Life With Cats, Plural

[akirlu]

Both the leftover cats are settling in, slowly.

There's still a titanic power struggle between Tinka and Lefty which hasn't fully settled out, but whenever the stare down boils over into voices raised in anger, Sarah gets up from the couch and runs downstairs to break it up and chase Tinka back upstairs. We haven't decided yet whether this is one of those "cute once" sorts of things.

Lefty now comes upstairs at least once an evening, making a circuit of the living room and then our bedroom and the bathroom, finally settling in the sink to cry for someone to come pet her. She's also figured out that the kitchen door leads to outside, so I've started letting her out when she wants. She comes back when she's ready, and waits by the door to be let back in again, once the allure of chewing grass and stalking sparrows palls.

Spike is warming up more slowly. She doesn't hide in the ceiling without provocation so much anymore. As often as not, she's out in plain sight when I come down to see her, either on the top shelf above the toilet, or else meat-loafing on top of the cat tree. Like Lefty, she's always eager to be petted when first approached, though after a while she will get fractious and bitey about it. They're love bites -- she never bites to break skin -- but I generally leave off when she hits that point. It isn't actually that much fun to get bitten, even gently.

Last night she was on the cat tree, and I got to spend quite a while petting her (she's amazingly plush) before she tired of it. What was interesting was that she was willing to tolerate both Sarah coming over to nose around and sniff quite close by, and also Hal coming downstairs to visit, without dashing off, or even getting overly guarded or tiring of the petting. It was only when Lefty strolled into the garage that Spike got cranky and watchful and hostile to further affection. My tentative conclusion is that there is less love lost between those two than the previous owner led me to believe.

(I do wonder if adding one male cat to the mix might tamp down the all-girl bitch politics among the feline population. Hal gives me the gimlet eye, every time I mention it, though. I admit, four cats seems like a lot, after years of only one, especially.)

And Lefty just hit a new plateau of bravery. At four this morning, I was awakened by mewling in my ear. Lefty, on the nightstand, wanting attention. This is a first, Lefty coming up in the middle of the night. I'm not sure I approve, either. Unlike Tinka, who is generally content to settle down on or next to me and go to sleep there, Lefty wanted active cuddling. And when I slacked off, she would put a paw on my face. Ordinarily, this would be just as adorable as when Tinka does it, but unlike Tinka, Lefty doesn't entirely velvet her claws. Also, Lefty lacks the Weegie insulating fur-between-the-toes, and her paw pads are Damn Cold.

Eventually I hid under the covers, and Lefty subsided back downstairs.

Fabulous. The one night the dog doesn't keep me up with her stomach problems, I have to get a case of nocturnal cats.

Comments

Re: Life With Cats, Plural

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Right then. I'll try to resist adding more feeling complexity, then.