My stepson, Nick, flew in yesterday with his girlfriend and the four of us are going on vacation together this week. I posted recently about how Puck was nervous around Nick, but not so with Chris.
Chris loves everyone and he especially loves to be hugged, which is not a typical cat behavior. Of course, Chris is not a typical cat.
My wife called me at work yesterday and said Floki was behaving strangely when he ate so we decided it was best to call the vet right away since the weekend was coming up. She got him an appointment for 11 a.m. this morning.
I noticed when I got home yesterday that he did seem a little off when he ate, like he was having trouble swallowing or something but then, on the next bite, he seemed fine. Nevertheless, we wanted to make sure he was okay.
So, amazingly, we were able to get him in his carrier and I brought him to the vet. I didn’t get any useful photos but here is one from another trip to the vet.
The vet checked him out pretty thoroughly and found nothing serious wrong with him. He did say he had slight gingivitis but not enough to cause problems. He also said he had wax build up in his ears and suggested we clean them. I laughed at that because Floki is a Cat 5 tornado when we try to do anything that he doesn’t want done. That is why I asked them to clip his nails while he was there.
When I checked out it was raining pretty hard outside. I usually wear moccasins that are comfortable but are slippery when wet. I didn’t think about that since it wasn’t raining when we left the house.
So I went out the door in the pouring rain and walked quickly to my car. As soon as I stepped on the asphalt I slipped and fell forward. If Floki wasn’t with me it probably wouldn’t have been a big deal but Floki’s soft carrier hit the ground and I was about to land on top of him. I twisted my body to the left to keep from crushing Floki but hit my elbow hard on the pavement. I also got very wet because I ended up laying on the flooded pavement. Fortunately, I only hit Floki with a glancing blow so at least he is okay.
Frankie loves lying on the perch by the windows in the cat’s room, which is what we call the Florida room. My mother calls her patio the Arizona room. I don’t know where she came up with that dumb name.
Sometimes I see Chris or Floki in this spot but it mostly belongs to Frankie.
The other night my wife and I were sitting in bed, winding down before bedtime. Frankie was on my lap like he often is.
Rose looked at him and said something like, “Do you know that Frankie never lies on my lap? Not ever. And I’m the one that saved him.”
It’s true. We adopted Puck for Rose but Puck took to me more so she wanted her own cat. . . again. When we found Frankie he let Rose hold him and snuggled up to her enough to win her over and get adopted. After that, he was my cat
So, while Frankie was on my lap, Rose said to him, “Frankie, you come see Mama! C’mon Frankie, come to Mama.”
Then, as if he understood English, he got off my lap, walked over to Rose and let her pet him for about eight seconds, then walked back and got on my lap again.
You just can’t make this stuff up.
My wife is looking for a housekeeper so our next door neighbor, April, recommended somebody that she knows. April is at our house quite often and she watches our cats when we go away sometimes, so our cats are very familiar with her. Of course, when April came over to introduce her friend to Rose, Frankie ran out the door and escaped.
It seems that everything interesting that happens with our cats lately happens while I’m at work. Rose sent me the following text yesterday morning.
A few minutes later I get this one.
When I got home I found out the whole story. Apparently April went back to her house with the lady and must have had her door open because Frankie ran inside her house. I don’t know what happened while he was inside but April then carried Frankie home.
It reminds me a lot of what happened when Chris was young. This might be my favorite story about Chris. You can read it here.
Chris has always been an unusual cat, which is why I thought he would be a good subject for a blog. One thing that makes Chris different from most cats is his fearlessness. You may remember posts about his indifference to the vacuum, or the post about him watching fireworks with us.
Last week my wife told me about something that happened while I was at work. She said one of those bucket trucks pulled up and a man got in the bucket and proceeded to trim the palm tree next to our house.
The noise freaked out Floki and Frankie, who came running into the house from the Florida room. They were both very nervous as they listened to the noise coming from outside. But Rose did not see Chris so she got up to check on him and was surprised by what she saw.
Chris was sitting on top of his crate, less than ten feet from the tree, watching the man trim the palm fronds.
If someone else has a cat like Chris, I would love to hear about it.
This squirrel has learned that the glass makes him immune to cat attacks so he taunts our cats by ignoring them.
Floki’s not happy about it.
Chris is no longer the adventurous, trouble seeking cat he used to be. Now he just causes trouble whenever he can do so with little to no effort. For example, I noticed recently one of the food bowls is often turned over on its side. I know Chris was doing it but never actually caught him in the act. He has become so lazy that he can’t even stand up to eat his food. He tips the bowl over and eats while lying down.
While I was at work yesterday my wife sent me the following photos from the scene of the crime, where the culprit was caught on camera.
I guess I need to put up a sign that says, “No tipping, please.”
I took Frankie for a walk last weekend and took a few photos of him rolling in the grass. My phone photos automatically back up to Google Photos where I was presented with a Google-generated collage of Frankie.
How Google was smart enough to pick those particular photos, I don’t know, but I thought they were good choices.
I brought Floki to the vet this morning to get his nails trimmed. The vet’s office has a one-year-old tabby cat named Freddy. He was the inspiration for me to buy a window bird feeder after watching him react to the window bird feeder at the vet’s office during a previous visit.
As Floki and I were waiting for our turn, Freddie jumped on the counter from the back area and then jumped down into the waiting room. We were the only ones waiting at the time and Freddy was very interested in meeting Floki.
There was no hissing or growling. Freddy was just being friendly and Floki was pretending that he couldn’t see Freddy. He kept looking the other way.
I think Freddy recognized the snub and decided to just lie down nearby.
Someone came then to get Floki and bumped Freddy with the door as she tried to get into the waiting room.
While I waited for Floki, Freddy played with me. He would grab my arm with both paws and bite me. They were friendly bites and I didn’t pay much attention to them at first but then noticed my wrist was bleeding. I considered asking for something to clean it with but then thought better of it. I didn’t want Freddy to get banned from the waiting room.
After a short time, he settled down on top of the scale, where his weight fluctuated between 13.8 and 14 pounds. That seemed a little hefty for a one-year-old but it didn’t seem to impede his jumping ability. Maybe his judgment was off a little, though, because he then jumped back on the counter like a bull in a china shop, knocking things over along the way.
Just then the vet tech came back with Floki and I paid my bill. While I was at the counter, I noticed a sign with Freddy’s picture on it. The sign read, “I like to play with my teeth. Pet me at your own risk.”
Bad Cat Chris 