Frankie and I were attacked by a Pitbull

36 Replies

I started helping out last week with painting at the apartment complex my wife oversees. That means Frankie has not been going for a walk everyday. Because of that, Rose insisted I take Frankie for a walk before work on Friday.

We live on a corner lot. The main road going into town runs along the side of our house. Frankie crossed the main road right away and we continued walking away from the main road.

After a block and a half it became clear Frankie had no intention of turning around. He might be the cat version of Lewis and Clark. I had to pick him up and change his direction.

When we were about four houses from home, we heard a dog barking near the corner house on the right, which is kitty-corner to our house. When we got a little closer, a Pitbull came trotting toward us, barking the whole time. I looked but no people were around.

When he got closer, Frankie hissed at him. I knew he was after Frankie so I picked him up and held him out of reach. The dog jumped on me, putting his paws my back and arms, while barking and trying to get at Frankie. I turned and yelled, “Stop,” but that just seemed to anger him more.

I walked faster toward home with the dog jumping on me and biting my calves. Fortunately I was wearing blue jeans instead of the shorts I normally wear in Florida. That, and the fact that I was moving made it hard for him to sink his teeth into my legs.

I was getting worried and called out for the dog’s owner but no response. If the dog started taking chunks out of my leg, I was going to have to do something drastic, like kick it in the face, and I didn’t want to have to hurt the animal.

When I reached the main street I heard cars coming. I hoped they would be a distraction. I quickly crossed the street. When I looked back the dog was lingering on the other side. I didn’t know if he would cross but I didn’t wait around to find out.

When I got inside I told Rose what happened and then put soap on my bleeding elbow. I think the dog got me with his nails. We still haven’t seen our moving truck so we had no antiseptic.

I then grabbed my lunch and went to the car. As I was backing out of the driveway, I saw Frankie walking down the sidewalk toward me. Really? I have no idea how he got out but it was very lucky I saw him.

I jumped out of the car and he gladly followed me to the back door. Once he was back in the house and I again tried to leave for work, I saw a man walking down the sidewalk toward me. He was one house down and across the side street. The dog crossed the main road because he was now harassing the man. He was barking and jumping on the man. The man tried to get the dog to stop to no avail. After fifteen seconds the dog moved on.

I got in my car and drove to where the dog was and snapped a couple of pictures.

When I got to work the manager there said she knew someone at the city that she would talk to. Later she said the guy told her talking to the police would be a waste of time. He also said the woman in charge of animal control was a POS and would do nothing about the dog.

Now I have to worry about taking Frankie for a walk and I especially have to worry about him escaping.

Photo Friday: Floki on his Throne

19 Replies

We have not yet furnished our entire 5 bedroom house we have up here in West Virginia. I use one of the bedrooms upstairs as an office but it has always been empty except for a desk and a printer.

My wife has an office downstairs that’s not considered one of the bedrooms.

Rose decided that the last remaining bedroom should be furnished and bought a bed for it. We also shuffled around some of the furniture so the bedroom would have a dresser and a nightstand. The only thing in that room was a small cat perch that nobody used so I stuck it out in the hallway with the intention of bringing it downstairs but it turns out Floki likes it where I put it.

It’s in a great spot where he can survey his kingdom. The only problem is Floki’s kingdom overlaps with Frankie’s kingdom

Thirteenth Blogiversary

35 Replies

I got a notification this morning that today is my thirteenth blogiversary. I wasn’t prepared to write anything, but I found a screenshot that I saved from an internet site called The Wayback Machine, which saves websites from the past. Fortunately, I saved this because when I went there now, I encountered an error when I entered BadCatChris.com.

I am amazed I lasted this long. I think it’s the community that’s built around blogging that inspires me to continue. Even though I have never met anyone in person, I feel as though I have made many friends.

As I was writing this, I tried The Wayback Machine again and it worked. You can see it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20120704100518/https://badcatchris.com/ It doesn’t show every page. but it has some throughout time.

We Almost Made It, But Then…

22 Replies

The second half of our trip started well. The cats seemed to be comfortable in the Ikare Pet Carrier I bought for them. With the pullouts on the side, there was plenty of room for two cats and a small litter box. I think three cats would have done well in it. They never used the litter box but we had to deal with cats pooping in their carriers at least twice in the past, so it was worth having.

The second time we stopped I gave them a little food while we were charging the car.

By the time we got to Charleston, West Virginia, we were tired and looking forward to the trip being over. The GPS indicated that we would arrive in forty-five minutes, at 2:37, but then a warning light appeared. The rear passenger tire pressure had dropped to 28 psi. There was an exit ahead, so Rose got in the right lane. I was hoping the tire was just low and I could fill it with my portable tire inflator, but thirty seconds later the pressure dropped to 15 p.s.i.

Fortunately, there was a gas station just off the highway, so we pulled in there. By then, the pressure had dropped to zero.

Rose first called our insurance company, and they put us on hold for a long time as they tried to find someone who could tow a Tesla, which requires a flatbed. While she was doing that, I called Tesla and spoke with a woman who was very nice. Since we were nowhere near a Tesla service center, she tried to help us find a local tire shop that could change a tire. Since Teslas do not come with spare tires, there was no option for changing it on the spot.

After much hemming and hawing, we decided to arrange for a tow truck to bring our car the 41 miles to our house. Tesla would have paid for a tow to a service center, but a tow to our house cost us $370. We did that because there was no room for three people and two cats in the tow truck. If it were just Rose and me, we would have gone straight to a tire shop, if one could have been found that had the right size tires.

Rose called the maintenance supervisor at the property she oversees, which is in the same town as our house. He came to pick up Rose and the cats. Meanwhile, the tow truck arrived a few minutes before he did. The driver was nice enough to wait until he came, then Rose and the cats left while I stayed with the tow truck.

I arrived at the house just before five and spent a fair amount of time bringing all the items from the car to the laundry room, which serves as a buffer zone between the cats and the outside. I couldn’t believe how much stuff that car holds.

I wanted to get a video of the cats exploring the house for the first time in three and a half years, but I was way too late for that. Instead, I got a picture of Frankie finishing his dinner.

Two of the doors on the catio had ripped screens, so we couldn’t let the cats out there, which was a shame because they loved that catio. Frankie discovered the room that used to be my office, but now contained much of the stuff that we left behind.

Unfortunately, our renters moved bedding that they didn’t want into that room. They also moved heavy furniture from downstairs to upstairs and other furniture from upstairs to downstairs, so we had to move them back over the next couple of days.

We found a cat perch that Frankie took to and spent much of the remaining Saturday on. I don’t remember that perch, but I am getting old.

On Sunday, I found a large screen in the garage and slid it in front of the doors. Since my tools and everything else we had in storage won’t be here until sometime this week, that will have to do for the cats to enjoy the catio.

I took Frankie for a walk on Sunday. I wanted him to get used to the area but he just wanted to stay near home for some reason.

We went for a walk yesterday, too. That time we walked down the alley until the end, then came back down the next street. He wants to go out today, but there is a cold drizzle right now.

All the tire shops were closed for Memorial Day weekend, so I made several calls to shops this morning, but none had the right size tires, which are over $500 each, by the way. When did tires get so expensive? One shop in Parkersburg ordered them and will be here sometime tomorrow. I will then have to travel with the tow truck driver for forty minutes. That is the downside of living in a small town.

Tomorrow will be four days without a car at a time when we need supplies. We learned Walmart delivers, so we have been ordering stuff from them. The interesting thing is that there are no Kroger stores near us in Florida, but we can still order Kroger delivery. Here, there is a Kroger in the next town, but we can’t get delivery from them.

Anyway, the good news is we are here and safe. Ultimately, that is what matters.

Driving to West Virginia – Day One

24 Replies

I put together our new Ikare Pet Carrier last week. I wanted to put it in the car along with some of the luggage we planned to bring so we could get an idea how much more room we had. It turns out we had exactly enough room to bring what we brought. It’s funny how that works.

Anyway, Floki thought it was a good place to hang out.

We were ready, we needed to get Floki first because he would be the most difficult. We hope he would be on the patio, as usual be he is our Mind-Reading cat and knew something was up so he hid under the bed. After much effort and a broom handle I managed to get him and barely hold on to him long enough to put him in the crate.

Frankie was easy to get. Once we had them both, my wife and I carried them together to the car. It was then a one person job to heave them into the car. we were ready to leave at 6:45 a.m.

With the extenders open, they had plenty of room to move around or take a nap, even with a small litter box in there with them, but neither wanted to rest for the first few hours.

Here they are on either our first or second stop. You can see the litter box in there with them. Neither used it but we thought they should have it just in case.

There wasn’t much crying going on until almost three hours into the trip and then Floki gave us the cat version of, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet…?”

We stayed at a Tru by Hilton in Orangeburg, South Carolina. This hotel didn’t have traditional luggage carts. Instead they had oversized hand Dollies which were too small to hold our large carrier. Instead, I removed the litter box and Rose and I carried them inside by hand.

They were happy to be in the hotel. They have been to hotels several times and I think they understand this is just a temporary break.

On the way we fed them each what Rose calls a “squeezy tube.” I don’t know the real name but it wasn’t enough. They were quite hungry when we got to the hotel.

Once their hunger was satisfied the became social.

We got up early this morning at 4:30. Our room has no coffee maker. We assumed if they were not giving guests coffee makers it must be because they were providing coffee in the lobby 24/7. Not so. There was no coffee nor were there any employees to ask about coffee. When I returned to the room empty handed, my wife called the front desk but nobody answered.

Oh, the joys of traveling.

Photo Friday: Chris is First

20 Replies

Here is a photo of Chris on November 20, 2020. We had just bought our house in West Virginia and made the long drive up there with the cats. We were worried that Chris’s arthritis would prevent him from going up the stairs, but he was the first cat to investigate the second floor. You can see he is still wearing his locator tag.

The reason I chose this photo is that we are preparing to make that trip to West Virginia again this morning. I am looking forward to being there, but I am not looking forward to two days of driving with cats. Wish us luck.

On another note, my son, also named Chris, is celebrating his birthday today. I feel bad that I can’t celebrate with him.