Tag Archives: Cats

We are Evacuating

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When Hurricane Irma’s projected path shifted west on Thursday, we decided we should leave. A mandatory evacuation order helped that decision. Some friends said we could stay with them but this morning they told us they decided to evacuate themselves and are heading north, out of the state.

That left us with few options. My wife’s sister Felice’s house is in Evacuation Zone C, which is better than I thought. When Rose told me her sister’s house was in a flood zone, she was referring to her other sister’s house. Nevertheless, Felice has several cats and her mother will also be staying there with her cat which will make things quite uncomfortable if we come with our four cats. Who knows, some kind of cat gang war could erupt.

Instead, Rose got an idea from our Governor and looked into Airbnb. She found a one bedroom duplex in St. Petersburg’s Historic District. It is also in Evacuation Zone C, not perfect but better than Zone A where we are.

airbnb house rental

From Google Street View

As of now (Friday, 5:45 p.m.) my cat carrier has not arrived. If it doesn’t show up, we will have to bring one cat without a carrier because there are no carriers to be found around here. That brings me to my main concern; losing a cat.  If a cat got out the door here, we are pretty sure they would know where home is, but in a strange place, who knows. None of them are microchipped, which I have been wanting to do but never got around to it, and I have no collars with name tags. Actually, I have one collar and a name tag for Frankie IF I can find it. We are just going to have to be very careful when opening the door at the new place.

It looks like the storm will be at its worst around Sunday evening here so we decided to wait until Saturday morning to leave. We probably could wait until the afternoon but there seems no point in delaying further.

I think we will return when things die down a little, possibly Monday afternoon, I don’t know. I am almost afraid to come home because I don’t know what we will find. Everything could be fine or there could be minor damage or even major damage. Looting is also possible in a neighborhood where everyone is gone. Fortunately, we don’t have much that people would want.

I will try to post again from my phone if I can. If I can’t I may update you on Chris’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Thank you all for your concern and wish us luck.

Hunker Down or Evacuate?

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We are watching Hurricane Irma closely. Currently, the projected path is unclear. Some forecast models have the storm turning north and heading up the east coast of Florida. Other models have it turning north and heading up the west coast of Florida. Others have it going straight up the state. We live in Clearwater, on the west coast, and are considering our options about what we are going to do.

National Weather Service Map

The problem is we have four cats and few options on where to go. Rose considered going to stay at her sister’s vacation condo. Her condo is on the eighth floor, well above any chance of flooding. It is also high enough to be less affected by blowing debris. On the other hand, the wind blows harder at those heights and right now Irma is a category 5 storm, so even if it is downgraded, those winds will be very strong. In addition, the condo sits on a peninsula in Tampa Bay, so it is essentially surrounded by water. Worse, the parking garage is below the building so our cars won’t stand a chance.

Her other thought was to stay at her other sister’s house but where she lives isn’t much better than where we live. There’s no sense in packing up four cats to bring them somewhere just slightly better.

The other problem is, we have one large and one small cat carrier. Enough for three cats. One short. I went to Petco today and they were sold out of carriers. According to the woman there, everyone was sold out. It is like gas and water around her. There’s none to be found.

I decided to look online. I found a cheap carrier on Amazon for just over $11. I then paid almost $12 to have it shipped here by Friday. I don’t care how good it is, I just need it to work twice.

Our best option now is to stay with friends who live about six or eight miles east of us. That is a last resort. We don’t want to leave and we will ride it out if we feel safe to do so. We should know more by Friday.

Kitty Kick Stix Review

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After seeing a couple of other bloggers write about the Kitty Kick Stix, I decided I wanted to buy a couple for our cats. While I procrastinated, my wife saw them on Facebook. She liked that the company donated part of the proceeds to shelters so she ordered a two pack.

They arrived on Saturday and I decided to take a video of our cats’ reaction to them. So it will be our cats who do the review today, not me. You should also know we did not receive compensation for this post, although I am an Amazon affiliate.
So without further ado, here is the opinion of our cats, Chris, Frankie, Puck, and Floki.
kitty kick stix
kitty kick stix kitty kick stix

What do you think? Do your cats have a Kitty Kick Stix?

Photo Friday: Abbey and Alex

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Today I want to do something a little different and post a photo from the past, well before Chris was born. I actually took this picture on my birthday, July 9, 2005.

This was the first picture I could find of our two cats, Abbey and Alex, so I think we had just adopted them. Back then Abbey was called Stirling and Alex was called Sloan. We actually adopted Alex but we couldn’t take him and leave his sister behind so we took her too, which was an excellent decision. While we had Alex out of the cage at the PetSmart shelter, Abbey pooped and left it unburied. It was the stinkiest poop we ever smelled and it seemed to remain that stinky throughout her life. Also, her habit of not burying her stinky poops remained too.

Here is Abbey trying to figure out how to get at the fish while Alex looks on.

cats and fish tank

The Elusive Red Dot

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Last weekend I was at Dollar Tree buying poop bags. I buy the four-gallon garbage bags that come 50 to a pack for one dollar. I’m cheap like that. Anyway, while standing in line I saw a pen/stylus/flashlight/laser pointer all in one for a dollar. I have a laser pointer at home but I figured it would be easier to buy another one than to try to figure out where the heck it is.

So I bought the laser pointer and imagined myself traveling back to 1960 and showing it to the guys at Bell Labs, and then telling them what I paid for it and what people use it for n 2017. But I digress.

When I got home with it and turned it on, it surprised me that I was able to get the attention of all our boys at once.

Do your cats still get excited by the laser pointer?

Boxed In

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cat in box

Finally, I have a box to myself.

cat in box

Whacha doing, Frankie?

cat in box

Go away, Floki. I was here first.

cat in box

What’s going on here? Oh, where did that box come from?

cat in box

Why can’t I have just a little peace?

cat in box

I have my own box, Frankie. I don’t need yours.

cat in box

It’s my box now, Frankie.

cat in box

I don’t care, Chris. I have a new box.

Lightning Crashes, Frankie Gets Loose

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Saturday afternoon I took Frankie for his weekend walk. We walked across the street and up three houses. Frankie did his usual plant sniffing while I waited in the hot sun. Even though it was close to evening, it was still fairly hot.

Cat Frankie

When he was done smelling everything he led me behind the house where the edge of the community meets the fence that separates us from the power lines. We stood under a tree while Frankie did more investigating with his nose.

Suddenly I heard a crackling noise that was followed by a bright flash and almost instantaneously came the very loud bang of thunder. For about two seconds both Frankie and I were frozen in shock, especially since I didn’t even notice a dark cloud until after it happened. I didn’t see exactly where the lightning struck but it was very close and I became aware right away that we were standing under a tree. My first thought was to scoop Frankie up and get out of there but before I could move, Frankie ran and jerked the leash out of my hand.

He ran straight home and hid under my car while panting heavily. I tried to talk him out but he wasn’t budging. Finally, I decided to take his picture and pulled out my phone. That is when he exited on the other side of the vehicle.

I didn’t get the picture but this is a picture from the past that shows what he looked like under my car.

Our cat Frankie under a car

Once he got out from under my car he went for the back door and waited for me to open it. That was something he rarely does.

Once inside, Chris was relentless with his begging to go out. He knows he goes out after Frankie and he would not let me forget it. After a short time, I decided it was safe and let Chris out.

He was so happy to be out, no matter what the danger.

Our Prize Arrived

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A few weeks ago The Island Cats’ blog had a review and giveaway of some Petmate products designed by Jackson Galaxy, the star of the Animal Planet show, “My Cat From Hell.”

To my surprise, we were lucky enough to win. I got to choose between the “Comfy Clamshell Bed” and “The Vault Marinator,” which is used to freshen up catnip toys. I thought the clamshell bed would be a great addition to our house so I chose that.

It was waiting at the door when I got home from work the other day The box was way bigger than expected, which was fine because . . . well, we have cats.

cats and box

 

cats and box

cats and box

Once I opened the box and took out the clamshell bed, the cats were torn between investigating the bed and the empty box.

The bed seems to be of a high quality and the fabric is very soft. Chris especially likes it, as you can see from the video.

open clamshell bedA pull of the strings easily turns it into a clamshell.closed clamshell bed

The bad thing about that is there is only room for one.
cat and clamshell bed

That means someone has to wait, whether they want to not.cats and clamshell bed

Floki and Chris were the most interested but Chris was the first to use it for what it was meant for, to lie in. Of course, he had to make some biscuits before doing that.

Floki was more interested in the strings.

I didn’t know this at the time but there is a pocket to put the strings to keep them from becoming toys, possibly dangerous toys.

I ended up putting the bed in its open position on our coffee table. Frankie, Floki and Puck mostly ignore it but Chris loves it. I see him on it often. He is on it as I write this.

cat on clamshell bed

Meanwhile, in the cats’ room . . .

cat and box

The Mystery of the Strays

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The last time I mentioned anything about the stray mom cat and her two kittens that have been coming to my house was June 18 (see here). After that, we didn’t see them much. Over the next week or so we saw the mom twice, three times at most. Each time she as without her kittens. That caused us to worry about what might have happened to them.

Stray catI believe the last time I saw the mother cat was June 25 when I took the picture above and the video below. She seemed a bit despondent and was not as friendly toward me as in the past. She seemed nervous by my presence which was a far cry from a week earlier when she was rubbing up against me.

Rose and I thought someone might have captured her kittens but not her. That would explain her behavior. We didn’t know who would have caught them. The guy at the TNVR place had scheduled to come out and set traps that weekend but cancelled until the next weekend. He never showed up the following weekend and we never heard from him again.

I set up an email alert for Petfinder just in case the Siamese kittens ended up at a shelter for adoption. At least I would know what happened to them.

Not too long after my encounter with mom cat, Rose spotted one of the kittens outside the cats’ room. It was the shy one with the lighter face.

stray Siamese kittenHe was walking from the neighbors house to the back of our house and he was alone. The mom and other kitten were nowhere in sight. I quickly opened a can of food and put it outside but he never showed up to eat it.

Since then I continued to put dry food and water out for the cats. Sometimes I would wake up or get home from work and the food would still be there. Other times it would be gone. It seemed to be eaten more at night than during the day which made Rose think it was being eaten by a racoon. I thought it was possible but unlikely since I have not seen a racoon in the two years since we lived here.

Then one morning I went outside to take the trash out. Once I got outside I saw who had been eating he cat food. It was a possum, or technically an opossum. Now I have to wonder if the possum is the only animal eating the food I put out or is one or more cats eating it too?

I started putting less out but I don’t want to stop completely until I know none of the cats are coming around anymore. And if they are not, what the heck happened to them?