Yesterday our little boy turned four and we missed it because I made a stupid mistake. We actually don’t know his exact birthday but I was told that Floki and his brother were left in a carrier at Walmart on Memorial day and they were about six weeks old at the time so I did the math and came up with April 18th. I then had Alexa remind me of that date but for some reason thought Saturday was the 16th and I had made a mistake. It reminds me of the old joke, “I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken.” This time being wrong about being wrong was a mistake.
I’m four years old? What is that in dog years?
In either case, my wife wanted to celebrate “early” with a cake. I told her it would have to be a tuna cake but she din’t like that idea but she wanted me to pick up some tuna for him as a treat. Since I had to get cat food anyway, I looked for something special and found something called Churu that were squeeze tubes of different flavors of treats. I chose the chicken recipe.
I opened two of the four tubes and squirted it on paper plates for the cats. They all loved it.
Rose decided since it was Floki’s birthday I should open up the other two packages and give that to them too. I did and they gobbled that up as eagerly as the first two. Hopefully, next year I will get the date right.
If you want to read more about Floki’s early days, check out the links below.
At the end of March I was in my least favorite store that may or may not start with a “W.” Anyway, I noticed a package of cat grass as I was heading toward the register and I thought it was something I should get for the cats.
My past experience with cat grass has not been good, mostly because the cats would tip it over and make a big mess. It also was expensive and wouldn’t last long. My plan this time was to buy a pot that would be the right size and difficult to tip over. I found that in the same store as well as a small bag of potting soil. I don’t remember what I paid but I think it was all under $20.
Six days after planting the seeds the grass was coming up quite nicely.
Two days later Chris was outside and he stumbled upon the cat grass. I let him eat a little but encouraged him to leave after a minute or two because the grass wasn’t ready yet.
Three days later I thought it was long enough to bring it in the house.
All the cats seemed to enjoy the grass, especially Chris and Frankie. I left it out for them for a few hours and then brought it back outside. After a few days I brought it inside for a few more hours and then put it back outside again. I think I will repeat that cycle about twice a week and see how long this lasts. Hopefully I can keep it indefinitely.
What do you think? Have you had success with cat grass?
We are having our house painted and, of course, when the painter arrived this morning to pressure wash, Frankie ran out the door. I put my shoes on and went out to look for him as soon as I was done talking to the painter. I found him ten or fifteen minutes later in front of the neighbors house but he went under their car when I approached. Since the car was relatively tall and since he was not very far under it I decided to try to grab him. I reached under the car and got the scruff of his neck and dragged him out. He didn’t resist as I picked him up and carried him to our house.
He didn’t resist at first but by then the painter was pressure washing the house. The pressure washer was running to the left of the door and the guy was spraying to the right of the door. Frankie was not happy about going through the middle of that and made every effort to get away. I held tight, despite the pain, and quickly opened the door and let him jump to safety inside.
Ten minutes later Floki was hiding under our bed and Frankie was on the bed paying very close attention to the noises outside. Chris then joined Frankie on the bed and promptly fell asleep while Frankie kept his ears and eyes on where the noise was coming from.
Shortly after moving to South Carolina in 2009, I started volunteering at a shelter called Sav-R-Cats. It is the shelter where we adopted Chris from but before that, I took photos of cats for their Petfinder page. At the time the shelter had several community rooms and a few large cages. When the volunteers came in, those rooms were mostly emptied and all the cats were allowed to socialize in the main part of the shelter. Some cats stayed outside of the cages, even at night. Two of those cats were best friends Yoda and Jerry, who arrived at the shelter in 2006.
Yoda and Jerry, October 3, 2009
I saw on their Facebook page that Jerry passed away a couple of weeks ago having never been adopted. I believe Yoda is still alive and still at the shelter but I don’t know for sure. I asked about Yoda but have not yet got a response.
I’m not sure why those two were never adopted. Some cats are just not adoptable and end up living out there lives at a no-kill shelter. I don’t know if that was the case with these two. It is possible they could not be separated and needed to go together which can make adoption more difficult. Perhaps, after a while, they just became resident cats, which really isn’t such a bad life considering they had the run of the shelter.
If Yoda is still alive, I am concerned what he will do without Jerry. Perhaps it is time for a loving home.
A couple of months ago I wrote about the many cats I saw who tended to spend their time lying in litter boxes at the SPCA shelter where I volunteer (see here). I suggested, and people agreed, that this is a behavior caused by stress. Since then I have accumulated several more photos of cats in litter boxes. Many, if not all, of the cats shown here have been adopted so enjoy the photos but don’t worry about the kitties.
Being in a shelter is no fun for anybody but usually, the end justifies the means. I’ve noticed the turnover is relatively quick and a cat that spends three months in our shelter is pretty rare. Now that the shelter is by appointment only that might change but my hope is people won’t forget about these pets in need even though they have other things to worry about right now. What do you think?
As many of you know, I volunteer for the SPCA here in Largo, Florida. I work as a cat counselor every Thursday from 4-7. Usually there are three of us counselors but a week ago two of my fellow volunteers did not show up. When I went in this Thursday I was expecting the shelter to be closed to the public but I was pleasantly surprised that it was open and pets were being adopted, although they have adopted an appointment only policy that started Friday.
I was again alone this Thursday, and I hope the two ladies I work with are well, but it does make my work seem even more important now. During the three hours I was there I saw three cats go home with their new families. It is a good feeling.
My wife and I have been throwing around the idea of adopting a female cat. Unfortunately, we are only allowed one pet where we live and are already over our limit so it probably won’t happen but I still think about it while I am there. This last month there have been a string of female black cats that have been extremely friendly and affectionate. Three of these cats have been in isolation because they supposedly do not get along with other cats. We considered adopting one of them, Jezebel, which I wrote about here. When my wife came in to check her out she proved herself to be intolerant of others.
While I was there Thursday, I kept an eye out for the most friendly female cat at the shelter. This, of course, is impossible to determine on one visit because cats might act differently depending on how tired they are or for other reasons. However, I do think a six year old cat named Kiki would get my vote. Coincidentally, she is another female black cat and I noticed how friendly she was the previous week too.
I think the friendliest male cat at the shelter would be a one year old named Kitty, who is a very special cat with a not so special name. He is in isolation because he is on a special diet but I think that is temporary. When I opened his cage he was all over me. He would push his head into my chin and then put his paws on my shoulder and snuggle with me. As an outgoing and rather well built male, I think he would cause jealousy among our other two wannabe alpha males.
Please excuse the poor quality of this photo of Kitty
On the way out after my shift I noticed a beautiful cat that was just outside the door. He meowed at me and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was one of our cats that escaped. I took a photo of him and went back inside to ask someone.
It turns out his name is Chunks, or something like that, and he is a stray that they take care of. It seems strange that a stray cat would be a permanent resident outside a shelter but if he is feral and unadoptable, that is probably the best place to live. When I came back out I bent down and reached out my hand, hoping he would come to me, but no such luck. I think he his trusting but to a point.
How are things where you live? Do you know if shelters are still open?
Bad Cat Chris 