I knew it wouldn’t be long before Chris and Frankie figured out how to slip out the door in our new home. It happened on Thursday when both escaped on separate occasions.
I don’t worry about Chris because he is mostly interested in eating grass and hunting lizards. I do worry about Frankie because he is an explorer and I fear he will get lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood. We also live in a neighborhood where cats are not allowed outside. I am not sure you can legally allow dogs outside but not cats, even leashed cats, but I would prefer not to draw attention from busybody neighbors.
When Chris got out, I didn’t try to catch him right away because it was clear he was not interested in leaving the area. I probably should have, because before I knew it, he had a lizard in his mouth and was ready to go in. It was a real pain trying to get him to give up the lizard. Three or four times I got it out of his mouth, only to have get away from me and him catch it again.
I recorded the first attempt but had to put the phone down so I had a better chance of saving the lizard, which I eventually did with one slightly shorter tail.
When Frankie got out I was lucky. He was disoriented and while he was trying to figure out which way to run, I grabbed him and put him inside.
Last Saturday we moved to a new home… again. I am really starting to feel like a Nomad with as many times as we have moved lately. We’ve moved six times in less than eight years and Chris has now lived in five homes in the five and a half years that he has been with us.
I loved the last place we lived. It had a great screened patio for the cats, a nice big back yard for the cat’s weekly outing, great neighbors and a nice view of the marina. It also came with a hefty price tag and now that we have a car payment we decided to find a place that would free up money for things like vacations and cat food.
Since Rose is turning 55 this year, she decided she wanted to check out 55+ communities. I had noticed in the past that the best deals seemed to be in those neighborhoods so I included those in my search. We ended up finding an incredible deal on a partially renovated mobile home in a well-kept 55+ community that is about six miles from our old home and is also closer to work for both of us. We paid cash for it and the lot rent is about 40% of what we were paying. That means I won’t have to feel guilty every time I fork over $39 for twelve days worth of wet food. I won’t even talk about the dry food and litter.
We packed for two weeks and the cats didn’t really notice at first but after the first week we started bringing stuff over to the new house. When our house became emptier with each passing day the cats seemed a little on edge. When I say cats, I mean mostly Puck, but Chris and Frankie were also affected. I think those two just became more needy for attention.
By moving day it was obvious something was up. The house was half empty and we had the beds leaning against the wall.
We moved most of our stuff ourselves but saved the big stuff for a moving company. That morning had brought a load of stuff to the new and when we returned I loaded the rest of the small stuff in the truck and waited for the movers.They showed up just before noon and when they arrived we closed the cats in our bedroom with a litter box, food and water.
It took them about thirty minutes and then we opened the bedroom door and left to follow the movers to the new place, When everything was unloaded, I went back alone to get the cats.
When I arrived there was not a cat in site. Before we left I saw Puck squeeze between the mattress and box-spring that was leaning against the wall. His favorite hiding place was inside the box-spring so he managed to find his way in there, despite the challenges. Apparently Chris and Frankie liked that idea so they joined him. I had to tear off some of the lining to get them out.
I first put Puck in the large carrier and then quickly grabbed Chris and put him in there too. I then put Frankie in the smaller carrier. Surprisingly, it was easier than I had expected.
I put Chris and Puck next to me in the front seat and Frankie in the middle of the back seat where I could see him. They didn’t seem too stressed and made very little noise. Even so, I wanted to get them there as soon as possible.
About a mile or so from my destination I was stopped by the longest funeral procession I had ever seen. It was also the slowest due to the coffin being pulled by horse and buggy.
I was concerned someone would start to get agitated but they were all good.
When we got to the new place, Chris and Frankie went exploring and Puck just hid in the carrier for a while and then left to find a better hiding place. I took a video with my phone when I set them loose but after two minutes the battery died and the video was lost. I quickly got my other camera and was able to capture a bit of the investigation.
Puck spent the next couple of days in and out of hiding and even Frankie hid under the bed with him at times. They also have not eaten much of their wet food and I threw away most of what I had given them these last few days. Chris never eats much of the wet food anyway and I don’t think this move has affected him much. Frankie seems mostly comfortable here but he is still surprisingly skittish when someone comes in the door. Puck spend much of his time under the bed but when he is out he seems fine.
There are other things I want to mention but I will save them for another post.
Even though I just watched a minor cat fight between Chris and Frankie, most of the time Chris tries to be friends with Frankie. Frankie, for his part, tolerates Chris but can quickly become annoyed by him. Here is one example of reserved tolerance.
After the trouble Frankie caused for me during the last couple of cat outings, I decided it was time to put him back on a harness. The harness he had was just too hard to put on a struggling cat so I looked for a harness that was very easy to put on. I found one from a company called Bark Appeal. Judging by the name, I assume it is a dog harness but it also works for cats. This harness has two Velcro strips and putting it on is just a matter of wrapping it around his neck and abdomen.
Frankie seemed perfectly fine wearing it. He made no attempt to get out of it and gave no indication that it might be uncomfortable. I bought the mesh version because I thought it would be cooler and lighter but there were other fabric choices. I also got a size large and it seemed a little loose on him but if he wasn’t so excited about going outside I am sure I could have wrapped it a little tighter.
Rose did not want to partake in our little adventure so I had to leave Puck inside because watching two cats is hard enough if one cat is Frankie and the other Chris. I felt bad but Puck cares less about going outside that the other two boys. The outing was fairly short-lived because Chris disappeared on me and I had to bring Frankie inside so I could look for him. As soon as I got inside I saw him from the window peeking around the corner where I just was with Frankie.
What do you think? Anyone else have a harness that is easy to put on?
It seems our cat’s weekly romp in the back yard has come to an end, thanks to Frankie. The last couple of times we let them out, Frankie led me on a wild goose chase, hiding under cars along the way so I couldn’t catch him. Last week was the final straw and Rose decided she did not want to let them out again. Of course, not letting them out and not letting them get out are two different things.
Three times in the past week Frankie got out the front door when we were trying to leave or come in the house. Two of those times Chris ran out the door at the same time. They double team us. When we try to block one, the other cat sneaks around us and out the door and then when we shift our focus to that cat, we end up losing both of them.
It seems weird that I am saying this but Chris is good. He always stays close to the house, at least for a little while. Frankie runs like the wind. The first couple of times he got out I was able to grab him right away because he was distracted by a lizard. The last time was on the weekend when Rose and I were leaving to catch a movie. Frankie led us both on a long chase.
On my last post on this subject, Nellie suggested a Super Soaker might get him out from under the cars. With that in mind I grabbed the squirt bottle that we sometimes use to help us get into the house and to also stop Frankie from picking at the screen by the front door. I used it on him several times to try to dislodge him from the cars he was hiding under. Sometimes it would work but he would just run to the next available car. Other times I kept squirting him but he seemed not to notice.
I was starting to get worried because, despite our attempts to “herd” him the other way, he kept getting closer to the busy road we live near. Finally I was able to get him out in the open where Rose grabbed him and brought him home.
What concerns me now is we are planning to move to a new place. One without the big back yard and one that may be less tolerant of cats running around outside. I want to keep them inside but I also want to bring them out so that if they do escape they will know where home is.
It seems almost every day when Rose and I return from work, all the cats are in the living room looking out the window like they were expecting us at that time. I suppose that is understandable because we come home at around the same time every evening, but that doesn’t explain how they are there waiting at the window on the weekend when we come home at random times. I am convinced that they know the specific sound our truck makes and hear it when we get close to the house. After all, the cats have excellent hearing. I was able to test that theory yesterday.
In 2009, when Rose got transferred and we moved to Myrtle Beach for sixteen months (where we found Chris), it was easier to get rid of my truck than to bring two vehicles, five cats and a moving truck. Since then, I have enjoyed the freedom that not having a car payment has given us. I will admit it has been inconvenient at times, but I thought it was worth it. Since we moved almost two years ago it has become more inconvenient and I could no longer resist Rose’s urge to get a new car, so yesterday we bought an almost new 2014 Ford Mustang Convertible.
Rose and our new Mustang
We had a convertible PT Cruiser until we moved into our new home and we traded it for the truck because the turbo went bad. We both missed the feeling of driving with the top down so, even though I am no fan of a car payment, I am happy about buying it.
To save gas, I will leave my truck at Rose’s work a few days a week because it is on the way to my work. I did that yesterday because Rose wanted to show her new car to her co-workers. We then drove half-way around the world in the car and came home late. When we opened the door, there was not a cat in sight. They did not hear the truck and we had completely surprised them.
Chris and Puck remind me of the Yin and the Yang and not just because of the way they are sleeping. They get along so well, I think, because their personalities don’t conflict but are mostly complimentary (like my wife and me).
We let our cats outside again on Sunday for some backyard fun. This time nobody caught a lizard and Frankie did not get on the roof (although he came close), but there was trouble nonetheless.
Both Frankie and Chris went through the fence to the property next door and the both came back on their own but then Frankie went through the fence again and led me on a drawn out chase like last week. During these chases, I have discovered that Frankie tires a lot faster than I do and then I think that I can just wait until he is too tired to run and then scoop him up, but it is not that easy. This is because Frankie has discovered a trick from Chris’s old playbook. He crawls under cars where I can’t reach him. He did that last week and he did it again on Sunday.
At one point I noticed that he was panting very hard and I worried he would overheat. I was also tired of playing his game so I made a decision that I regret. When I saw that he was close enough to me, I decided to grab him and pull him out from under the car. I knew it would upset him but I thought it would be quick and he would get over it. I didn’t realize how much fight he had in him and I only managed to scare him and piss him off. After that I was his mortal enemy which made me feel like a real jerk. You can watch what happened at the 9:45 mark on the video.
When I was finally able to bring Frankie inside, the first thing Rose said to me was “No More! I’m not doing this again!” Apparently, while Frankie was playing hide-and-seek with me, Chris and Puck were playing hard-to-get with Rose. Perhaps if we do let them out again, I will have to put the leash back on Frankie.
Fortunately, since that incident, Frankie has forgiven me and we are now friends again.
Bad Cat Chris 