Welcome to Fredcat's diary - and checkout his tails later!
- humbly continued by Frankie the Fearless

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Monday, August 13^th 2007 (number 983)

Farley the Friendly Large image

The good people at Second Chance Pet Adoptions were extremely helpful. Frankie dragged his best human friend, Cathie into the reception room and soon one of the foster mothers arrived with a cat carrier. "Here he is!" said Frankie, excitedly, "I knew he'd be here ready for us." Inside was a cute little black and grey tabby kitten, who blinked at all the attention. He wasn't particularly frightened; just somewhat sleepy from the journey to the adoption centre. He smiled at all and sundry (he was a very friendly kitten) and when he saw his visitors his smile grew so much that it looked like the top of his head would fall off. "Frankie!" he yelled, "Long time no see!"

Despite his wanting to get out of his carrier and renew his acquaintaince with Frankie, hygiene rules forbade Farley's (for Farley is his name, folks) emerging from his cat carrier and walking around the premises of the Second Chance suite. He said his goodbyes to his foster mother (as a polite kitten should), thanking her for looking after him so well, but soon his thoughts were on the new future that Frankie had earlier outlined to him.

"I told you all about my extraordinary meeting with Fredcat the Famous at the v*t's office, you remember," said the Fearless One, "and I want you to become my full time assistant at what is now the Frankie residence. It'll be cobs of fun, you wait and see. Oh, and by the way, let me introduce you to my best human friend, Cathie. She'll be your best human friend as well, of course! That goes without saying. Cathie, this is Farley the Friendly; he's ever so nice."

Cathie was really pleased. Two kittens! She'd have two kittens to talk to when she came home from work each day and they'd be there for her every weekend as well. All three set off for home in her car, the two kittens chatting away nineteen to the dozen.

When they arrived at the Frankie residence she had Mr. B. carry the cat carrier inside and place it carefully on the living room floor. The door was opened but Farley suddenly became shy. "What if they don't like me?" he mewsed, quietly.

Frankie decided to help as only Frankie could. He carefully stepped into the carrier, turned around inside it and lay down, next to the new kitten, explaining who was who and what was what in Farley's new home. Finally Farley was sufficiently relaxed to carefully emerge into the room.

And ... Whoomph! went Frankie at top speed and leapt at Farley, chasing him around the room at top speed. "This is going to be fun!" he cried.

"Hold on! Stop!" gasped Farley, "I want to see where I am first, give me a chance, you're not being fair!" but Frankie was too engrossed to pay attention. Having an assistant was much better than hitting a ball around the room. In fact it took the intervention of Cathie to give the new kitten a chance to draw breath and explore the many corners of the residence.

When a certain peace had been restored Frankie showed Farley where the food and water bowls were located and also pointed him in the general direction of the smart blue, covered litter tray. "We can share all of those," he said, smiling, "Saves a lot of bother all round." Farley nodded.

"Well, what do you think of it?" asked Frankie, and the feline newbie nodded once more.

"I'm sure we'll get on very well together," said Frankie, "There's so much to tell you, so much to learn. Cathie is very sweet (although occasionally firm). Don't worry overmuch about Mr. B. - he's easy to deal with. Fredcat used to tie him in knots." They both laughed.

"As for sleeping; well, we can sleep virtually anywhere, there's loads of sleeping places, like this dinette chair, for example. The Famous One used to like sleeping here. The humans don't seem to mind where we sleep. I think Mr. B. prefers us sleeping, to tell you the truth!"

And on the Fredcat dinette chair is where Cathie eventually found the two tucked in later, fast asleep, entwined around each other, as she made her way to bed. It was a two-cat household once again, and that hadn't been the case for a long time. She had so many things to show Farley herself when tomorrow came and when he'd rested. This was going to be fun!

Please note that I (we!) now have a new email address:so click here to send an email to Fredcat's friends! 

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Thursday, August 9^th 2007 (number 982)

Frankie wants a friend Large image

Frankie beamed at his best human friend, Cathie. He had a surprise in store for her, and, boy, was he eager to tell her! He cleared his tiny throat and announced in a firm voice, "I've decided that I need a deputy, a Number Two, someone to hold the fort when I'm otherwise engaged in sleeping, eating and the like," he said, "Will you take of that, Cathie?" Cathie blinked in shock. This request was extremely unusual. When Fredcat the Famous was the (famous) resident feline nothing, but nothing, would have tempted him to allow another cat into the his famous residence; Fredcat was very set in his ways and a new cat would undoubtedly have upset the balance of power. No way was a new feline coming to his residence whilst Fredcat was in charge.

But this was a different situation. The good people at the v*t's office had told Cathie that Frankie was a very sociable cat and used to love meeting other cats whenever he coulose things were.

Cathie's heart sang. Another cat! Wonderful! Marvellous! And Frankie was the one who'd thought of the idea and raised it with Cathie! "Do you know where we could find such a feline?" she asked breathlessly, already envisioning a pair of frisking, frolicking, felines scampering about her feet as she went on her way doing her daily chores. "We already have a plethora of round beds and the big litter box would be sufficient for you and a small friend, Frankie. I'm sure that Mr. B. could easily stretch the food budget to pay for additional cat biscuits - and little kittens don't eat as much as fully grown cats."

She started thinking about having kitten after kitten after kitten ... No, although she liked cats, she didn't quite want to be knee deep in the creatures. Two would be quite sufficient!

"Of course I do," said the Fearless One, "Leave it to me. We need to pop along to the local animal rescue center where human foster folks look after young kittens and adult cats. There might even be a ginger kitten there," he said.

Cathie stopped daydreaming and suddenly thought of a snag. Mr. B! What would he say? "Leave that to me," said Frankie, "I sold him on the idea of having one cat; it'll be even easier the second time around." But on that score he was mistaken.

"Another cat? And what use are you, pray?" asked Mr. B., when he was later made privy to the news. "I can see no benefit to your presence here let alone another cat; you haven't started writing thank-you emails to the humans who have so kindly written to you; all you do is rush around the place at top speed getting in everyone's way. Pretty useless, that's what you are."

Frankie stood up on his back paws, and stretched himself up to his full kittening height. "I'll have you know I've been incredibly useful already around here; just let me list a few of the kittening rules which have been put in place since my arrival." He cleared his tiny throat again and began.

"First off - I've helped you rearrange the small ornaments in the house. Those things were a serious risk to small children - and don't tell me you have no small children because you never know what's round the corner. (Mr. B. shuddered at that comment). Secondly - I've climbed on your lap several times and kept you company while you've been lazing around watching the big TV. Thirdly, I've helped your exercise routine by gently pushing cushions, bedding, hanging clothes and the like onto the floor."

"The list is quite exhaustive," he continued, "You must agree that your shopping has become more interesting because you now visit the kittening food section of the supermarket. And I also act as your alarm clock when you're trying to have a nap in the middle of the day by jumping on your head and wakening you up."

"I'm not sure if that list is what I was thinking of," replied Mr. B., but he found himself talking to thin air. Cathie had swept Frankie up and was off to the local animal rescue center to look at a new kitten for the residence and Mr. B. resignedly started to gather round beds together. When would this ever end?

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Monday, August 6^th 2007 (number 981)

Frankie goes a-neutering Large image

Frankie looked at the cat carrier and wondered where it had come from. It looked much like other cat carriers he'd seen in his short life. He decided to investigate and found that his friend Fredcat's scent was all over it; this was comforting as he knew that the Mighty One was not a great lover of cat carriers ever since his enforced journey across to the US, but if Fredcat had travelled in this cat carrier then it must be OK to thoroughly investigate it and so he set to accordingly.

A few seconds later he was not so sure. From out of nowhere Mr. B. appeared and quietly closed the cat carrier's door and Frankie found himself hoisted aloft, gently, mind, but aloft nevertheless.

Unlike Fredcat, Frankie didn't mind the trip to the v*t's office (because that, of course, was where they were headed). In the past he'd had nothing but good times at the friendly v*t's office, always being treated and tested with respect. Of Frankie's best human friend, Cathie, there was no sign; she had earlier left for work after giving the Fearless One a chuck-a-chin and leaving the two males alone in the Frankie residence.

"I assume this is a short visit," said Frankie, "There are a lot of tasks to carry out back at my residence; Fredcat has given me detailed instructions on how to deal with all sorts of things and I can't be doing with wasting time with trivia, you know."

On arrival at the v*t's office Frankie was given a good looking over and a mild sedative (which was surprisingly pleasant). Hours later Cathie arrived to take him back to his residence. Frankie was a little bit groggy from the sedative but otherwise felt OK. Then and only then he realised that he'd joined the serried ranks of neutered cats.

"Now I remember," he muttered, sleepily, to no one in particular, "Fredcat told me that it would be a necessary adjunct of my new purpose in life not to be overly distracted by reproductive processes and I remember his saying that being neutered was an essential feature." He wriggled a bit; it wasn't too uncomfortable.

The kindly v*t told Cathie that Frankie should get plenty of rest over the next week, that he wasn't to eat for a while, that he was to avoid rushing about and should stay in one room for a few days. "We don't want to do any long term damage to the Fearless One," the good Dr. H. explained.

On the way home, Cathie explained to Frankie that he'd also been given a tiny microchip implant which could be used in an emergency such as if he'd ever found himself lost. If that happened all he had to do was go up to a friendly human, or find his way to a v*t's office, and they would check the microchip by computer against a national database and he would soon be reunited with Cathie. She smiled, this was an excellent idea and Frankie readily agreed. That sounded a responsible thing to do. How kind of Cathie to arrange that!

On arrival at the Frankie residence, the Fearless One leapt out of the cat carrier and, ignoring the v*t's instructions in one area, ate and drank heartily. "I needed that!" he declared, licking his lips and immediately scampered across the polished floor to start careering around the room with one of his brightly coloured bell-balls.

"You're supposed to keep a low profile," frowned a concerned Cathie, but she found herself talking to fresh air as the Fearless One scampered up the fourteen stairs to the study in a masterly series of only four jumps. He had work to do on his new Frankie the Fearless Guestbook. There was not a moment to lose.

"I don't believe it!" she murmured, as she and Mr. B. tried to restrict his movements as per the v*t's instructions. "We need to calm him down," said Cathie, wearily, and Mr. B. agreed, but how?

Of course Frankie, being Frankie, knew the answer but he wasn't going to let on for a few days. Whatever did he have in store ...?

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Thursday, August 2^nd 2007 (number 980)

Frankie decides to stay Large image

Frankie had decided that he would stay at the (late) Fredcat residence. He liked what he saw. He had travelled to the house in a box provided by the kindly v*t's office and when he emerged it was to explore. And, my, how he explored! Within a very short period of time he had raced to all corners of the downstairs living quarters and had sped up the back stairs to the study. "I've lived in a couple of places lately, but this is just tops," he finally announced. "Where's the food bowl?"

Fredcat's best human friend, Cathie and Mr. B. almost collided in their haste to fill a bowl with kittening biscuits and Frankie ate, and then drank from the bowl which had been hurriedly provided by the fumbling Mr. B. "Ah, the litter tray next," said Frankie, and popped inside and scratched around a bit.

"This is all mightily convenient," he said again, and did a lot more racing around, including climbing up every surface within reach - and there were a lot of those!

"I think we'll have to reconsider where we keep things in future," exclaimed Cathie, as she picked up a bunch of papers and a small cushion which had somehow made their way onto the floor as the Fearless One had swept by. "We'll just have to assume that we have a young child in the house - and move everything up high for a while."

"Residence please, not house, Residence," corrected Frankie, as he tore after a coloured ball that Cathie had placed on the floor as a possible distraction. It was clearly the right choice as he then spent a happy forty five minutes chasing around after said ball as it skittered this way and that across the polished wooden floor.

He was clearly a first class soccer player as he used both front paws to keep the ball in play - and at high speed, too! When the ball vanished under the settee where even his nimble paws could not reach, he found a willing helper in Cathie who flicked another ball from the eight-pack onto the floor, and so on, and so on until all eight balls had disappeared under the settee or someplace else for Mr. B. to retrieve at some later stage.

"Thank goodness for those toys," muttered Cathie, "Frankie's full of energy, isn't he? He makes me giddy just watching him; he's not like my sedate Fredcat at all, is he? I'm a bit dizzy watching him after doing all that hard work at work today, so I think I'll have a bit of a lie down. Keep an eye on him for a while, will you?" And, so saying, Cathie fled upstairs leaving Mr. B. to look, aghast, at the Fearless One.

"Help!" he said softly to himself, "Are you sure you won't have a bit of a lie down as well, Cat?"

To his surprise Frankie agreed. Mr. B. happily settled himself on his easy chair to watch the big TV and Frankie, after making the rounds of all the chairs in the room decided that the best and only place for a nap was on the lap of the Grumpy One.

"Help!" said Mr. B. again, even more weakly, but there was no escape. He tried to gently ease the friendly Fearless One off onto another chair but the status quo with Frankie on his lap was quickly restored. Frankie didn't seem to mind and after a bit Mr. B. reckoned that a stationary Fearless One was better than a Billy Wizz one and fell asleep on his chair, along with Frankie, curled up into a tight black and white ball.

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