This is Puck hanging from the cat tree under Chris. Sorry about the less-than-perfect quality of the photo. I think the lens fogged up when I brought the camera from the cool house to the hot and humid patio.
While Chris and Frankie still don’t get along, at least Puck is here as a good nap buddy for Chris.
Originally I was going to share only these two photographs, which were taken several days ago, but when I removed Chris from the keyboard and put him on my lap so I could write this post, he left to go hang out with puck on the bed. This is what happened next:
Since the first day Chris entered our home, he has established himself as the alpha kitty in all areas except food, especially canned food. He likes the canned food and will eat it but doesn’t place a high value on it like our other cats (past and present) do.
Puck, however, was originally named “Chow Man” because of his love for food. Indeed, we named him Puck because, in part, he was into food as much as Wolfgang Puck.
I feed the cats wet food twice a day, in the morning, when I get up, and when I return from work, or around 5:00 on the weekends. The same thing happens every time. Puck and Frankie jump on the counter while I am opening the cans. Frankie then jumps back down to the floor where Chris is waiting. He knows that is where he is fed so he wants to be there waiting. Puck doesn’t think that way. He is on the counter eating out of the first bowl as soon as I scoop food in it. That is when Frankie starts talking to me, telling me to hurry up. I quickly scoop food out for the other two cats and set it down in front of them.
Chris will then eat for about thirty seconds and walk away. I think he anticipates Puck coming to take his food so he just leaves it before that can happen. I then have to pick up his food and bring it to him because Chris is somewhat of a dry food addict and I want him to eat as much wet food as possible. Sometimes I move his food two or three times but every time, before he finishes, Puck shows up to take over.
Let me help you with that, Chris.
Oh, you’re done? Thanks.
I don’t know why big, bad, alpha-cat Chris allows his food to be taken from him so easily but he does. I also don’t know why Puck has to leave his bowl, which still has plenty of food in it, to take the same food from another bowl. I usually then grab Puck’s bowl and put it in front of Chris but it isn’t long before Puck covets that bowl of food.
This kind of behavior reminds me so much of another species. Hmm… I can’t quite put my finger on which species that is. Anyone have any ideas?
Frankie at Petsmart Adoption Center
June is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month. I assume it is because most kittens are born in the spring so shelters become overwhelmed with kitties that need homes. I would love to help by adopting another cat but Frankie put us over our limit so all I can do is remind people that there are so many cats out there that need a home right now.
If you or anyone you know could use a great companion, please check out your local shelter… and don’t forget that in addition to the kittens, there are many older cats that have been behind bars for too long.
Believe it or not, we do actually have times of peace in our house.
When Frankie arrived at our home, alone and scared, Chris decided that he was the enemy and set out on a campaign of torment. We were very distressed about that because he did not do that with Puck and we were not expecting that kind of behavior from Chris. Nevertheless, whenever Chris got the chance, he would attack and, of course, Frankie would defend himself.
Eventually Chris warmed up to Frankie and gradually would not only instigate fewer fights but seemed to want to become friends with him. Unfortunately the damage has been done. The fighting continues but now it is Frankie that does most of the instigating while Chris seems to play a submissive role. Don’t get me wrong, Chris still thinks he’s the boss, but many fights with Frankie occur with Chris lying down while Frankie circles for a good spot to attack.
When I met Rose she had one cat, Sneakers, who had a typical litter box. Later, when we added more cats, we added a couple more standard litter boxes. These boxes came with a cover that is designed control odors and keep more of the litter in the box. It is a great idea for humans, but what about for cats?
I never liked the covers and either threw them out or bought the box without the cover. I tried to look at it from the cat’s point of view. Would I like to crawl into a small cave to do my business? That is essentially what an outhouse or Port-O-Potty is and I never like using those and only do so when left with no choice.
The idea that those covers control odors, in my opinion, is a fallacy. They may somewhat contain the odors inside the box, in concentrated levels, that the cat then has to endure every time they use it. In addition, all those smells are released all at once when you remove the cover to scoop. I have seen my cats use the litter box without the cover and they will almost always have their head in a position outside where a cover would be, indicating to me that the cover interferes with what is comfortable for them.
We eventually switched to larger boxes, in part because we had too many cats, but also because I felt the standard litter box was too small and confining. Cats like to choose a good spot to go in and I felt the cats would feel better if there were more room to find that spot.
At first, we bought big storage boxes. These worked well but when Chris came along and started pooping outside the box, I spent many years refining our litter boxes, and the litter itself, to get him to poop where he should.
I tried very hard to think like a cat so I could understand why Chris would not always use the box. I started scooping the boxes every time I noticed one had been used. Chris had a very loose stool and would sometimes poop in the box and then five minutes later poop again on the floor, presumably because the box was “used.”
Another thought had been that the boxes were a bit too tall and climbing into a box is probably not natural for a cat. With that in mind, I replaced the boxes with ones that were a little shorter. I also bought an actual litter box that was short enough so Chris could just step into it. These changes helped but they were not enough.
Just recently we purchased two litter boxes. One was fairly big with a low front for easy entry. Our most recent purchase was a huge litter box called the Giant Litter Pan that is also lower in the front and it has two pockets for the scoop, bags and whatever else you need there.
Chris using our new Giant Litter Pan
Of course, the right box is only part of the solution. The other thing to consider is litter. Litters that are dusty are not good for humans or cats. I tried many litters and, at least for a while, settled on Tidy Cats because it had a relatively low dust. The Tidy Cats worked well enough but it did not stop Chris from pooping on the floor.
What helped that was a litter called Dr. Elseys Cat Attract. This litter has an attractant that somehow makes the cats want to use it. The drawback to this product is the cost, at about $30 a bag. It also did not work 100 percent of the time, however, the number of poops I had to clean off the floor was reduced by at least 80% which made this well worth the extra cost. It is also even less dusty than the Tidy Cats.
Chris’s pooping problem was eventually eliminated when we moved to our current home and put our three litter boxes (now two) in the same room. We had them in different rooms so Chris would always be close to a box but I see now that was a mistake. If one box was not perfectly clean in the old house, Chris was not going to go to another room to check out the next box. He simply pooped on the floor. Now if a box is dirty he can just step over into the other box to do his business.
Now that the litter box issues are behind us we switched the litter to Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat litter. It is the same as the Cat Attract but without the attractant (which is called
Precious Cat Ultra Litter Attractant and can be purchased separately) and the higher cost. It is still not cheap but it is very low dust and is also unscented, which I think is good because the perfumes added to litter is just one more thing intended for humans that a cat does not need.
Now I spend a little more time scooping and sweeping litter but I consider that time well spent. It is way better than cleaning poop off the floor.
Rose and I have been trying to sell a few things on eBay these last couple of weeks and my job has been to take the photographs. I remembered I had a couple of white boards for matting photographs and thought I would use those for a background. I laid one flat and propped the second one at a 90 degree angle. Once I did that the cats were all over it like I just introduced them to a new kind of catnip.
Of course there was competition and conflict.
After a couple of weeks I needed to take more pictures and I was hoping the novelty would have worn off and they would let me do my work. For a moment, I forgot whose house I was living in.
I cannot open the laundry room door or any closet door without one or more cats wanting to go inside to perform a thorough investigation. Recently both Chris and Frankie were investigating a closet but I have yet to get their full report.
This is my investigation Chris! Find your own closet.
Calm down Frankie. I just want to smell your face.
Let’s call a temporary truce… Okay, agreed.
Look Frankie! This is where I buried your predecessor. Ha, ha, ha… Just kidding.
I think there might be a secret stash of mice in here. If I only had opposable thumbs.
Okay Frankie, I’m bored. What do you want to investigate now?
This is Frankie and Puck in our bathtub. See if you can come up with a funny caption and then click here to see what I came up with.
Bad Cat Chris 