The other day Chris was outside and caught another lizard. That is bad enough but he has this irresistible urge to bring his catch into the house and doesn’t know what to do with it when he can’t get in.
I’m not sure why he has to bring it inside. At first I thought it was instinctual but then I realized that lions don’t kill a gazelle and then drag it back to the den to eat it. Maybe he just wants to show it off to Puck and Frankie.
I guess a bad cat’s got to do what a bad cat’s got to do.
I don’t know why but cats seem to have a fascination with lying on purses. So when Rose put several purses on a chair (temporally), Puck couldn’t resist napping on them.
We know nothing about Frankie’s back story. We adopted him at Petsmart from The Pinellas County Animal Services. The person at Petsmart did not know anything about him so we just didn’t think much about it, although I did send a Facebook message to the animal services with his reference number but, even though they have an active Facebook page, I got no response.
I couldn’t help being perplexed, though, by the ear notch on his right ear. I have heard about ear notching before. It is the method of cutting a notch in a cat’s ear after spaying or Neutering. Sometimes it is called ear tipping when they remove about a centimeter off the tip of the ear.
Ear tipped cat
Ear notching or tipping is mostly done to feral cats involved in a Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) program. It identifies that they have been fixed so they are not trapped again and put under the knife a second time. I prefer the notch because it is less disfiguring but a ear-tipped cat is easier to identify from a distance. It is also more likely that a notch could be mistaken for an injury or vice versa.
The notch got me thinking. If he was a feral cat, why is he so friendly? Of course, not all notched cats are feral, some are strays, but if Frankie was caught as a stray with the intention of fixing him for adoption, why would they notch his ear? Perhaps it isn’t a notch. After all, it looks more like a slit than a triangular notch.
Frankie’s ear notch
I did a little research and found that ear tipping on the left ear is most common but there is no universal standard. Frankie’s quasi notch is on his right ear. That led me to believe it was more likely the result of a fight and didn’t think about it again until we visited my mother-in-law.
She has two cats. One of them is a gold cat named pumpkin that has the same slit on his right ear. Coincidence? Possibly. It is also possible that in this area, a small sliver of a notch in the right ear is how some vets do it.
Pumpkin
I tried to do a Google search to see what the standard is where I live on the west coast of Tampa Bay, Florida, but I found nothing concrete. I searched Petfinder for cats in my area and found four or five with a tipped ear but none with a notch. So the mystery remains. It doesn’t really matter where Frankie comes from and if I never find out, I won’t care. I just can’t help loving a good mystery.
Do you have a cat that has been notched or tipped? Do you know what is common where you live? I’d like to hear about it.
Here on the west coast of Florida, it gets pretty hot in the summer. It seems almost every afternoon the temperature is at or near 95 degrees Fahrenheit. There is also a high humidity in the summer that makes being outside during midday quite unpleasant. We try to limit our outdoor activities to the mornings or late afternoons.
Chris and Puck feel that way too. Often they use that time to nap on the sofa or, in Chris’s case, find a human to bother. Frankie is different. I often look out the window to see him napping on the patio during the hottest part of the afternoon. He must be part camel or something because he spends much of his day outside in the heat and does not seem to be bothered by it in the least. Perhaps he still retains some of the traits of his distant ancestor, the African Wildcat.
As you may or may not know, Chris has taken over his Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts (although I think he is slacking on Google+). The problem is, he is still having trouble learning the correct way to use the keyboard and I always seem to have to come to the rescue and type for him. What is even more of a problem is that when I am typing for him he suddenly remembers how to tap on the keys. Is it too much to expect a cat to type his own posts?
About a week ago, we noticed that Puck was spending a lot of time in the bathroom. No, he does not have a medical condition. He would just hang out in there. Sometimes I would see him sleeping in the bathroom and other times he would be staring up toward the ceiling.
Rose and I wondered if there was a bug that the other cats failed to notice. Perhaps there was the sound of a rat in the ceiling. We didn’t know but we found out the other day. The call came from Rose while I was in the kitchen. Chuck! Come Quickly! Oh my God! Hurry!
I thought she hurt herself or one of the cats was in distress. I hurried to the bathroom to see Rose pointing at the wall. Just above a large picture on the wall was what looked like a
Mediterranean Gecko. It is not native to Florida and looks so different from the lizards we usually see (there is a variety but most are called Brown Anoles) that it caused Rose to get pretty excited. We think it was hiding out behind the picture and Puck knew it was there. It was missing its tail so I assume Puck came close to catching it.
Brown Anole
Mediterranean House Gecko
I got a towel and with much effort finally managed to catch it and bring it outside. Puck did not realize I had caught it and he is still holding vigil in the bathroom, three days later, waiting for the gecko to slip up. Or he’s just looking to save fifteen percent on car insurance. I cant be sure.
Puck still looking for the gecko
Note: If you live outside the U.S. and don’t get the car insurance joke than click here.
It happens every time. Whenever it is time for Chris to come inside, he gives me a run for my money. I suppose I can’t blame him. When I let him out I have to watch him and I rarely have the time to just hang out and babysit a grown cat.
Lately, Chris has been the only one allowed outside. Frankie turned out to be a runner so it is not safe to let him out. He’s been out twice and both time we had to chase him through the neighborhood to get him back. I’m afraid we will lose him if it happens again. Puck likes to go outside and he generally stays close but sometimes he gets nervous and wants to go back in right away so I don’t feel bad leaving him inside.
Chris makes getting out the door his mission in life. I often let him out just because it is easier than trying to stop it. For example, if I have a lot of groceries to bring in I let him out so I don’t have to fight with him on every trip. Sometimes I don’t let him out but he slips past me anyway. In either case, I usually give him a few minutes and then try to retrieve him and bring him back inside.
That is when he gives me the most trouble. He knows when I am ready and he goes out of his way to avoid me. I think that is also when he starts looking for a lizard because he doesn’t want to go back in empty-handed (or empty-pawed).
Here is a recent attempt of me trying to get Chris to come inside.
I am often amazed at how cats can nap in what seems like the most uncomfortable position. Here is Frankie showing us an example of that.
I don’t know how cats manage to squeeze under small spaces like little cockroaches but they do. Here is Frankie under the dresser. Chris used to do this but he has gained weight in recent years and does not jump as high or squeeze as low as he used to.
Bad Cat Chris 