As long as we have had Floki the rule of thumb has been Chris for napping and Frankie for playing but the rules have changed. Lately I have been seeing Floki napping with Frankie.
Perhaps moving to a new home turned everything upside down. I guess we will see if this continues.
I got out of the shower yesterday and saw Chris on the floor waiting for me. As I dried myself Chris jumped on the toilet and then on the sink. He looked like he wanted to jump on my shoulders, just like the old days, so I put my towel over my shoulders and let him.
There is something else Chris did in the old days. He would use me as a springboard to get to a higher place. That thought didn’t occur to me until two seconds after he jumped on my shoulders and then jumped up to the top of the linen closet.
By then Floki was in the bathroom. Upon seeing where Chris was he jumped on the sink and started crying at me.
I let him up on my shoulders too.
I thought he would jump up there with Chris but I think he was afraid to try. He stood on his hind legs and had a short conversation with Chris but decided not to join him.
That left me with the problem of getting Chris down. When he was young he could jump down but now he is old and heavy so I didn’t want to risk him getting hurt.
I finished getting dressed and went downstairs and got the stepladder. I then pulled Chris off the shelf, which he was not happy about.
I am glad Chris still has some of that adventurous spirit in him, despite his age and weight. It gives me hope for my future.
If you didn’t read my last post, we had guests for a long weekend. They arrived Thursday afternoon and are planning on leaving this morning. In the meantime, the cats have been relegated to the upstairs while the dogs have the downstairs.
Chris was perfectly fine with this arrangement, probably because he needed an excuse to not drag is 20 pound body up and down the stairs. Frankie and floki were not as happy about the arrangement. Floki would sneak downstairs sometimes when nobody was around but Frankie would not put up with any restrictions.
I think he felt like this is his house and he’s not going to let any dogs push him around.
There were a few near altercations but there was always someone around to stop it before it got too far. Personally, I think the dog was lucky.
Amazingly, by Friday night Frankie was in the living room lying on the chair while the two dogs were each on one of the sofas.
There were a few more scuffles on Saturday but the living room scene repeated that night with Frankie on the chair and the dogs on the sofa.
Of course, I don’t want to see any fights, but I was a little proud of how Frankie stood his ground to protect his territory. It is his house and if he wanted to be downstairs he was going to be downstairs.
Has anyone else had issues with dogs being introduced to cats?
Our Friends from Virginia came to visit us late Thursday and they brought their dogs. Just like the last time, the cats were not happy about it.
Check out the look on Frankie’s face when he realized we had company.
The bigger dag was curious about Frankie and barked at him a couple of times. Frankie responded by hissing and trying to whap him.
Like last time, it became a house devided with the cats upstairs and the dogs downstairs.
We are looking forward to a nice weekend with friends but I do feel bad for the cats who are stuck upstairs and can’t enjoy the new catio we just had built.
I think if we ever need to find our cats, we just need to locate the window that has the most sun at that time.
About five or six weeks ago my wife contacted a contractor here in West Virginia to see if it was possible to screen in our back porch. We wanted it to cut down on the bugs but we mostly just wanted a catio that our cats could enjoy in the nice weather.
Rose told the contractor that it needed to be done before we arrived, which was last Saturday. When we got there he still hadn’t finished. He was actually here until late Tuesday afternoon. I think he said he could do the job before realizing how difficult it was. The way the porch is built it is nearly impossible to keep the bugs out. He couldn’t put screaming all the way to the top because of the rafters so he decided to not screen all the way to the bottom so that the water would have a place to go when we washed down the porch.
The biggest problem was the doors. There is a large opening in the middle and a smaller opening on one side. The opening in the middle has two four by fours that are crooked both left to right and front to back. One of them is also twisted. It took a while to get the doors in so that they would slide back and forth easily without a gap too large for a cat to get through.
Wednesday morning I cleaned the mess left behind. I than fixed the doors a little better. I still needed to put up a panel to close the gap on one side (which I did this morning) but it was ready to test out that afternoon.
Frankie happened to be standing by the back door when Rose and I went out, so we decided to let him out onto the porch to see what he would do.
Of course, Frankie is our little investigator so he spent some time investigating.
I found Chris waiting by the back door to see what was going on so I let him out too.
I called floki but he was nowhere in sight. He was probably upstairs and not interested in what we were doing.
So far it has met with the approval of Chris and Frankie. I don’t trust that one or both of them won’t scratch a hole in the screen and escape so I think we will only let them out there when one of us is out there with them.
Today I pressure washed the catio in addition to closing the gap by the door. Later I may try to get Flokil out there to see if it meets with a unanimous approval.
Today is Ginger Cat Appreciation Day. Even though our ginger cats can be more trouble than our non-ginger cat, we are still glad they are in our lives.
Last night we closed the cats out of our bedroom so that Chris wouldn’t bother us, but I’m not sure if he bothers us more in the bedroom or outside the bedroom. Shortly after we closed the door, Chris started scratching at the door and crying that desperate cry of his. We tried to ignore him but he just wouldn’t stop. After about five minutes of constant crying and scratching I couldn’t take it anymore and open the door and let him in. I don’t know how he does it but he always wins.
After his initial pesty behavior of scratching my face and biting my nose, I moved him to the side. Surprisingly, he behaved for a while. I was able to fall asleep but by around midnight Chris couldn’t behave any longer and started bothering me again. This time he didn’t bother just me, he had to bother Rose too, who insisted that I put him out.
That worked and we were able to fall asleep, but early this morning he was crying and scratching at the door again. I was concerned about what all the scratching was doing so when I turned on the light and looked at the door, I saw scratch marks along the side of what I believe is the original 120 year old door.
The problem is I do not know what to do about Chris now. I do not want him ruining this door but I also don’t want him ruining my sleep. I thought about putting a metal plate and the door where he is scratching but putting screw holes in the door can be almost as bad as the scratches.
Ideally, I would like to train him to not be so annoying but it is in his nature. You would think that he would eventually realize that when he digs his claws into my face I get upset, but he never seems to make the connection.
What do you think? Does anybody else have this problem?
Saturday night, after arriving at our West Virginia home, we decided to leave our bedroom door open even though we knew that was a bad idea. We did it because we wanted the cats to feel comfortable before locking them out of the bedroom. Of course, Chris disturbed my sleep all night long.
Sunday we decided that we needed our sleep so we closed our bedroom door and went to bed. At about 11:00 we were awakened by Chris making an awful howling sound. It sounded so awful I had to get up to see what was wrong with him.
The sound came from the bedroom across and down the hall that I use for my office. My wife left the light on in the bathroom across the hall from my office and closed the door most of the way. She feels the cats need light even though they can practically see in the dark.
Nevertheless, it provided barely enough light for me to see what was going on. Frankie was on the floor looking at Chris and Chris was on the middle part of the cat perch. I thought the two were fighting but then I realized Chris was looking out the window. I walked into the room to see what Chris was looking at. I was surprised to see a cat on the roof looking back at me. No wonder Chris was howling. I tapped on the window and the cat ran away and I went back to bed.
At 4:00 a.m. Chris jumped on the bed and lied on top my head. Not above my head, on top of it. I moved him and saw he had somehow figured out how to open the door. Maybe someday I will get a full night’s sleep. Maybe.
We made it safely to our West Virginia home Saturday. Thank you everyone for your prayers and well wishes.
The second half of the trip was relatively uneventful. We left the hotel around 7 a.m. and arrived just after 1:30. I was pretty busy and didn’t have time to take many pictures. One of the issues we faced was that it was 91 degrees outside and the air conditioner would not cool the house below 80 degrees. We eventually got an air conditioner guy out here and as I write this at 10 p.m. the temperature in the house is 78 degrees. Hopefully it will continue to fall.
I think the cats have settled in good already. I’m sure they remember their time here last year.
Chris is still able to climb the stairs. It seems he has gained weight since January so I am happy I don’t have to carry him up the stairs.
Rose bought a new chair while we were away and Frankie seems to like it.
Floki is also interested in it. It must be because it is new.
They also like the bed in the upstairs spare bedroom.
I think they feel right at home already. I know Chris feels right at home holding vigal at the empty food bowl. It is like we never left Florida.
Bad Cat Chris 