Results tagged “Riff” from South Bay Pets

People come up to me all the time and say, "Hey Josh, I love how you always write about your delightful dog, but isn't it true that you also have a cat?"

Why, yes, in fact I do. Thank you for asking.

Here's a picture of Riff, who is so amazingly annoying that he actually makes me appreciate the dog.

Astute readers noticed how I wrote a post a couple of days ago detailing how the dog, the cat and I didn't want to get out of bed on account of rain.

Boy, it must get pretty crowded in there, they said.

Here, take a look for yourself:

As some of you know, I've been trying to get a picture of my dog and cat together since I brought the dog home a year and a half ago.

If they're doing something cute, I don't have a camera handy. Or if my camera is there, my cat is somewhere down the street digging holes. Or one of them moves suddenly or turns his butt to the camera. They have an endless supply of ways to screw things up.

Well, I finally snagged one. Humans 1, animals 0.

I had a very nice chat the other day with a man named Jeremy Mooney, who works for a company that is producing a show for Animal Planet.

" Housecat Housecall"  is similar to "The Dog Whisperer," but it features bad cats. I told him that my cat pooped in my shoe last week and he said that's exactly the kind of feline they're looking to feature on their show.

I'm not eager to introduce Riff to a national audience, but they are holding auditions for other bad kitties. If you have a pussycat with behavioral issues, keep reading. It might become as famous as Joe the Plumber.

This is from the e-mail he sent me:

We are seeking families with a cat (or two or three) behavioral issues (e.g., sleeping in unusual places; always trying to escape to the outdoors; overpampered and in need of an attitude adjustment; one cat not getting along with another cat or a dog) or relationship situation (stress of moving with a cat; cat separation anxiety, perhaps with someone in the miltary; advice on caring for a special needs kitty - blind, 3-legged, etc..).

On the show we will meet the cat and the family and hear about their needed assistance from us, send in our team, led by Dr. Katrina Warren, make suggestions, give advice and then come back and see how it all has evolved.

We would like interested cats and their family to tell us a little about their unique feline by emailing us at HousecatHousecallTV@gmail.com.

The show's consulting veterinarian and medical director is Dr. Stacy Fuchino of Redondo Beach.

The other day, Donna posted an item about an iPhone app that helps you take pictures of your pets.

Not a bad idea. I may have to shell out the money and buy it.

In the nearly two years I've had my dog, I've tried and tried and tried to tried to take a picture of him and the cat at the same time.

It never works. One of them always runs away or turns his head at the last second or just won't sit still.

This is my most successful effort, which as you can see, wasn't terribly successful. The ghostly image on the left is my cat. The brown blob on the right is my dog. If you squint, you can almost make out their ears.

My cat pooped in my shoe the other day.

Then the dog dug a hole in the backyard and escaped.

So now one of them is locked outside the house and the other is locked inside the house.

Guess which is which.

My stupid cat is starting to get a little peeved with me because of all the time I spend writing about my dog.

Well, this is what I have to say to the cat: "Hey Riff, if you want me to write about you, try doing something that doesn't involve sleeping."

With all the posts I've written about my dog, it may come as a suprise to some of my seven readers that I also have a cat.

It's not that I don't like my cat -- I despise him -- it's just that my dog is an 18-month-old puppy who lives to get into mischief. My cat, on the other hand, lives to sit around and annoy me.

I've always been a dog guy. I grew up with dogs. So how did I wind up with a cat?

It's Paula's fault!

Paula is a mysterious figure in my life. I never see her or speak to her. We communicate only by e-mail and then, only rarely. But we share a love of animals. But while Paula is one of those crazy PETA animal rights nuts, I'm more of a generalist -- I love animals, but also enjoy eating them.

Anyway, about six years ago, I got an e-mail from Paula asking me if I wanted to adopt a cat in need of a home. My dog Buck was still alive, but was getting old and didn't get around much. But he liked kitties and I figured that a new cat in the house would provide him some amusement.

A few days later, there was a guy standing at my front door with a cat. His name was Riff (Riff is the cat's name; I don't remember the guy's name). He's a very handsome guy with white paws and a map of Idaho on his chin (the cat, not the man)

Here's a picture of the map.

Riff and Buck got along really well. The night Buck died, Riff howled and howled. It freaked me out.

Riff also enjoys climbing on top of my head in the middle of the night.

Riff is mostly annoyed by Rocket. But he's a fearless pussy cat who won't run away from a dog, no matter how much he wants to play. Rocket enjoys putting his nose under the Riff and flinging him into the air.

Riff doesn't enjoy this at all, but is too lazy to put a stop to it.

 The dog also enjoys chasing Riff around the house. But at night, like that cartoon with the wolf and sheep leaving work after a day of fighting, they sleep together at night.

Congratulations to South Bay pet owners for surviving another Fourth of July.

Things were fairly quiet in my neighborhood, but I mean that in relative terms. While it did sound like a war zone, it was less of a war zone than last year.

The cat just ignored all the pops and whistles. And the dog spent the night in camp (that's what I tell him the kennel is). The kennel I take him to (Kennel Club and Resort in Torrance) is in a fairly industrial area, so it was pretty low key. It's air conditioned and the dogs can bark at each other all night with impunity.

Best of all, it's safe and secure. If Rocket were at home, I'd be worrying all night that he'd escape or start howling or something.

It was money well spent.

Yahoo has introduced a new domain name for e-mails. Technically, it's an old domain name, but it's been inactive for 10 years.

It's called rocketmail and it's available for free to anybody with an Internet connection.

Since they named it after my dog, I thought it was only fair that he got his own e-mail address.

So if you're so inclined, feel free to drop him a line. He's available at badrocket@rocketmail.com. Maybe he'll take time out of his busy schedule of barking, napping and running away to respond. But don't hold your breath.

As soon as they start a service called riffmail, I'll get one for my stupid cat.