I get notifications from Google and Microsoft highlighting photos from this day. Today I saw this one that I didn’t remember from 2015.
I then noticed a video from the same time. I checked YouTube to see if I had posted it there. I did.
I also noticed another video from earlier that month that was still marked as a draft. It was a video of Frankie’s first time on a leash and harness. I don’t know why that video was older than the one above. Perhaps I had too much trouble with that harness so I decided to continue to let Frankie out without a leash. I did put it on upside down that time and didn’t notice until we were outside.
After these videos, Frankie proved too much of a wild spirit and would take off far beyond the backyard. Because we lived close to a main road, I had to start using a harness every time he went outside.
Frankie loves lying on the perch by the windows in the cat’s room, which is what we call the Florida room. My mother calls her patio the Arizona room. I don’t know where she came up with that dumb name.
Sometimes I see Chris or Floki in this spot but it mostly belongs to Frankie.
Our cats are mostly inside only cats but I try to take out Chris and Frankie at least once a week. This usually happens on the weekend because I am too busy with work during the week. By then they are more than ready to get outside. Floki does not go out because I would never get a harness on him and he would probably freak out once outside.
Usually, I put a harness on Frankie and bring him for a walk first. Chris doesn’t need a harness because he is happy to hang around the house, eat grass, and then lie in the sunbeam, or in this case, a partial sunbeam.
I took a couple of videos while I was at the shelter last and forgot about them until yesterday when I copied them from my phone to my computer.
There were a couple of friendly black cats at the shelter that day and this one wanted to play with a cat hanging out in a tunnel but the cat just wasn’t in the mood or he was a bit too nervous to come out with me in the room. If I remember right, that cat wasn’t exactly afraid of me but he was a little leary of me.
The black cat was pretty funny and he worked on getting the cat out of the tunnel for quite a while before I thought to start recording.
During my last volunteer shift at the shelter, one of the kittens fell asleep on my lap.
I had other cats to visit so I couldn’t stay there all day but I was also hesitant to move and wake him up. Since I had already been in that pod for quite some time before he fell asleep, I decided to let him sleep for five more minutes but then I had to move on.
I have not been volunteering much lately at the SPCA because of my job. I work part-time but I rarely know in advance when I will be off. Usually, I come in in the morning and work until everything is done. Sometimes that is all day and sometimes not. When I do work all day I often have to call the next morning to see if and when I should come in. The shelter likes people to sign up a day in advance but I can’t do that so the few opportunities I have to work I sign up a few hours before the shift starts.
Before Covid I had a regular shift every Friday from 1-4 as an adoption counselor. Back then I had a different job and was able to do that. Now I just go in when I can. Last week I happened to have Tuesday off, which is a day the shelter is closed. I decided to go in as what they call a “Cat Cuddler.” It is what I did when I first started volunteering. The idea is to just pay attention to the cats. Many cats need to have human interaction. I think because they like it, number one, and number two, they become less afraid of humans and more easily adopted. The last one applies to some cats but not all. Some are just naturally social or they come to the shelter already socialized.
When I arrived I went first to the isolated cats, which are cats that just had surgery or cats that need to be seperated for some other reason.
The first cat I saw looked like a Persian, which I have never seen at the shelter before. I opened her cage to get a better photo but she kept trying to escape and wouldn’t stand still.
The shelter was less than half full but there was still plenty of cats for adoption. Many were mellow adults.
There were a couple of black cats that were very friendly. I took many photos of them being friendly but none were good enough to show.
Then there were the youngsters.
This one had a littermate but it was difficult to get a good photo of both of them.
See what I mean.
Both of those kittens were shy, as was this one.
Lying in their litter box is a sign of stress and another reason that human contact is so important.
A couple of the young ones were not shy at all.
Then there were the in-between cats. The cats that were not shy but also not eager to come out for attention.
It was nice to get back to the shelter and I am looking forward to my next opportunity to go back.
Okay, maybe Berry is not really a wonder cat but he is quite the love bug. Barry had one eye removed a week ago and the last time I looked he was still available for adoption. If you live in the Tampa Bay area you can’t go wrong with such a loving cat.
Berry is available for adoption at the SPCA in Largo, Florida. Check out their listings for cats here. If he is no longer on the list that means he was probably adopted.
We got up early Friday morning and did all the last minute things that needed to be done before we could leave. After feeding the cats and giving them enough time to use the litter boxes, I actually threw out two of our four litter boxes. The other two I cleaned the night before and put litter in one for the trip.
We brought the crates downstairs the night before and Chris and Floki actually got inside of one of them.
Chris was also lying in the crate the next morning while I was packing the truck and trailer. This time he was in the correct crate and Floki was nearby, which made Rose want to grab him and put him in with Chris before it was too late and he disappeared. I disagreed because I still had a lot to do and wanted them to have access to the litter box as long as possible.
When we decided to rent our house we had to bring a lot of stuff with us so we booked a 5×8 Uhaul trailer on Monday. By Wednesday it was clear that no Uhaul location within 45 minutes would have a 5×8 trailer so we had to go with a 6×12. Apparently, it is not just rental cars that are scarce.
I picked up the trailer on Wednesday and packed most of our stuff on Thursday. I think if I had two of everything I would have had room to spare.
While I was finishing loading the trailer Friday morning, Floki got nervous and went upstairs. I chose not to worry about it until I was finished but Rose went upstairs for something and saw Floki on the bed and grabbed him by the scruff and carried him down and put him in with Chris. She actually did this without getting all cut up.
We got the cats in the truck and were ready to go at around 6:45.
The cats were relatively quiet, at least compared to the trip last year. It took longer than expected but we got there around 2:40, which left us plenty of time to unwind.
The first thing the cats did when we got to the hotel room was explore and use the litter box.
Frankie was most interested in exploring.
Chris was more interested in relaxing next to me on the bed.
Although Frankie did settle down after a while.
Floki spent a lot of time out of my view. I don’t know what he was doing but I would see him briefly from time to time so he wasn’t napping.
We are now on the road again. It will certainly be nice when it is over and we are home.
Bad Cat Chris 