Tag Archives: bad

Frankie the Red-Nosed Bad Cat

The day after my post about Frankie’s notoriety for being an escape artist was published, he escaped again. Monday morning, as my wife was about to leave for work, she realized it was cool outside and popped her head in the door and asked me to get her jacket. I did not see Frankie anywhere near the door so I handed the jacket out to her but at the same time Frankie ran out the door.

He disappeared for quite awhile. I started by setting a timer for ten minutes. When it went off I would go outside to see if I could see him. I would then come back into the house and set the timer for another ten minutes. Fortunately I was working from home on Monday because it was about an hour or so before Frankie showed up with a dirty, red nose.

I don’t know what happened but I tried to clean the blood off his nose but he would not let me. It must have hurt him. I had to settle for dabbing a little bit of antibacterial cream on it.

I thought getting hurt outside would dampen his desire to get out for awhile but that was not the case. We were going out for dinner with my mother that same day and Frankie got out again. Since we had reservations we couldn’t wait for Frankie to come home on his schedule so I asked my wife to help round him up.

He led us on quite a chase and I hurt my finger trying to grab him. I missed him but caught a brick wall. We finally caught up to him when he hid under a pickup truck. I have been hesitant in the past to pull him out from under vehicals because he cut me pretty bad the first time I tried that but this time I was done playing his game and reached under the truck, grabbed him by the scruff and pulled him out.

I think he knew he was in trouble because he did not resist when I pulled him out and he did not try to jump out of my arms the entire walk home. Normally, if I pick him up during our walks he gives me a very hard time.

Hopefully he will think twice about hiding under cars next time he gets out.

Morning Mayhem

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This story happened on Monday of last week and involves three bad cats.

My wife, Rose, recently developed wrist pain and she sometimes wakes up and can’t go back to sleep because of it. On this day she got up at about 3:15 in the morning. As I was trying to go back to sleep I heard her open the outside door to throw something out and then I heard her yell at Frankie. She then announced, “Frankie got out.”

That morning happened to be the coldest this season and I was tired and I didn’t want to get up at 3:15 in the morning to chase Frankie around the neighborhood. I knew he would come back so I tried to go back to sleep but him being outside bothered me so I eventually dragged myself out of bed, put on some warm clothes and a jacket, and went out to look for him.

The Jacket I had on was a Florida jacket and didn’t come close to fulfilling its job of keeping me warm. I walked around the area for 15 minutes looking for Frankie but eventually got too cold and had to go home.

I decided to go back to bed because I was very tired but now Chris and Puck were on the bed. I just left them there and got into bed.

Everything was fine for a short time and I almost fell asleep but then Chris started bothering me. He positioned himself next to my face and started licking and biting my nose. When I turned my head away, he started digging his claws into my neck and the back of my head. I tried pushing him away but he kept coming back. Eventually, Rose heard what was going on and came in to help. She removed all the cats from the bedroom and closed the door so I could go back to sleep.

After a little while of trying to go back to sleep, I heard the door open and I heard Rose say, “Come inside you bad boy.” Frankie was back. That made me feel better but I had another problem.

Just before or just after Frankie came back, I don’t remember, I felt Puck get on the bed. Appearently, Rose did not remove all the cats from the bedroom. That concerned me a little because the last time he was trapped in the bedroom he peed on the bed and on me. I tried to put that thought out of my mind but before too much time passed I felt a very warm feeling against my leg. He did it again! He peed on the bed! And he peed on me!

That woke me up fast. I got out of bed and gathered up all the sheets and threw them outside to be washed. Then I got in the shower before I did anything else.

Fortunately, we had a mattress cover on the bed which protected our mattress and our expensive foam mattress pad. I replaced the sheets and blanket with a new set and I put the other ones in the wash.

Washing clothes in our house is a step-by-step process. I might put a load in the washing machine in the morning before I go to work and then put it in the dryer when I get home. We have a high-efficiency washer and dryer but the dryer is not very efficient. Even at the driest setting it never dries on the first try. Since the machines are outside, I never hear the buzzer when they’re done so I always have to remember, which is something I am not good at. Sometimes it will take a full day or more to wash, dry and remove clothes from the dryer. Eventually, I got everything out and folded but decided to wait until we changed the sheets, which we always do on Saturday morning, before putting the mattress cover back on. Bad decision.

Friday morning Rose got up to use the bathroom and all the cats busted through the door when she opened it. This time it was a more reasonable hour. It was almost time to get up anyway. Chris and Puck jumped on the bed like they usually do while I waited for Rose to get out of the bathroom.

When I got up and walked towards the bathroom I touched the foot of the bed for some reason and noticed it was wet. Puck peed on it again! I couldn’t believe it. He was only in our room for two minutes. This time there was no cover to protect the bed.

I pulled the sheets up and I pulled up the mattress pad and noticed some of the pee had gone down through four inches of foam into the mattress. I was able to save the mattress with some urine eliminator but the mattress pad was a goner.

The rest of the story is only appropriate for an R-rated blog.

Chris is Still a Bad Cat… Fortunately

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I started this post last night and saved it to finish this morning. Before I did I read Sammy’s post from One Spoiled Cat. In it, I got the feeling that Sammy would not be with us much longer. I was feeling bad about that when I found out that Easy from Easy Blog suddenly died. It is a sad news day and I hope that Easy’s parents as well as Sammy’s parents will be okay.

Chris has seemed to mellow out lately and has not been getting into as much trouble as usual. At first I attributed that to his age and his weight but I noticed he seemed to be more cautious when jumping down from the bed or whatever else he is on. He also sometimes sits while momentarily holding his paw off the ground. It got me thinking he might be developing arthritis, but at seven and a half years old, he seems to young for that.

It should go without saying that I am very concerned about Chris’s health, as well as the health of all of our cats. Between 2010 and 2013 we lost four cats, Flash, Abbey, Alex and Tigger. Flash was less than five years old and the other three were around eight or younger. It is terrible knowing that you have given your beloved pet only half the life that they were capable of.

Since Flash died in 2010, I have learned more and more about cat health. I learned that dry food is bad for them and started feeding them more wet food as well as raw cat food. I now make my own raw cat food that I mix with high quality canned food but I still give them some dry food because Chris will only eat a very small amount of wet food before giving it up to one of the other cats. I make sure to only put small amounts of dry food in the bowls so that they will long be empty when wet food time rolls around, but Chris never seems hungry enough to eat the wet food until five minutes after it’s gone, then he is “starving” in front of his empty dry food bowl, giving me that desperate look. I don’t want to starve him so I give in and put a little dry food in his bowl..

Since Chris is now approaching the eight year mark, it makes me nervous to see his lack of badness. While I am still worried about him, I am relieved to see him getting into trouble recently.

A few weeks ago I pulled a box out of the closet to look for something when I heard a crash. I turned around and saw Chris on the top shelf in the closet. I then looked down and saw he knocked a bunch of greeting cards and other stuff to the ground.

The commotion got the attention of Frankie who soon joined him in the closet.

Not long after this, Chris was getting into cabinets again.

He started low but the next time I saw him in there he moved up a couple of shelves.

Then he was in the cabinet above the refrigerator.

I still worry about Chris but at least I feel like I can worry just a little less.

The Outdoor Adventures of Two Bad Cats

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Frankie was being very vocal on Saturday about wanting to go outside so I decided to take him for a walk. Rose took out the cat harness and leash and said things like “Oh boy Frankie, you’re gonna go outside!” That got him all riled up but I wasn’t ready yet. I still had to find my shoes and put them on, which surely was an excruciatingly long time for Frankie.

When I finally got his harness on and opened the door, Chris bolted out the door after Frankie. I expected him to try that but I was still unable to stop him. That made walking Frankie more difficult because now I had to keep an eye on Chris too. He won’t run away like Frankie does but Chris will wander off after a little while.

I tried keeping Frankie close to home so I could monitor Chris.

When he would walk too far away I had to pick him up, or pretend to try to pick him up, to get him going back toward home.

It wasn’t too long before Chris made it out to the front of the house, near the street. It is a relatively quiet street but I don’t trust all the old drivers around here.

Before long, Chris made his way to the neighbor’s driveway, which forced me to put Frankie in the house so I could retrieve Chris before he got himself into trouble.

The next morning Frankie was even more vocal about wanting to go outside. The back door is right next to the bathroom where Rose was getting ready and Frankie was really annoying her so Rose asked me to take Frankie out again.

This time, with Rose’s help, we made it outside without Chris.

Frankie spends about ten minutes in our back yard just eating grass, smelling the air, and looking around.

We eventually got moving and Frankie led me a long way from home. Along the way we stopped to admire a couple of doves in our path.

Frankie was probably thinking about an early lunch but they flew away.

After a half hour outside it was starting to feel hot so I “encouraged” Frankie to head toward home. After a while my encouragements weren’t working so I had to pick him up and carry him home.

When I open the door to put him inside, Chris ran out. It wasn’t fair for Chris to be stuck inside while Frankie was out so I let him stay outside while I watched him. Chris is funny because when you talk to him with a scolding voice, he rolls around to show you how cute he is.

“Chris! What are you doing!”

While I was watching Chris outside, Rose opened the door to ask me a question and Frankie ran out. Crap! I tried to catch him but failed and he ended up under my truck. I quickly put Chris in the house so I could concentrate on catching Frankie but he proved very elusive.

Eventually he ended up across the street under the neighbors car.

He knows I can’t get him under a car so I just sat on my porch in the hot sun and waited him out. Sometimes he would come out but stayed close so he could run back under the car if I got close.

I finally gave up and went inside for five minutes. When I came out, Frankie was gone. I searched for him for a few minutes and then went back inside. I thought I would sit in the air conditioning for a little while and watch out the window. That was when Rose spotted him on the street sitting in somebody’s Garden.

I went back outside to retrieve Frankie. This time he games me no trouble and let me pick him up and bring him home.

I think it’s good for our cats to get outside, but it always seems to be a pain in the butt as well.

Love Hurts

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Chris is the most affectionate cat I have ever had. He is also more affectionate than any dog I have ever had. He spends a good part of his day on my lap, on Rose’s lap or curled up with Frankie or Puck.

I’m not complaining, I love that about him, but part of that affection is an unusual need to bite, especially my nose. Fortunately, the biting is only a small part of his affection but it is quite annoying and the reason all the cats get locked out of the bedroom at night.

Now I’d like to hear about your most affection pet.

Photo Friday: Where’s My Driver?

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C’mon Dad! You have the keys.

The Explorers

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Even though Chris is older and more “mature” he still looks for trouble wherever he can find it. Sometimes he is a bad influence on the other cats.

Photo Friday: Bad Cat Holly

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We visited Rose’s sister, Felice, last Saturday and I wanted to share this very cute picture of one of her cats, Holly, lying on the table where everyone was sitting. Holly is the female version of Chris. She is head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to getting into trouble. We’ve always wanted to take Holly home with us but Felice won’t give her up. I can’t blame her but I bet her and Chris would get along splendidly.

On another note, I have now posted something every day for nine consecutive days. I don’t know what the previous record is but if it was four I would be surprised. I don’t know if tomorrow you will see number ten. Perhaps it is time for a break.

A New Level of Badness

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“If this behavior continues, I will take that cat to the animal shelter so fast your head will spin!” Yes, those words actually came out of Rose’s mouth on Thursday morning. She wouldn’t really do that but she was very angry, and rightfully so.

To explain, I need to back up this story to last weekend when we got new furniture for our patio. We got a sofa/sleeper along with a baker’s rack and a dinette set. The sofa came with a sign in cat language that said, “SCRATCH ME,” so Chris and Frankie complied.

I covered it with a blanket and a couple of towels over the arms, not just because of the scratching but also to keep it clean and free of cat hair. When guests would come for a visit, we could remove the covers and they could wonder how we keep it so clean with three cats.

The covers didn’t completely stop the scratching. Chris would get under the towel and scratch the edge. That prompted Rose to buy a product called 3M Petcare scratch protection film, which is basically wide packing tape for ten times the cost. I put in on the corners and have not seen any cat scratch there since then.

Rose must have decided that the blanket was ugly so she folded it in half and placed it over the top of the couch only, leaving the seat cushions exposed. By now you probably see where I am going with this.

Thursday morning I did my usual chores. I gave the cat’s wet food, made coffee, scooped the boxes, swept the litter, put down fresh water and dry food, etc. Shortly before we were to leave for work, Rose walked onto the patio and said, “It smells like poop out here!” For this story, I have decided to substitute the word “poop” for another word.

“Can’t you smell that? Someone has pooped out here!” I did clean the boxes but they do tend to use them when they are clean.

“Oh my God! There is poop on the couch! Chris has pooped on my brand new sofa!”

Sure enough, there was a pile of poop on the seat cushion. That was bad enough, but instead of a nice hard poop that would be easy to clean, this was like soft serve ice cream. What a mess.

Chris has long had a problem with pooping outside the box but that problem went away two years ago when we moved into our last home. He always had a chronic loose stool but around the same time he stopped pooping on the floor, his poops got better too. I hope this doesn’t cause Chris to fall off the wagon.

To make matters worse, we hired a painter to paint our cabinets. He was here Wednesday and removed all our cabinet doors and drawers and brought them to his house to sand and paint them. With no doors, Chris was in the cabinet with our food, probably looking for treats or catnip. That happened right after he was yelled at for pooping.

I had enough and yelled at him and tried to pull him out but he put up heavy resistance. I finally got him out and finished getting ready for work. When I was leaving, I gave him a little pet goodby and he growled at me. I pet him again and he growled some more.

I don’t know why but I was actually upset about it on the way to work, even though I wasn’t the bad guy.

Another Great Outside Adventure

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We let the cat’s outside for their weekly romp in the backyard. Puck immediately caught a lizard and then brought it in the house. That distracted me long enough for Frankie to run up the palm tree and get on the roof, and again I missed recording it. At least now I know how he did it.

Frankie then led me on a wild goose chase around the neighborhood while Chris was busy investigating our neighbor’s patio. In other words, it was a typical day.