Our house is relatively free of bugs partly because we have cats. Chris used to be a great bug catcher but now the duty is performed quite well by Floki. Here he is waiting patiently for a moth to make a mistake.
I don’t think he got the moth that time but I didn’t see it after that so he probably got it after we went to bed. Does anyone else have good bug hunters living with you?
I was looking through my videos and came across one I forgot about from August. Puck either caught a lizard in the litter box or moved it to the litter box so he could play with it without losing it. Whatever the reason, he drew a crowd of spectators.
Sunday I decided to take Frankie for a walk. He loves to be outside but since he is an adventurer, I have to bring him out on a leash and harness. That means he doesn’t go out much because I am either too busy, too tired, it’s too hot outside, or I am just plain lazy. These are the same reasons I don’t have a dog.
Frankie likes to travel in a straight line down the sidewalk, like he knows what it is for, pausing occasionally to smell stuff and then moving on.
I let him lead and keep hoping he will eventually start travelling back toward home but he rarely does. I usually have to pick him up and carry him home. I tried to pick him up on this day but he would have none of it and changed direction on his own and headed home.
When we got home he walked up to the front door, instead of the usual side door, and I opened it a bit for him to go inside but he changed his mind. I changed it back for him and picked him up and put him inside.
Chris was at the door wondering why Frankie got to go outside without him so I let Chris out. Chris usually goes out the side door and eats grass next to the driveway so this was a bit of a treat for him.
He started by looking for lizards but found none so he ate a little grass for a while.
Before I knew what was going on, Chris was at the door with a lizard in his mouth. Even with his added girth, he is still the King of the Lizard Catchers.
I tried unsuccessfully to get him to give up his lizard but he is stubborn. Finally I was able to get him to drop it and the lizard ran away, but Chris was off in hot pursuit. He caught him, lost him and followed him into the brush to catch him again. Check out the video of the incident below.
Just so you know, the lizard survived the ordeal.
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.
We let the cat’s outside for their weekly romp in the backyard. Puck immediately caught a lizard and then brought it in the house. That distracted me long enough for Frankie to run up the palm tree and get on the roof, and again I missed recording it. At least now I know how he did it.
Frankie then led me on a wild goose chase around the neighborhood while Chris was busy investigating our neighbor’s patio. In other words, it was a typical day.
Sunday was a beautiful day so we decided to put the harness on Frankie and let him outside. He has been terrible lately with his picking at the screen by the front door. Counting yesterday, he has pulled the entire screen off the window at least five times, three times after I put tape on it to hold it in and once after I put extra tape on it. Rose thinks he was an outside cat and we are being cruel forcing him to stay inside. I understand her concerns but I think we live too close to a busy road for that to be an option. Perhaps if we lived down the road a bit I would consider getting him a collar and letting him out during the day.
I got Rose’s help and let all the cats out the back door on Sunday. I held Frankie’s leash while Rose watched Chris and Puck. Everything went pretty well for a while then Rose yelled to me that Puck had caught a lizard and brought it in the house. She wanted me to get it out but I had to get the cats in first so I gave her Frankie and went to get Chris. While I was trying to catch him he caught a lizard too.
I gave him to Rose who was able to get the lizard out of his mouth while I went inside to find Puck. He was in the bathroom where he had dropped the lizard into the litter box. Not sure what his plan was but I scooped up the lizard and put him outside.
I brought my new camera with me and took a video but unfortunately I had replaced the memory card with one that was too slow to handle video so it kept shutting off after a few seconds of shooting. I also tried to get a picture of Chris with a lizard bit he moved too fast for a good shot.
Chris catching a lizard.
The other day Chris was outside and caught another lizard. That is bad enough but he has this irresistible urge to bring his catch into the house and doesn’t know what to do with it when he can’t get in.
I’m not sure why he has to bring it inside. At first I thought it was instinctual but then I realized that lions don’t kill a gazelle and then drag it back to the den to eat it. Maybe he just wants to show it off to Puck and Frankie.
Sunday afternoon I had some food to cook on the grill. That is always difficult because I have to go in and out the door several times and each time Chris is always at the door trying to escape. It is usually easier to just let him out and then deal with bringing him in when I’m done. I always feel bad letting Chris out because Puck and Frankie see that and then they want to go out too.
On this occasion I decided to let Puck out too but Frankie had to stay in because he’s a runner. Chris went straight to eating grass as usual and Puck walked about twenty feet and then came back. He started talking to Frankie and pawing at the screen, as if he was pleading with Frankie to let him in. Apparently he forgot where the door was. I noticed there were many people near the pool and I’m sure that made him nervous. I guided him to the door and tried to get him inside before Frankie came out. I then went back to grilling.
After a little while I needed to go in for something and decided Chris had spent enough time outside. Instinctively Chris knows when I am coming to bring him in so he bolted away from me. At that very moment he noticed a lizard and grabbed it. Now he was ready to go inside.
I tried to pry his mouth open to get him to drop the lizard but his jaws were locked shut. He also growled at me to show his disapproval in my behavior. I then thought if I just gave him time, he would eventually want to put the lizard down to play with it but he just stood by the door, with legs and a tail hanging from his mouth, waiting for someone to let him in.
For some strange reason all small animals and insects must be played with inside the house. I don’t know why Chris has this rule but while he was standing by the door I thought maybe he has a bit of OCD. He hung on to that lizard for a good five minutes, pacing pack and forth. Eventually it stopped moving and he put it down to check on it. That is when I grabbed him and brought him in.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t done cooking. I had to bring in the kabobs and bring out the Zucchini. It wasn’t worth fighting with Chris so I let him out again. He just laid down next to the door while I tended to the grill. After a short time the food was almost done and I thought I would put Chris in first. Of course he ran, this time behind the grill where he saw a lizard on the propane tank. There is also a spare tank next to it under the grill and Chris jumped on top of the two tanks while the grill was on, and ended up with another lizard. Bad Cat! Suddenly he was ready to go inside again.
I had to wait him out again. Eventually he walked around behind the screen where the air conditioner is and dropped the lizard and stepped on it to keep him close. That was my chance to grab him but I was too slow. I’ve noticed this before but it never really registered until now that cats catch their prey with their front paws and then grab it with their teeth.
Finally, after what seemed like a long time, I was finally able to get Chris away from the lizard. This one was still alive so I picked it up and put it in the grass before bringing Chris inside. I used to worry about the lizard population until Chris started focusing on eating grass when outside. It looks like the hunter is back.
Chris got out last week when I was bringing groceries in the house. When that happens, it is just easier to leave him out until I get everything in the house and then go get him. He spent the whole time eating grass and rolling around on the sidewalk until he knew I wanted him in. He then made me chase him. As he was running away from me a lizard caught his attention and he quickly caught it… Then he was ready to go in the house.
