We have brought our cats (Kink and Krumps) down with us to my mom's house for the holidays. You may or may not remember that there is already a kitty in residence down here: Kahnji (formerly known as Bagheera). This has led, as is to be expected with the (re)introduction of animals, to a lot of growling and sulking and skulking and posturing and the occasional swipe and/or chase.
None of which would be so bad were it not for the fact that a) Nathan has not grown up with cats and thus still is not entirely used to their ways, and b) Nathan is very protective of Krumps (the little girl cat), and thus it is very difficult for him to just let the animals do their own pissy-with-one-another-thing until they get it sorted. Which they will. I keep trying to explain things to him, and he keeps accusing me of being a creepy tv-personality, a la The Cat Whisperer.
It is a little weird, sometimes, to realize that there are people out there who don't inherently understand cat behavior. They've just always been a part of my life- and although I would say I'm not so much a "cat person" as I am an "animal person" in general (but not to extremes), they are the animals I am most familiar with. The idea of not growing up with at least one cat is as foreign to me as the idea of growing up living in the same town for your entire childhood. That is to say, it may be normal for over 50% of the population, but it's weird as hell to me...
Cat whispering aside, this is a battle I see us having to fight in the future. Maybe not soon, but someday. Our warehouse cat, Jezebel is 13-14 years old now and will one day not be physically able to handle warehouse life and very likely one day will not be safe on her own at night and over weekends. I've hinted at my desire to make her my cat officially once that happens, but mostly as a joke. Scurry is very protective of Badger almost to the point of hindrance. She seems to believe he wouldn't handle it well. I actually agree for the most part and I don't know how Jezebel would take it either since she's not really spent any time around other cats herself. However, like I imagine your kitty congregation finally played out, at some point equilibrium is eventually reached and typically without too many scratches and hurt feelings. Often it's the squeamishness of owners that makes pet diplomacy take the horrid and lengthy turns it sometimes does.
ReplyDelete*sigh* Long way of saying I feel your pain... and his a little I guess. Hope no one was mauled.