The other day my stepson Nick flew down from Massachusetts to visit us for the Christmas holiday. Of course, bringing new things into the house is like a cat’s version of a new attraction at Disney World. Nick’s suitcase was of particular interest. They all had to take turns laying on it like it was their own personal bed.
First it was Frankie.
Then Frankie was distracted by Rose bringing food into the room and Chris took over.
After Chris got down Rose put a towel on the suitcase to keep the cat hair off. That is when Puck became interested in it.
Now that they have all had a turn, I wonder what will grab their attention next.
Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to put up the Christmas tree, string the lights and decorate the house. For the feline members of our family, this is equally festive because there is just so many new things to get into.
Hey Frankie! Look at these little people.
Forget the little people, Chris. Check out this box.
Forget the box, Frankie. look at the size of this bag.
Don’t worry guys. I took care of this big, weird-looking, pink bird
These lights are mesmerizing.
I just want to bite them.
Aghhhhhhhhhh! I can’t help myself.
Who me? I didn’t do anything. It was Chris.
I gonna wait here until Santa comes.
When’s that fat man coming. It’s been ten minutes already.
Rose’s mom came to visit on Thanksgiving and accidentally let Frankie outside. If you read my previous post, “Frankie’s Big Adventure,” you would know that Frankie is a cat who likes to run and does not stay close to the house. Twice he led us on a wild chase and I fear we will lose him if he gets out again. Fortunately, this time, the three of us surrounded him and Rose’s mom grabbed him as he tried to go under our truck.
That short jaunt outside rekindled his passion for the outdoors and he spent a lot of time that day crying at the door and scratching on the window. I decided this would be a good time to put his harness on him and take him outside. I bought the harness a few months ago but Frankie refused to let me put it on him so I gave up and put it away somewhere.
It took awhile before I found where I put the harness but the lead wasn’t with it. I had to call in the help of our resident expert tracker and Rose located it with no problem. Again, Frankie would not let me attach the harness. I managed to get it over his head but he struggled too much and I couldn’t put it around his body and attach the clip. Finally, Rose helped me. I held him while she attached the clip. I then attached the lead and opened the front door. Frankie and Chris both ran out the door at the same time. Frankie took of in a sprint and was surprised when he reached the end of the rope and was suddenly stopped. He rolled onto his back and was quite cute when he suddenly go up and ran again.
This behavior repeated a few times and then, as if by magic, he had the harness off his head and was just being held around his belly. I knew that wouldn’t last so I scooped him up and put him inside. I then collected Chris and we stayed in the rest of the day.
The next day Frankie was at it again. He seemed to be desperate to go outside. It was a nightmare to leave the house or come back because he was right there trying to escape. We have put up with Chris doing that for years but never had to worry about losing him because Chris stays close. He will wander off after a while but I usually get tired of watching him and bring him inside before that happens. Frankie will run and keep running, stopping briefly to investigate whatever catches his eye, before returning in the direction away from the house.
I decided to let him out again but skip the harness and use a regular cat collar that I had in the closet. I bought a few collars four years ago when we moved back to Florida from Myrtle Beach. I wanted to put one on each of the cats with our contact information in case they escaped during our trip. Rose poo pooed that idea. She thought I was being weird and paranoid so the collars never got used.
I put the collar on Frankie. It had one of those plastic clips that are easy to put on and take off. I then hooked the lead and opened the door. Again, Chris went out with us and again Frankie ran until he reached the end of the lead. I tried to keep up with him because I didn’t want the collar to choke him but he was too fast.
He eventually figured out that running was not good and slowed down a bit but he had to investigate everything. He would walk around bushes or under our neighbor’s chairs and I had to keep moving his lead from one hand to another to keep it from getting tangled. After a few minutes he saw a lizard and lunged for it. When he did the color snapped open and he was free. I was able to grab him right away and pick him up only because the lizard distracted him. I carried him into the house and gave up for the day.
Saturday we tried again. I realized what we did wrong when attaching the harness and wanted to give it another try. Of course, he made it very difficult to put it on him but when I did we went out the back door this time. Frankie was becoming a real pain about trying to get out the door and Rose didn’t want him to expect to be let out that door. I understood her reasoning but I first wanted to get Frankie used to the area so he would know where home was if he got out by mistake.
I asked Rose to help because I wanted Puck to go out too. I felt bad that he was always left inside. So off they all went, Frankie on the lead with me and Puck and Chris under Rose’s watchful eye. Frankie immediately led me away and we found ourselves at the far side of the back yard where Frankie tried to slip through the fence. This time he couldn’t. I didn’t want to pull him like a dog or horse so I picked him up and walked him closer to our back door.
Rose was having a little trouble with Puck by then and decided to try to catch him and bring him in. Frankie was investigating the bushes by our neighbor’s patio when Chris stopped by to say hi. He and Frankie exchanged sniffs and then Chris noticed the screen door to their patio was open slightly so he decided to go inside to investigate. That complicated everything so I picked up Frankie to bring him inside. Meanwhile, Rose had put Puck inside and then went to retrieve Chris.
Whew! That was an exhausting eight minutes. I don’t think I want to do that again for a while. Now we just have to put up with Frankie picking at the window screen. I tried blocking it with objects today but that didn’t stop him. Hopefully that won’t last long.
Chris is still hard at work trying to turn Frankie from an enemy to a friend. I am happy to say he has made significant progress these last few months. It is Chris’s behavior toward Frankie when we adopted him that turned Frankie into an enemy and it is now Chris’s behavior that is slowly turning him into a friend.
I was surprised and disappointed in Chris’s attitude when we brought Frankie home but now I am very proud that he is trying to be friends. Just like in the human world, it takes many good acts to erase one bad one and Chris has worked for many months to erase weeks of bad behavior.
They have been laying close to each other for a few months lately but not too close. last week I saw them both napping with Chris’s head against Frankie’s back. I tried to get a picture but my movement woke them up. The other day Rose saw Frankie give Chris a few licks on the head and I captured the two of them lying close together. Of course, Chris came to Frankie and not the other way around but the fact that Frankie didn’t leave is real progress.
Some say cats don’t feel jealousy but I don’t believe it. Chris shows every sign of being more jealous than almost any human I know. A good example of that would be when another cat lies on my lap. If Chris sees that, he will immediately get on my lap too and he always places himself between me and the other cat.
The good news is that Chris is not mean about it. It’s not like he caught his wife with another man. It is more like he caught his wife with the last bag of potato chips and he wants her to share before they are gone.
By the way, my blog post about my vacation is finally out. If anyone is interested, click here.
Believe it or not, there are some cats that don’t run out the door to greet the “monsters” on the other side. For those, you will want to have some good hiding places for them to “hunker down” this evening. I recommend a good-sized sock drawer.
Today is the unofficial National Cat Day in the United States. I think, since it is “unofficial” anyway, why not just make it “World Cat day?” Okay, let’s make it official. Every year on this day henceforth, it will officially be the official, unofficial “World Cat day.” Done!
We took out the suitcases for our upcoming vacation and, as expected, all the cats had to lie on top of them. It happens every time. I think they know what is coming and they want to make sure we know that they don’t want to be left home again.
We’re going with you.
I’m staging a sleep in until you agree to take us with you.
I hate leaving them alone for so long. We do have someone who will come in twice a day but that won’t be the same for them. Honestly, I don’t worry about the diminished attention they will get. They have each other and they can survive a week with little human attention.
What I do worry about is the unpredictable. What if the cat-sitter accidentally lets a cat out? Worse, what if something bad happens to her? What if a burglar invades our home and leaves the door open? What if someone gets sick? What if there is a fire? The possibilities are endless.
Yes, I’m a bit of a worrier, and no, I’m not going to let it ruin my vacation. I will just make sure I do everything possible to lessen the chances that something bad will happen and leave it at that.
I’ve taken out of storage our gravity feeder and water dish that holds several days worth of food and water. The cat-sitter may be a bit insulted by this but that is the least of my concerns. I also plan on giving a key to the neighbor for emergencies. In addition, I will unplug everything I can to reduce the risk of fire. I can’t do much about burglars but hopefully our lack of valuables will be a good deterrent.
Hopefully I will be able to enjoy a worry-free vacation. If anyone has any other tips, please let me know.
Bad Cat Chris 