that he decided to rub that fact in my face by rolling over onto his back.

I sat outside on my door stoop and waited for him to come out. Soon it started raining. A little at first but then a torrential downpour.

Do you see Frankie under the car on the left?

I think once the water started getting under the car, Frankie decided he had enough and raced home. I opened the door when he got close and he raced inside. Maybe that will teach him that inside is better. Or not.