My daughter, who has her own apartment, has a cat. To be more accurate, she has a 3 month old bundle of mischievious fur that knows no rules and acknowledges no boundaries.
The patience of every person in this house has been put to the test this last week, as my daughter’s little bundle of feline energy was brought to visit in this canine dominated household.
Commonsense told me that since both animals are still babies they would learn to get along if we gave them the opportunity to get used to each other. Conversations with other animal owners reinforced this belief. Predicted length of time-two days.
Well, things often don’t go quite as planned. Instead of the predicted two days, it took a little over a week for my stubborn dog to learn to accept my daughter’s pig-headed cat.
The cat repeatedly tried to prove to the dog that cats rule and have the right to roam the house at will. The dog decided that herding cats was a great game, and she was determined to keep the cat confined in one particular room.
The cat would make a break for it, the dog would pounce. Everyone would jump up to rescue the cat, since Pepper weighs about 16 pounds, and Jinx only about 4.
Of course, we also wanted to protect Pepper from Jinx’s sharp claws. It is amazing how scary a tiny cat can appear if she hisses and shows her claws. And that creepy, low-pitched growl! That growl was very scary.
Or it was to the humans in the house. Pepper seemed to think the show of menace was all a part of a wonderful, exciting game. The more the cat hissed and swatted with her razor-like claws, the more involved Pepper became. Not only did she not back down, there was no holding her back! She seemed more like a hunter than our cute little puppy.
Luckily, we were forced to leave the two alone for several hours yesterday. I’m not sure exactly what happened but we returned to find them playing happily together.
What a relief!
Such is life that the new friendship will be broken up tomorrow, when the cat returns to her usual abode.