Tag Archives: Bad Cat

Photo Friday: Frankie’s First Foray Outside

The weather was so beautiful last weekend that I decided to let Chris and Puck outside for a little exercise. I felt bad about leaving Frankie inside but I was not sure about what he would do once outside. I also did not feel comfortable trying to watch three cats at once.

C’mon Puck. What are you waiting for?

I see you having fun out there!

Okay! Enough pictures already!

Looks like this isn’t a good time to ask for hot dogs.

Our cat Frankie watching Chris and Puck from inside

What about me?

Chris: Puck. I think I found a way in. Puck: What do you want to get in for? Chris: Oh yeah, you got a point.

C’mon guys, let me out.

After a few minutes, Rose came out and said I should let Frankie out too. I told her I would be happy to but I needed her help to watch them. So Rose agreed to stay outside and help babysit.

We opened the door to let Frankie out but he was hesitant at first.

Okay Frankie. You can play with us if you want to,

Come on Frankie. It’s great out here.

Are you sure it is safe?

Okay, here I go.

I’m outside! This is great!

There’s so much to do. Where do I start?

I think this is where work is done. I don’t want to go in there.

Oh Frankie! You need to do a better job cleaning your ears.

No, this isn’t catnip.

After doing a little exploring close to home, Frankie decided to venture further away. This is when I had to stop taking pictures and pay attention. I put myself between him and the far side of the yard, hoping to encourage him to turn around. It didn’t work. He slipped past me and started heading for the other side of the property.

Our building has six units. We live on the side closest to the marina and that is the side I am familiar with. There is a fence and a gate on each side but I only ever use the one side so I don’t really know what is on the other side. On our side there is a wall that separates the Marina from our property. My only concern there is that Chris will crawl under the gate (which he has done), but even then he has a long way to go to get out of my sight. We also have a padlock on the gate that can be a bit of a hassle because the numbers are hard to read for an old guy like me.

The other side borders a large condo building and, until Frankie started heading toward it, I never noticed the fence had gaps big enough for a cat to walk through. I yelled to Rose that I needed her help but she was not there. She went inside the house.

Frankie did just what I thought he was going to do. He ran straight to the fence and walked right through. I thought about running back into the house to tell Rose I needed help but instead I headed for the gate to walk around the fence. I forgot about the lock so I had to fumble with the combination. that is when I learned that the numbers were different on that padlock.

I quickly ran back to the house, told Rose I needed help and headed out the front door. I hurried back over to the condo property to look for Frankie. When I got there I saw him between cars and when I approached he walked through the fence to our side. This is exactly what Chris would do to me at our last Condo (see here – coincidently, if you follow this link and click on the second photo and enlarge it, you can see our current home).

I walked all the way back around to our side only to see him walk through the fence again. To casual observer, this must have seemed funny, but I was not amused. So back around I went only to have him disappear through the fence again. This time Rose scooped him up and put an end to the games. I have a feeling that outside time just got more difficult.

Did We Make a Mistake?

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It has been more than three weeks since we adopted Frankie and while things are somewhat better now, there are still problems to overcome. This is new to us. We have had many cats over the years but never so many problems with fighting.

At first it seemed like Chris was to blame. It surprised us because Chris did not act that way when we introduced Puck. He seemed happy to have someone to play with. The two of them “fought” all the time but it was mostly play. There was very little growling and hissing. I suppose it also helped that Puck learned to be subservient when necessary.

When Frankie and Chris are together, there is usually growling, hissing and, for lack of a better word, screaming. There is also fighting. Not play fighting but mortal combat. Yesterday I had to break up a fight when Chris pursued and then attacked Frankie. I held Chris down by the scruff of the neck (I learned that from what Chris does to Puck) and verbally scolded him. He didn’t like it and told me so. I finally let him go and he immediately went after Frankie again.

There has been some bright spots though. I sometimes see Chris and Frankie sniffing noses, or sometimes Chris will sniff Frankie’s butt without a fight starting. I also see Puck and Frankie close together without trouble. When that happens I have hope for the future which is quickly dashed by another fight.

Puck and Frankie getting along seems reasonable because Chris is our bad cat and Puck is our good cat. Puck never causes problems. At least that is what I thought, but I have seen plenty of fights between Frankie and Puck too. This morning the two of them were running around the house, apparently playing. This went on for a while but it suddenly turned into a major fight. I was in the kitchen and saw Puck pounce on Frankie as he tried to get out the cat door. A fight ensued which I foolishly tried to break up and got a paw full of Frankie’s claws in the back of my hand. A little later Rose also felt the wrath of Frankie’s claws.

I’m starting to think that maybe Frankie is not completely innocent in all this. Perhaps he is just one of those cats that needs to be in a household with no other pets. Most shelters will warn you about that, but since Frankie came from a government agency, they probably never took the time to figure that out. Also, we adopted Frankie from a Petsmart employee who probably didn’t know anything about him.

Well, we have him now and we don’t want to give up on him so we need to just continue to try to make things better. Perhaps this will just take months instead of weeks. Only time will tell.

What’s Behind Drawer Number One?

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Chris has always had a need to not only get inside drawers but get behind them. I cannot count how many times I had to remove a drawer because Chris has managed to get himself behind it. A recent post, Happiness is a Dresser Drawer, is a good example of this.

The problem is caused partly by my carelessness (because I am usually, but not always, the one who opens a drawer and forgets to close it) but Chris deserves some credit too for being so incredibly flexible. I don’t know how he squeezes himself through some of the spaces he gets into.

This morning I was in the kitchen using the juicer I got for Christmas. I opened the bottom drawer then walked away briefly. When I returned, I saw that Puck was very interested in the drawer. I knew this could only mean that Chris was behind it but how could he have gotten back there with all the stuff in the drawer?

I put my hand in the drawer to confirm he was there and I felt either Chris or a very large rat. I got my camera and stuck it inside and blindly took a picture that came out surprising well.

Instead of taking the drawer out I enticed him with kitty treats. “Who wants kitty treats? Chris? You want kitty treats?”

That worked. Soon I saw a paw stick out into the drawer.

I took some stuff out to make it easier for him and then came his head.

And then the rest of him.

Oh, the power of kitty treats.

Photo Friday: Christmas with Chris

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We had a great Christmas. We spent it at home with family and friends. Rose’s son, Nick, was here from Massachusetts and my son, Chris, was also here. He lives nearby but because of conflicting work schedules we don’t see each other very often. Chris, as some of you know, was not named after my son but came to us with the name.

Unfortunately Puck, who is not a fan of strangers, spent the day under the bed. Chris celebrated the holiday by greeting everyone who came into the house and by enjoying some outside time.

It started just like our last party with Chris on top of the table we set up for refreshments.
When people started to arrive I decided to let Chris outside while I watched him from the patio.

I left the door open so he could come back inside. I really didn’t expect him to do that but after a while of watching him I got distracted and forgot he was outside. When I remembered I started outside to look for him when I saw him lying inside the patio (sorry, no picture of that).

After he went out the first time and after the customary grass-eating ritual, Chris went looking for trouble.

Chris has become less of an adventurer and tends to stay closer to the house now. That is a good thing but I still have to watch him because he will sometimes wander to the side of the property and crawl under the fence if I don’t stop him. This day he was happy to lie just outside the patio and roll around.

After he was tired of playing outside he came in and went from lap to lap, making sure nobody was left out. Here he is with my son.

Chris and Chris

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas as much as Chris and I enjoyed ours.

Photo Friday: Wrapping Presents… With Cats

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We have been collecting Christmas presents in the spare bedroom for several weeks and Wednesday Rose decided it was time to wrap them. Of course, Chris and Puck agreed that wrapping presents was a wonderful idea and did what they could to participate.

This is cool! It’s like a slide.

Bad Cat Chris and Puck on container cover.

Move over! Let me try it.

I was here first!

You need to learn, Chris, that you can’t always get your way.

You need to learn, Puck, that I am the boss around here.

Are you watching this? Maybe The Lion King is on.

Bad Cat Chris playing with Christmas tree.

Nevermind, I’ll just play with the tree while I wait for a present to play with.

This one’s mine, Right?

This can’t be all?

I can’t wait until it’s time to open the presents.

The Future Former Chris

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Last night Rose and I were watching television and Chris was chewing on the power cord for the Christmas tree lights. We yelled at him to stop so he then started chewing on one of the light bulbs… while it was plugged in. I had to pick him up and move him two or three times and each time he would give me a loud kitty yell and then go right back to what he was doing. It was like he was enjoying the negative attention.

Now I worry about leaving the tree plugged in while we are in another room. I’m pretty sure he only does it for the attention that it brings him but I still have to treat him like a small child. He is a four-and-a-half year old cat with the maturity level of a three year old child. At this rate, I’m going to mature before he does.

Photo Friday: Closet Cat

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Since we have had Chris, there has been countless times when he has managed to get himself shut inside a closet. He just can’t resist an open closet door, even if it is open for just a few seconds. Usually we see him go in but not always. To make matters worse, he always manages to climb up into the darkest recesses of the closet. Now, when we leave the house, we do a cat count.

Hey! You didn’t count to ten! (Without the flash, he is hard to see up there.)

Photo Friday: Payback

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A few times a week I catch Chris holding Puck down by the scruff of the neck. I assume he does that to remind him who’s boss. On the other side of the coin Chris will also lie down next to Puck and wash his face and ears. I think he expects Puck to do the same for him, and sometimes Puck does, but other times he gets up and leaves.

The other day Chris was lying with his head resting on Puck’s head. It was a very cute picture opportunity but by the time I returned with the camera, the cuteness was over.

What are you doing with the camera?

Shortly after I took the above picture, Puck apparently had enough of Chris invading his space and was holding him down by the scruff of the neck. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The student was now the master.

Just so you know… YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!

I noticed yesterday that Chris is sneezing a lot and I believe he is not feeling well, which may be why he is seeking a little more attention from Puck than usual. Last night he was on the couch again in what I thought would be a repeat of the other night, but Chris was a little less obtrusive this time and Puck decided to put up with him.

Wake Up Call Gets Earlier as Daylight Saving’s Time Ends

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Chris used to wake us up every morning at 4:00 a.m (see Four O’clock Chris) but eventually that changed to 5:00 a.m. It didn’t occur to me at first but Chris’s time didn’t change, ours did. That is why I somewhat dreaded the return of standard time.

Last night Chris started playing under the sheets as we were getting ready to go to bed. We decided not to lock him out and give him a chance to prove that he could stop being a bad cat for one night and sleep on our bed without being a huge pain in the you know what.

Surprisingly, he was pretty good for a while. He lied across my chest with his back feet on my pillow for 30 minutes without bothering me. Unfortunately I couldn’t sleep like that because his breathing was very fast and loud and his heart was racing faster than Carl Lewis, despite the fact that he was sleeping, or at least trying to sleep.

I changed position which then started the biting and treading on my face and neck. I tried for several minutes to get him to stop but in the end I had to get up and put him out. I then locked the door and went to sleep.

I slept until 4 a.m. when Chris jumped on our bed and woke me up. How does he do that? I checked the door and it was open but still locked. Perhaps he used a credit card. No… That’s silly. He’s a cat. Who would issue him credit?

Photo Friday: Party Cat

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Here are some pictures from our cookout party on Saturday afternoon. As I mentioned in my last post, Stubborn Cat Chris, it was an all day struggle to keep an eye on Chris as he ran out the door every time someone opened it. I let him stay outside as long as I felt like watching him and then I would put him back in until the next time someone came through the door and it started all over again.