The day we brought Chris home from the shelter, he declared himself “King of the House” and as the king, everything in the house was his and others could use it at his discretion. Nobody ever challenged Chris except Frankie, so Chris feels the need to keep showing Frankie who is in charge. Watch the video and you will see a great example of that.
Lately, I have been taking pictures of the feral cats at work almost every morning when I feed them. Of course, this isn’t everyday because I work four days a week, sometimes five. Also, there are not always cats around when I put food out, but I wanted to share with you some of the pictures I have taken recently.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016 – These two usually hang out together but not always.
Thursday, March 3 – I often see this one waiting under the palm tree when I arrive at work.
Monday, March 7 – The cat to the far left of the picture below is the shyest of the three and is difficult to photograph because he is usually, but not always, too far away.
This one is the easiest to photograph.
Tuesday, March 8 – There seems to be a territorial dispute here even though I put down two piles of food.
Wednesday, March 9 – Everyone was around for their picture that day. I especially like the photo of the gold cat.
Thursday, March 10 – The bulls-eye tabby sometimes is waiting along the fence about 100 feet away when I arrive while the gold cat is waiting closer. After I go inside to get their food, she moves in closer.
I think he was talking to me here, telling me to hurry up.
Friday, March 11 – I put food down and then stayed where I was and called this cat to come to me. I could tell part of him wanted to but he wasn’t quite ready for that so I backed away.
Well, that is how my morning at work starts. What do you think?
It is so nice seeing Chris and Frankie getting along and it makes for some very cute picture. I couldn’t decide which one to use so I am including more than one today.
I am still putting food out for the ferals that hang around my place of employment but for a stretch of a couple of weeks I saw them very rarely. The food was always gone when I checked later in the day so I assumed they were just showing up later than usual. That surprised me because there is a school behind my work and activity increases exponentially after I get there.
One day I saw several birds interested in the food.
I worried that maybe the birds were eating it but I never saw the birds after that so I think that wasn’t normal.
Fortunately, I started seeing more of the feral cats again about two weeks ago. Some days I see only one and not always the same one but other days I see all three like this morning and when I took this video.
This fellow usually shows up independent of the other cats. Not sure if he is in the same colony or an outsider.
Today was a good day because the ginger and white cat was waiting for me when I got there this morning and the bullseye tabby showed up as soon as I brought the food out. Normally she (or he) is pretty shy but I think she is getting used to me.
There is one more cat, a white and black cat that I have not seen for a long time. I hope that one is okay.
These days, Frankie has proved to be more of a pain-in-the-butt than Chris. Both of the cats are very eager to get outside so coming and going can be a daunting task. What makes Frankie a bigger pain is he will run away while Chris stays close to home.
I had the day off from work on Thursday and needed to get something out of the car for Rose that morning when Chris came out of nowhere and ran out the door. While I was distracted with trying to stop Chris, Frankie ran out the door behind him. Chris usually just rolls around on the driveway or walks to the edge to eat grass so I wasn’t worried about him, but I was worried about chasing Frankie around the neighborhood with my bare feet so I had to run back inside to get shoes.
Chris is content eating grass.
When I returned Frankie was nowhere in sight so I walked around looking for him. I walked around the house and around several nearby houses and finally decided to go home and hope he returned. When I got there, Frankie and Chris were standing in the driveway smelling each other. I took that opportunity to grab Frankie and put him inside.
A short time later Frankie slipped past me again. This time I was able to grab him relatively quickly. It was almost like he wanted to be caught.
Later that day I came home with groceries. Getting in the house while loaded down with bags is always a challenge. I usually open the door quickly and shove the bags in the doorway with hopes that will block someone from escaping. It doesn’t always work and this time Frankie slipped past me and was off. I dumped the bags in the house and took off after him. Fortunately I had my shoes on this time.
This is an older picture of Frankie evading capture because I was not able to get a picture of him this time.
He led me on a good chase and then I lost him. I looked for him for about ten minutes but he was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, I heard a meow and he was standing right behind me, taunting me. I tried to pick him up but he ran and I lost him again. This time he disappeared for a long time. I decided to go in for a few minutes and I opened up a can of wet food and put it in three dishes, even though I only had two cats in the house.
I then went back outside and looked for him again with no luck. I got on my bike and rode around the neighborhood but saw no sign of him. I finally decided I was going to give up for a while and give him time to come home but the sun was starting to get low and I didn’t want him outside in the dark so I took one more walk around to look for him.
This time I saw him about two houses down and walked towards him. When I got close, I could see he was tired and panting and thought it would be easy to catch him but he was not ready to come in. He didn’t run away but he walked very fast. I walked fast too. I didn’t want to run and scare him. Finally after several minutes, he gave up and l picked him up and carried him home. He hissed at me but was happy when we got home because there was food in the bowl waiting for him.
When we can afford it, we want to have a screened area put in at the side door as a buffer zone. Hopefully I won’t lose Frankie before that happens.
Even though Chris is a bad cat, he has many good qualities. His affection towards others is a notable one. In the video below, he demonstrates that by thoroughly washing his brother Puck.
Don’t you just love it when your cats get along?
Rose packed a little for her business trip and then left the suitcase in the hands of two very capable guard cats until she could finish the job.
Even though Chris is older and more “mature” he still looks for trouble wherever he can find it. Sometimes he is a bad influence on the other cats.
In our house, when one cat washes another cat, we say he is getting a detailing.
Rose left for a business trip to San Diego on Monday and Chris and Puck settled in on her suitcase, perhaps thinking she would take them with.
For Christmas, the cats’ Aunt Felice got them a Chia Cat Grass Planter. A great present because they all like grass and Chris loves it. Whenever Chris gets outside, the first thing he does is eat some grass.
It comes with everything you need: a bowl with a cat on it, potting soil, seeds and instructions.
I followed the instructions and put most of the “growing mix” in the bowl, leaving two tablespoons out for later.
I then added the grass seeds.
Next I covered the seeds with the remaining dirt. By then I had the attention of all the cats.
The instructions said to cover it loosely with plastic wrap so I did that and put it on the counter for a few days. I then put a little water in it and placed it outside where it could get some sun without someone eating it.
I think I watered it once more while it was outside but I pretty much forgot about it until the other day when I brought it inside. I also discovered that I was wrong about someone not eating it. It looks like one of the many rabbits in our neighborhood had a taste.
I barely had time to photograph it before Chris discovered it.
That sparked Frankie’s interest and soon they were both munching on the grass. Puck, unfortunately, was napping somewhere and missed everything.
It wasn’t very long before they mowed the grass down and moved on.
The next day, I brought it back outside to let it grow again.
I started this post with the intention of reviewing this product but I think the cats did that for me. I will say that this is a little more expensive than the ones in the cheap plastic containers but I found it as low as $9.76 on Amazon. I like it because it is heavier and doesn’t move around too much when the cats try to eat the grass. I may decide to buy one or two more so I can rotate them in and out of the house.
What do you think? Are your cats grass eaters?
Bad Cat Chris 
