Our latest incarnation of Fort Box lasted longer than any other, perhaps six weeks or so, but my wife is tired of tripping over it and wants it gone today.
I have another box ready to go so I will give it a few days and then start over.
I opened the door yesterday afternoon thinking Frankie was in another room but I was wrong and he slipped past me and out the door. It was about 3:15 p.m. I tried to catch him but he ran under the neighbor’s car so I left him there and returned home. I figured he would come back. I had recently bought butternut squash seeds and those little cardboard pots called seed starters so while I was waiting I busied myself filling those pots and planting the seeds.
Frankie didn’t come back and after a while, I started getting worried about him so I walked around looking for him but saw no sign of him. After about a half-hour he came back to taunt me and then disappeared again.
I stayed outside for a while waiting for him to come back but he did not. Normally he comes back and lets me catch him within the first hour so I was starting to become concerned. I walked around looking for him and then got in my car and drove around the neighborhood but saw no sign of him. I let some time pass and then I drove around the neighborhood again, still with no luck. By this time we had dinner in the oven and Rose and I were both very concerned. I had an upset stomach from worry.
At around 6 p.m. Rose shut the oven off and we drove around the neighborhood together. We drove for probably about a half an hour or so. Several times we drove past our home hoping we would see him there waiting but we didn’t.
I had fed the cats earlier and there was still some wet food left when we got back. I scooped one of the plates into the trash but Rose suggested putting the other one outside, which I did. About ten minutes later I looked out the window and saw Frankie on top of Rose’s car. It was 6:45, three and a half hours after he got out. I was very relieved and went out to get him. When I did I noticed the food had been eaten.
I have wanted to get Frankie microchipped for a long time but put it off until he was at the vet for another reason. Unfortunately, he had not been at the vet for another reason for a long time so it never happened. Now I think it’s time to get him micro-chipped but I’m not sure if vets are doing non-emergency procedures. I noticed the SPCA stopped fixing the animals in their care so the gloves and masks could be saved for emergencies.
Frankie goes stir-crazy if he is stuck in the house too long. It was probably over a week since I took him for a walk and maybe almost that long since he last escaped so he was driving me crazy with his crying and scratching at the door. I couldn’t take it anymore so, even though I was busy, I got his harness and we went outside.
I hope everyone reading this is doing well and I hope if you are stuck at home you are not going stir-crazy like Frankie.
Frankie escaped yesterday again which has become highly annoying, especially since I just took him for a walk the day before. It happened as I was leaving to go to the store so I couldn’t leave until I got him back in the house.
The first thing he did when I tried to catch him was run across the street and under a vehicle that was parked there. I tried, unsuccessfully, to coax him out, or at least get him close enough to pull him out, but he is too smart for that.
After a while he became distracted with a lizard, which he caught and headed for home with it. I thought he wanted to bring it in the house but he went under my car with it instead.
Cats like to play with their prey so he let it go and recaptured it a couple of times before the lizard came out from under the car enough for me to catch it. I then moved it back a foot or two and let it go. I was hoping Frankie would come out to get it but both stayed motionless. That is when I gave the lizard a little push to get him moving which also got Frankie moving. He ran out from under the car into my waiting arms.
Now that, my friends, is how you catch a cat.
Here is Frankie on one of his walks. Taking Frankie for a walk is less common these days because he escapes so often a walk on his harness is almost unnecessary.
The Most Annoying Cat in the World is a bold statement and I have no real evidence to support that there is not another cat more annoying than Chris but, in my mind at least, I can’t imagine anyone could beat him at the annoyance game.
Here are just two examples of how annoying Chris can be. Keep in mind that he is also the most affectionate cat in the world, according to me, so that tends to cancel out the annoying factor.
Here are more videos that I have shown before but are worth repeating.
What do you think? Do you have an annoying cat?
A hero does not have to wear a mask and cape or be a firefighter or soldier. According to Google, a hero is “a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” I was thinking about that on Thursday when I was volunteering at the SPCA.
I had recently changed jobs and moved into a cat counselor position because the 4-7 shift on Thursdays opened up. Previously, I worked on Mondays or Tuesdays when the shelter was closed but now I have the opportunity to interact with people who are looking to adopt. While I was there, a couple adopted a cat that was about ten years old. I told one of the other volunteers that I thought people who adopt older cats are heroes in my book because they could just as easily adopt a kitten, or young cat, that would be with them for many more years but instead they choose to give a cat (or dog) a loving home to live out their remaining life. That is an attitude that I admire greatly and said that I would love to do that but it is hard because we are already over our one pet limit.
That got us talking about an eleven year old cat named Jezebel that was at the shelter but in a cage by herself instead of in a pod with other cats.
I opened the cage and started petting her and she loved it. She was starving for attention and just seemed so sweet. I looked at her chart which said that she had been there since October 23rd. That was almost four months stuck in a small cage by herself. I asked if anyone knew why she was isolated from other cats but nobody knew for sure. Her chart said she was aggressive with another cat which was why she was surrendered.
I thought maybe it was just one cat that she was aggressive toward and maybe that particular cat was the problem and not her. “Did anyone try to put her in a pod with other cats before isolating her?” I asked.
Nobody knew so I went to the adoption office and asked them but they did not have specific records and it sounded like they just assumed she was an aggressive cat and stuck her in a box by herself. I feel bad for her and part of me wants to go back and adopt her but another part of me worries that we might be bringing trouble into our home.
What do you think? Any advice for me?
Update: My wife and I went to see Jezebel Saturday afternoon. She let me hold her for a long time while I listened to an employee tell me that she was the aggressor. I decided to put her to the test and walked over to a cage with a cat that wasn’t sleeping. The two cats sniffed each other for a few seconds and then Jesebel let loose with a few rapid-fire whaps at the unsuspecting kitty. That pretty much ended her chance of coming home with us which is really too bad because she is such a friendly cat otherwise.
One of my most used Christmas presents this year is a Viltrox LED Light Panel. I picked it out after my wife said that my stepson was looking for something to buy for me. I am very hard to buy for because I don’t need much and if I do find something that I want it is too expensive for me or anyone else. So you can imagine how hard it was to come up with a good suggestion. I was very happy that it actually was a good suggestion because this light has proved to be quite useful.
I typically hate using a flash for photographing our cats, or anything else. About the only thing a flash is good for, in my opinion, is in photographing receipts. I hate the harsh shadows it creates and you just can’t avoid those laser eyes.
This light panel is not better than natural light but it does improve on the flash that comes on your camera in five significant ways.
I took the two photos below with the light attached to my camera. The first one of Chris sleeping on the sofa is a good example of how the light does not produce harsh shadows. I wish I had taken another photo using the camera’s flash but I did not think of it at the time.
This photo of Chris does have some obvious shadows, which were unavoidable given the content, but I have shot photos like this using a flash and they are almost always unusable. Pay no attention to Chris’s eye boogers. That has always been a constant problem with his eyes.
What do you think? Do you have any other lighting tips you would like to share?
I think the one cat toy in our house that has really stood the test of time is the Turbo Scratcher. The one we have now is one of two that we bought well over fifteen years ago (I don’t know what happened to the other one). It has not only lasted for years, it has also remained one of the most played with toys in the house.
Not all of our cats have been interested in it. Some have ignored it completely while others played with it occasionally, but there has always been one cat that goes back to it again and again. When Chris was young, he was the one. Then it was Puck and now Floki loves the Turbo Scratcher.
I often hear the sound of Floki playing with it but I never have a camera around. When I do go and get my camera or phone, as soon as I come back he is done playing. I was lucky to get the above video before Christmas and then promply forgot I had it until now.
Do you have any pet toys that have stood the test of time? I would love to hear about them.
Chris was back at the vet on Monday to get the blood test that he did not let them get when we were there last. This time my wife went with me to make sure I didn’t let them charge me $700 like the last vet did.
It was not easy getting him into the cat carrier and I felt bad doing it to him again.
There is a scale near the reception desk so I put Chris on it. After deducting the weight of the carrier I came up with 17.2 pounds, about three pounds less than a couple of months ago. I was both glad and concerned that he lost weight.
After they took him in the back, we waited for a very long time and then we heard the blood curdling screams. It was very distressing knowing that Chris was going through such a terrible trauma while we sat and listened. I know having a little blood taken is not that bad, but Chris was a confused cat being held down by strangers while someone poked him with something sharp. I can only imagine what was going through his mind. I wish they would have let me go back and help hold him. That might have been a little less stressful for both of us.
The vet offered anti-diarrhea medication which my wife, who was there to prevent me from overspending, gladly accepted. I was reluctant because I had just ordered probiotics from Amazon and preferred to try to correct the problem naturally and without drugs. We were able to get one of those pills down Chris’s throat once and then we gave up.
They also gave a a poop-kit. I have been instructed to collect Chris’s poop and bring it in. Since we have three cats, I need to see him poop and by now, Thursday morning, that has not happened yet.
I got a call from the vet on Tuesday. She said Chris’s bloodwork was mostly normal. She mentioned two or three of tests that were a little high but she also said the vomiting and stress might have caused the tests to be high and not the other way around. In a nutshell, it is unknown what caused the vomiting but it seems, at least from the bloodwork, that Chris is okay.
We were happy to hear that Chris is okay and hope we won’t have to bring him back anytime soon.
Bad Cat Chris 