Here is my second post about making homemade raw cat food from August 2016. I have learned over time that I get the best results with chicken, so I have stuck with that. Recently, the store was short on chicken, so I had to add forty percent turkey. I found I was throwing away half the food because they would eat a little and then walk away.
Memory of Chris
I get emails from Google called “Your memories from this day.” The email features a collage of photos taken on this day. One photo caught my eye.

This photo of Chris and me was taken by my wife on March 26, 2016. The quality is poor, but the memory is rich.
Frankie Encounters a Small Dog
I found this video from Christmas Eve, two days before we moved into our current house. We saw a small dog wandering around with no owner in sight.
Frankie was remarkably calm and didn’t try to whack the dog.
Photo Friday: A View from the Inside
Here is Frankie enjoying some quiet time on our screened patio.

The Mother of All Cat Carriers
We are planning on going to our home in West Virginia in a couple of months. We haven’t been there since 2021. The last couple of times we went, bringing the cats proved difficult. Since this is the first time we will be making the trip in an electric car, we need to plan for slightly longer travel times.
The good news is, there is a fair amount of room in a Tesla Y so I decided to try to find a carrier that would make use of that room while being manageable. Some of the options I considered were too big and heavy to bring into a hotel. That would have required us to remove the cats and risk one or both of them escaping in an unknown area.
After a long search, I found something that I think will work nicely. It is an Ikare Pet Carrier. (This is an affiliate link.)

It is quite large. According to Amazon, it is 38″L x 20.4″W x 20.4″H. It has two panels that unzip and expand to make it even larger. It also comes with two pads and two expandable bowls.

It comes in two parts that zip together.


Here it is with the expandable sides.

Floki is demonstrating how much room is inside.

Frankie is demonstrating how strong it is.

I put it in the car with the seats folded down to ensure it fits.

It not only fits, but we also still have room for luggage.

If we wanted to, we could carry the cats into the hotel separately.

I don’t think we will because there is not an easy way to separate it without giving the cat’s an opportunity to escape. We do plan on putting a small litterbox in the carrier during the trip. Having room for a litterbox was my goal when I started searching for a carrier. One of our cats pooped in their carrier on our last trip up there and we wanted to prevent that this time. We will need to add and remove the litterbox while in the car. That may be a little bit of a challenge, but it probably will not be too difficult.
When we get to our destination, the carrier folds up and fits into its own carrying case.

As a side note, the case can be used as a litterbox, but it would need a liner. We will just bring a separate litterbox. Since the litterbox going into the crate will be small, I haven’t decided if we should use a bigger one in the hotel.
What do you think of the carrier? Do you have any tips on traveling with cats?
Chris’s New Birthday
Before moving, I uncovered evidence that Chris was older than I thought when we adopted him. I posted about it here in January. I found a folder with 3/10/09 printed on it. Since he was at another shelter before the shelter we adopted him from, I assume that is his real birthday or at least an estimated birthday.
I had assumed he was six months old when we adopted him, so I had been celebrating his birthday on May 14, but I will need to adjust that, not that it matters much at this point. If I had remembered, I would have written a nice post about him last Monday. I hope I remember next year.

Photo Friday: Frankie in Trees
This should be called “Photos Friday” since I have more than one photo to show you. Here is Frankie in three different trees on three different days.




Throwback Thursday: Frankie Escapes His Harness
Here is a post from August 3, 2016. Despite the known flaw in Frankie’s harness, I still use it today. I have just learned what I can and can’t do.
Photo Friday: Classic Frankie up High
Here is Frankie eleven years ago today, on March 7, 2014. This was on top of the china cabinet, which was a popular place for both Chris and Puck, although Puck needed my help to get up there. Since Frankie had only been in our house for about a month at the time, I’m sure he learned how to get up there from Chris.

Throwback Thursday: A Tail of Two Kitties
Here is a post from July 2016, when Floki was still a kitten, and Chris’s tail was another toy to play with. I bet it was hard for Chris to switch roles from annoyer to annoyee.
