A cat can sleep with one cat one day and another cat the next day and nobody gets jealous. This rule does not apply to humans.
Photo Friday: Sleeping Partner
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Tag Archives: Cats
Frankie: The First Three Years – Part Three
Today we continue with the third and last part of Frankie’s three year adventure with us. If you missed one or both previous parts, you can click here for part one or here for part two.
We start in February, 2016, long after Frankie has proven he can be a bad cat at almost the same level as Chris. Even badder in some ways.
Here, Frankie has escaped and is hiding under a large bush to prevent capture.
Frankie went through a phase where he would lie in front of the television and partially block the remote control sensor.
Frankie’s ability to be cute has not waned in two plus years.
Frankie still likes to escape.
He also likes to lie on keyboards, although I can’t imagine why.
Lying in the sunbeam is his favorite thing to do that does not involve getting into trouble or being annoying.
Our new kitten, Floki, arrives in July and competes for attention.
By August, Frankie is still enjoying his walks and he is still getting along with Chris.
By November they are best frenemies.
Frankie proves to be quite an acrobat.
Frankie is usually the center of most fights in the house but he also can get along with everybody if he wants to.
See what I mean?
Well? What do you think of Frankie? Should we keep him? I think we should give him another 20 years and then re-evaluate. 🙂
Photo Friday: The New Fridge Perch
My wife had a metal try on the refrigerator to help keep the cats out of the cabinet. It didn’t work. They would just push it to the side and open the cabinet door anyway. One day, one of our boys pushed that tray off the fridge and dented the wood floor. That’s when I decided to not put the tray back. I instead put up a makeshift lock using a spatula. Rose then put a rug up there and voilà, instant cat perch.
Chris and Floki
Cat Food Too Good to Buy
I have been buying our cats the same canned cat food for a few years now, Earthborne Hollistic’s Chicken Catcciatori, but I have been wishy washy about choosing a good dry food. Lately I settled on the Earthborne Hollistic’s brand but a few weeks ago the store was out of it so I bought another brand that happened to be on sale during the month of January. What I bought is called Whole Earth Farms Grain Free Recipe with Real Chicken.
I soon discovered there is a major problem with this food. The cats like it way too much. In a similar situation many years ago, our cat Tigger almost died because I bought a new food that was too good. He ate so much food so fast that a clump of it had become stuck in his esophagus and he was having trouble breathing (see story here). We had to find an emergency vet open at night. The difference between then and now is that the food I bought back then was a much lower quality. It should be noted here that I was not paid nor did I get free or discounted food for talking about this product (although I am an Amazon affiliate).
I don’t worry so much about another vet visit but I do worry the cats will get fat(er) eating so much food. I did buy a second bag hoping that they would get used to it and like it less, but that hasn’t happened yet and the bag is almost gone. Since I already let their food bowls remain empty for parts of the day, I think I can get around the problem buy not giving them more food They will just have to deal with having empty bowls for longer parts of the day. Another possible solution is to try a different flavor that they might not like as much. I could also go back to the last food I gave them. What do you think?
Tag Team Cat Escapes
I have reached a point where I hate entering and leaving my house because Chris and Frankie are always at the door waiting to run out.
Frankie escaped over the weekend and led me on a wild cat chase. Eventually he ended up under the car next door where he knows I can’t catch him. Whenever he goes under a car or a house I just have to wait him out, which I did.
I sat on my front steps for about ten minutes and, surprisingly, he came out from under the car and started meowing at me. I called to him and he walked up to the edge of the steps.
Since there was a railing between us I decided it would be safer to not try to grab him. Instead, I stood up, put my hand on the door and opened it when it looked like he was ready to come in. He hesitated for two second and then, as he was preparing to jump, Chris ran up to the door and scared him off. I think he ran out the door but I don’t remember. In any case, Frankie was in the wind again and it took some time before I was able to retrieve him.
On Monday morning my wife had to leave early for a business trip. At 7 a.m. I helped bring her luggage out to the car. As I was going out, Chris appeared out of nowhere and ran out the door. I rarely swear but I must have sounded like a Boston Truck Driver that morning. It was a minor incident, since Chris is easy to catch, but the frustration of not being able to come and go out of my own house reached a boiling point.
I put the luggage down and picked up Chris. I opened the door to put him inside and Frankie ran out. More swearing. Now my wife has to leave for her trip and I have to hunt down Frankie.
I lost track of him so I finished helping Rose with her luggage. She then left and I spent the next ten or fifteen minutes looking for Frankie. I had never seen him disappear for so long and I started to worry about him. If Rose was home I would have asked for help. I walked around until my shoes were saturated from the cold, wet grass. It was then that I spotted him behind our house. Of course, he wasn’t ready to come in yet.
Now we played a game of cat and human until he tired and was ready to come home. He actually came up our driveway to the back door. I opened it and he walked right in. This time Chris was not there to spoil it.
Photo Friday: Classic Cat Nap
I decided to show a picture from the past today. This was taken six years ago, February 2011. It is Abbey sleeping on Tigger’s belly with Chris joining in. This happened a lot back then with Chris always the third wheel.
Lizard in the Litter
I was looking through my videos and came across one I forgot about from August. Puck either caught a lizard in the litter box or moved it to the litter box so he could play with it without losing it. Whatever the reason, he drew a crowd of spectators.
Photo Friday: Beyond Cute
Sometimes I feel like our cats are married. If they are not fighting, they are sleeping together.
Chris and Floki
Floki Invades Puck’s Lair
Puck’s favorite spot these days is on top of our china cabinet. This was a favorite spot of Chris’s a few years ago but now that he has gained weight, he can no longer jump up there. Puck can’t jump up there either but he has learned how to use me as an intermediary step. I don’t speak cat so I am not sure how to explain how I know, but when Puck wants to get on the cabinet he somehow communicates that desire to me and I bend down so he can jump on my shoulders. I then walk over to the cabinet and he jumps on top of it.
Floki sees what s going on and I think he put two and two together because on Friday morning he stood on the counter and cried at me. Again, I don’t know how I knew but I bent over and he jumped on my shoulders and I walked him over to the china cabinet where he jumped up and met Puck who was enjoying his morning in peace.
I should have not let Floki interrupt Puck’s peace but I was curios what Floki would do.
He spent a little time investigating…
until he annoyed Puck and forced him to leave.
He then settled down on Puck’s spot.
When he was ready to get down he didn’t know how. It’s an easy jump to the couch but Floki didn’t know that so he needed my help getting down and somehow I knew that too.
Since then Floki has talked me into getting up there a couple more times but I won’t put him up there with Puck now. He has also learned how to get down
I’m sure others are good at understanding their pets and I’d love to hear your story.
Photo Friday: Bed Hogs
Here is another picture from last weekend’s cold snap. The cats spent most of the weekend keeping warm on our bed. I love this picture because Floki is sticking his tongue out as if to say “Haha, we were here first.”
Bad Cat Chris 