cats in the cradle
This is Jedi. He was one of four kittens born to a feral stray in the backyard of a neighbor in our old neighborhood. We took in the kittens, had them spayed, neutered (Jedi was the only male), vaccinated, and re-homed all but one. A year later, Jedi came back to us. We weren’t particularly happy about it because he’s a troubled cat. None of our other cats were happy about it either. Over time, he’s mostly adjusted. Especially to the husband. He follows him around, meowyaps at him, and climbs into his lap for pets. Our two tuxedo cats aren’t bothered by him anymore. The manx still hisses, but he rarely messes with her. In this picture, Jedi is wanting to go outside. He’s looking out the back window of the living room.
But he can’t go outside because that’s where Brutus is. Brutus is our other male cat. He’s also from the feral colony we took care of in our old neighborhood. He’s about a year older than Jedi. And he has made sure Jedi knows he’s the boss. In this picture, he’s blocking the backdoor so Jedi can’t go out. They’re often both in my office, one on the couch, one behind the couch. Or Jedi is in a box asleep and Brutus is crouched in front of it staring at him. Yesterday, Brutus was asleep on a towel on the dining room table (I know, I know) and Jedi jumped up, unaware, and once he realized he was safe, sniffed Brutus’s paw. That lasted about two seconds. It’s been a while since they’ve had a full blown row, complete with bloody scratches, but hissing and growling are common place.
I’m not sure I’d know what to do with cats who actually slept together, or played together, or were… I was going to say normal, but I’m not sure normal and cat are two words that should be spoken at the same time. Anyone else have pets who don’t get along?
(btw, monday’s word count: 300. 120 on HP1 and 180 on KM1. i’m just getting the feel for both of these stories, but don’t want to lose the bits and pieces of scenes already showing up in my head. and tuesday’s word count was ZERO, yet i was busy with publishing things All Day Long, or at least after i got home from two hours with my favorite dentist, sigh.)