My wife put a wicker table on the catio a while ago, and it has become Frankie’s new favorite spot. Floki’s favorite spot is near where you see him in this photo. Apparently, they want to be where the neighbor’s dog can see them and get all riled up.
Frankie’s second favorite spot is near the house, but also on the catio. In fact, he spends nearly the entire day on the catio, only coming in to use the litter box and eat.
We all know that when outside cats fight, it can get brutal, but what about when inside cats fight? I don’t know about all inside cats, but at our house, it’s pretty tame. The exception would be the early fights between Chris and Frankie when Frankie first joined our family, and one other fight a year or two later between those two. It was so bad that we had to separate them between a closed door.
Other than that, fights at our house are more like roughhousing. Sometimes it seems they are fighting in slow motion. For example, here is Frankie and Floki last night.
Do your cats fight? If so, how do they fight?
Yesterday, I heard barking outside that reminded me of the barking I heard outside years ago when a Pit Bull was in our backyard trying to get our neighbor’s cat, Casper. You can read that story here.
The barking sounded close, and I knew our cats were on the back porch, so I hurried outside to see what was going on. Sure enough, our next-door neighbor’s dog was outside in their yard. The dog had no supervision, which was okay since it was in a fenced-in yard, but it had pulled one of the fence slats off and also pulled away the chicken wire attached to the other side.
I tried talking to the dog calmly, but it would not stop barking. It wanted our cats just as much as the pit bull wanted Frankie a couple of weeks ago. It tried crawling under the fence a couple of times, but the chicken wire was just enough in the way to prevent it. I’m sure that if the dog kept trying, it would have made it under the fence. It then surely would have taken no time to rip through the screens.
I took a less-than-great photo just before the neighbor’s door opened, and the sound of a whistle caused the dog to go inside.
The funny, or not-so-funny thing about the incident is that both cats were standing near the screen closest to the dog. This makes me worry that if a dog does get into our backyard, the cats won’t have enough sense to run into the house.
This morning, I put a couple of nails in the fence slat. Hopefully, that will hold the dog back.
The second half of our trip started well. The cats seemed to be comfortable in the Ikare Pet Carrier I bought for them. With the pullouts on the side, there was plenty of room for two cats and a small litter box. I think three cats would have done well in it. They never used the litter box but we had to deal with cats pooping in their carriers at least twice in the past, so it was worth having.
The second time we stopped I gave them a little food while we were charging the car.
By the time we got to Charleston, West Virginia, we were tired and looking forward to the trip being over. The GPS indicated that we would arrive in forty-five minutes, at 2:37, but then a warning light appeared. The rear passenger tire pressure had dropped to 28 psi. There was an exit ahead, so Rose got in the right lane. I was hoping the tire was just low and I could fill it with my portable tire inflator, but thirty seconds later the pressure dropped to 15 p.s.i.
Fortunately, there was a gas station just off the highway, so we pulled in there. By then, the pressure had dropped to zero.
Rose first called our insurance company, and they put us on hold for a long time as they tried to find someone who could tow a Tesla, which requires a flatbed. While she was doing that, I called Tesla and spoke with a woman who was very nice. Since we were nowhere near a Tesla service center, she tried to help us find a local tire shop that could change a tire. Since Teslas do not come with spare tires, there was no option for changing it on the spot.
After much hemming and hawing, we decided to arrange for a tow truck to bring our car the 41 miles to our house. Tesla would have paid for a tow to a service center, but a tow to our house cost us $370. We did that because there was no room for three people and two cats in the tow truck. If it were just Rose and me, we would have gone straight to a tire shop, if one could have been found that had the right size tires.
Rose called the maintenance supervisor at the property she oversees, which is in the same town as our house. He came to pick up Rose and the cats. Meanwhile, the tow truck arrived a few minutes before he did. The driver was nice enough to wait until he came, then Rose and the cats left while I stayed with the tow truck.
I arrived at the house just before five and spent a fair amount of time bringing all the items from the car to the laundry room, which serves as a buffer zone between the cats and the outside. I couldn’t believe how much stuff that car holds.
I wanted to get a video of the cats exploring the house for the first time in three and a half years, but I was way too late for that. Instead, I got a picture of Frankie finishing his dinner.
Two of the doors on the catio had ripped screens, so we couldn’t let the cats out there, which was a shame because they loved that catio. Frankie discovered the room that used to be my office, but now contained much of the stuff that we left behind.
Unfortunately, our renters moved bedding that they didn’t want into that room. They also moved heavy furniture from downstairs to upstairs and other furniture from upstairs to downstairs, so we had to move them back over the next couple of days.
We found a cat perch that Frankie took to and spent much of the remaining Saturday on. I don’t remember that perch, but I am getting old.
On Sunday, I found a large screen in the garage and slid it in front of the doors. Since my tools and everything else we had in storage won’t be here until sometime this week, that will have to do for the cats to enjoy the catio.
I took Frankie for a walk on Sunday. I wanted him to get used to the area but he just wanted to stay near home for some reason.
We went for a walk yesterday, too. That time we walked down the alley until the end, then came back down the next street. He wants to go out today, but there is a cold drizzle right now.
All the tire shops were closed for Memorial Day weekend, so I made several calls to shops this morning, but none had the right size tires, which are over $500 each, by the way. When did tires get so expensive? One shop in Parkersburg ordered them and will be here sometime tomorrow. I will then have to travel with the tow truck driver for forty minutes. That is the downside of living in a small town.
Tomorrow will be four days without a car at a time when we need supplies. We learned Walmart delivers, so we have been ordering stuff from them. The interesting thing is that there are no Kroger stores near us in Florida, but we can still order Kroger delivery. Here, there is a Kroger in the next town, but we can’t get delivery from them.
Anyway, the good news is we are here and safe. Ultimately, that is what matters.
These photos were taken almost sixteen years ago on May 10, 2009. If my new timeline is correct, Chris was a small kitten 500 miles away at the time.
We had a condo on the Gulf in Dunedin, Florida. Some units faced the Gulf but ours faced a canal. On this day, I sat on the deck with Tigger and Alex.
Until I saw this photo this morning, I never remembered that I put a harness of Alex. Perhaps he was a runner like Frankie. I don’t know.
A couple of months ago, I saw a video for a product called Ripple Rug. In the video, the cats were having a wonderful time going in and out of all the holes and crevices. After my wife saw the video, she agreed that we should order one from Chewy. So, we paid the forty-six dollars and waited with anticipation.
When it arrived a few days later I couldn’t wait to watch our cats enjoying such a unique product.
Floki was interested right away… in the box.
He did eventually investigate it for a few seconds but never tried to enter one of the little holes. Frankie’s level of interest could only be compared to his interest in toothpaste.
I let it sit for a few days, with neither of our cats showing any interest. Now, it is folded and waiting for us to bring it to West Virginia, where I will try again before throwing it out.
That is not to say this is a bad product. I’m sure many cats would have a ball with it. Just not our cats.
I folded laundry the other day but before I could put the towels away, I saw this.
I decided to let Frankie stay where he was for a while. When I came back later to put the towels away, I saw this.
Here is a photo of Alex and Tigger I found from March 27, 2009.
Until now, we always had cats that would nap close together.
We are planning on going to our home in West Virginia in a couple of months. We haven’t been there since 2021. The last couple of times we went, bringing the cats proved difficult. Since this is the first time we will be making the trip in an electric car, we need to plan for slightly longer travel times.
The good news is, there is a fair amount of room in a Tesla Y so I decided to try to find a carrier that would make use of that room while being manageable. Some of the options I considered were too big and heavy to bring into a hotel. That would have required us to remove the cats and risk one or both of them escaping in an unknown area.
After a long search, I found something that I think will work nicely. It is an Ikare Pet Carrier. (This is an affiliate link.)
It is quite large. According to Amazon, it is 38″L x 20.4″W x 20.4″H. It has two panels that unzip and expand to make it even larger. It also comes with two pads and two expandable bowls.
It comes in two parts that zip together.
Here it is with the expandable sides.
Floki is demonstrating how much room is inside.
Frankie is demonstrating how strong it is.
I put it in the car with the seats folded down to ensure it fits.
It not only fits, but we also still have room for luggage.
If we wanted to, we could carry the cats into the hotel separately.
I don’t think we will because there is not an easy way to separate it without giving the cat’s an opportunity to escape. We do plan on putting a small litterbox in the carrier during the trip. Having room for a litterbox was my goal when I started searching for a carrier. One of our cats pooped in their carrier on our last trip up there and we wanted to prevent that this time. We will need to add and remove the litterbox while in the car. That may be a little bit of a challenge, but it probably will not be too difficult.
When we get to our destination, the carrier folds up and fits into its own carrying case.
As a side note, the case can be used as a litterbox, but it would need a liner. We will just bring a separate litterbox. Since the litterbox going into the crate will be small, I haven’t decided if we should use a bigger one in the hotel.
What do you think of the carrier? Do you have any tips on traveling with cats?
Here is Chris and Frankie on this day in 2023. It must have been cold that day because they were sharing the heated pad.
Bad Cat Chris 