Tag Archives: cat

An Unexpected Walk

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Sunday afternoon I was bringing a handful of laundry outside to the washing machine in our shed. I had just fed the cats and saw Frankie in the kitchen with his head in the food bowl. I figured it was safe to open the door, which I did quickly, and turned around to walk out backward so I could catch Frankie if he tried to get out. I obviously did it wrong because there was a second between when I cracked the door open and when I was turned around enough to see Frankie’s tail wiz past me.

He immediately went under a vehicle so I couldn’t catch him.

I talked to him nicely and managed to coax him out a bit.

I should have tried to grab him then but I worried if I missed I would never catch him. Instead, I had an idea. I went back into the house and grabbed his harness. When I got close, I pulled it apart. He knows that the sound of the velcro means he is going for a walk so he came out and let me put it on. Unfortunately, I was rushed and put it on upside down. In the process of trying to reverse it, I nearly freaked him out a little. Before he got too nervous I turned it around and soon we were walking.

We did some sitting too.

We made our way to the clubhouse where I think a bingo game just ended. There was an old lady in a car with the window down marveling at a cat on a leash. I talked to her for a minute but Frankie was interested in the door that was propped open. He stuck his head inside to the delight of another two older ladies.

Eventually, we made it back relatively close to home, perhaps half a block. Frankie decided to take a rest in someone’s yard.

I let him stay for a short time but since he was literally against someone’s house I decided to pick him up and bring him home before we got yelled at.

There is No Safe Place for Catnip Here

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In my last post, I reported that I started an indoor herb garden but had to put the catnip plant outside because it wasn’t safe inside with three cats. Well, it turns out that outside is no better. This is what I saw when I got in my car to go to work yesterday morning.

I was concerned that the feral cat might get it but I was not sure if the cat was even still around, as I hadn’t seen her, or him, in quite a while. I guess now I know.

Tolerating the Child

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Happy New Year everyone. We hope you all enjoyed your holidays and wish you the best for 2023.

I hurt my back the day after Christmas and am still in pain six days later, although, I am getting better. Before I hurt my back, on Christmas Day, we enjoyed a visit from my son, his girlfriend, and the always entertaining grandson. Apparently, a few days earlier, his mother trusted someone to cut his hair that obviously didn’t know what she was doing.

Brayden is an active young man who turned three in October. Floki does not like the disturbance caused by the presence of a child and spent most of the time hiding. Frankie kept his distance and hung out on the bed. He gave Brayden a hiss or two when he got too close. Chris, on the other hand, gracefully put up with him.

I removed the audio but he was being instructed to stop almost the entire time. You can see where he was made to turn over his instrument of torment, only to go find another one.

Later, my wife showed him our slot machine, probably to distract him. I spent time with him while he fed quarters into the machine.

He would put two or three-quarters in before pulling the handle. I tried to explain that he was wasting his money to no avail. He did win the second-highest jackpot twice so I probably should have just shut my mouth. At one point, he had a hand full of quarters that he dropped into the machine, one at a time. While he was feeding them into the machine, he was counting. He made it all the way to fifteen before running out of quarters.

It has been a while since I raised a child but is it normal for a kid that age to be able to count to fifteen? I assume he could have gone higher if he had more quarters.

Another Trip to the Vet

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When I took Floki to the vet last month, I discussed with the vet options to help Chris with his perpetual ear infection. He has a problem with ear polyps, which allow bacteria to fester. The problem is they go too deep into the ear canal for the vet to remove them all unless I wanted them to remove the ear canals and make Chris deaf, which I don’t want to do. So we discussed surgery to remove as much as they could, and then pack the ear with a specific treatment of antibiotics that would require just two treatments.

We had to schedule the surgery a month in advance, presumably because they were so busy. A week before the appointment, my wife said she didn’t want to do it because she feared that Chris’s age and health would put him at a higher risk of death from the surgery. I spoke with the vet looking for reassurance but she did say he was at an increased risk. Instead, we decided to try the antibiotic treatment without the surgery.

This morning I brought him to the vet with much crying in the car on the way there. When we arrived we were put in an exam room and the vet tech, remembering his last visit, decided to leave him in his carrier until the vet came in.

While we were waiting, I opened his carrier and, as expected, he had no desire to get out. This is very different that young Chris who loved to explore the vet’s office.

When the vet arrived, she asked a few questions and then took Chris into another room. After a few minutes, I could hear Chris howling. He was not happy but it didn’t take long. Soon he was back and we were ready to check out.

When they opened the door, their office cat came in. I bent down to pet him and the vet said, “You’re aware he is a biter, aren’t you?” “Yes,” I said. “He’s fine,” and proceeded to pet him. He didn’t bite me but he was interested in Chris. He smelled him for a few seconds and then put both paws on top of the carrier. Nobody hissed. That is when he was called off and we left to check out.

On a related note, I purchased a new carrier for Chris because I did not like carrying him around in a crate that was not meant for that. You can see what I bought here. Note that is an affiliate link. My wife put Chris in the new carrier while I was out moving the cars around. She said it was very easy to get him. He fit well, too, for a twenty-pound cat.

Chris Wins Again

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You may remember me writing about how Chris started tipping his food bowl over so he could eat the food off the floor because he was too lazy to stand and eat. I ended up purchasing a wooden bowl stand that prevented Chris from tipping the bowls over. To celebrate my victory I wrote a post called “Checkmate.” I was happy that I could finally outsmart my cat. Or could I?

I saw this the other day.

He always has to win. I don’t know how he does it.

Chris’s Thirteenth Gotcha Day

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Read to the end for a free copy of Chris’s book.

It has been thirteen years since Chris came to live with us and I don’t think it is a stretch to say that he changed our lives. I imagine things would be very different if I didn’t need to fill in for someone that day at the Petsmart adoption center where I first saw Chris. For one thing, I probably would not be blogging today and would have missed out on knowing so many great people . . . and pets.

I think this is a good time to walk down memory lane.

I believe this is the first photo I have of Chris. It was taken with the low-quality camera that was on my non-smartphone at the time. I had met Chris a few times before while volunteering at the shelter and thought he would make a good candidate for adoption. I even spoke to my wife about him. Another volunteer snapped this photo with my phone and I texted it to my wife, who was out of town on a business trip. I wrote, “Can we keep him?”

When Rose first came to see him he did not disappoint.

Bad Cat Chris at adoption center with Rose.

After we got him home he continued his affection.

Early picture of Bad Cat Chris and Rose

But first, there was a home to explore. Here he is moments after we arrived home and I opened his carrier.

He basically took over the house and our other cats just let him. In return, Chris was very affectionate to the other cats, weather they liked it or not.

Bad Cat Chris on Curio Cabinet

He even influenced others to misbehave.

But he has always been the glue that holds the group together.

I will leave you with a “Best of Bad Cat Chris” video that I put together about seven years ago.

Many of you know I wrote an ebook about Chris over nine years ago. Much of it was taken from this blog and tells the story of our early struggles with raising a bad cat. I have made the book free until the end of the day Wednesday. To get your free kindle ebook, click here.