This week is: "we have got a visitor of the feline persuasion" week. This is a re-occuring event in our house, and has been for the last 8 years at least. Do we like this? Ehm...read on....
 |
| (This is not my photo, it floated around in cyberspace)
We have a catty family member: Noes. She is a stray, just like our own macho tom, from the same shelter in fact. But that is exactly where all comparison ends!
Where our Viggo can be sweet and cuddly, Noes is not.
Where he is always (well, almost always) cheerful and peppy, Noes is not.
Where he utters the occasional miauw, Noes just growls.
Where he drapes himself happily on your lap, Noes keeps her distance and hides herself in the cupboard.
Where he goes outside to pee and poop (as proper cats do) and amuses himself with the newspaper and assorted envelopes, she comes with a carload of stuff, which is all ab-so-lu-te-ly essential. A litter tray complete with roof, bowls, a scratching post, poop-scoop, etcetera.
Viggo has developed the following strategy when Noes arrives. He deploys this within 10 minutes of her arrival.
1. Watch her with mild curiosity.
2. Check out the scratching post by vigorously scratching it.
3. Check out the dinner bowls.
4. Pee in the litter box (a statement if ever I saw one).
5. Ignore her.
6. When bored - swat her behind, preferably whilst she is attempting to climb the stairs.
Our dog Gina however, has developed a different strategy. Ignore that cat, whatever happens, ignore her. Except when she comes too close to Gina's basket. Then a soft warning growl suffices. Noes freezes, Gina looks the other way (did I growl? are you sure?), Viggo looks on with glee, and there you have it. Stalemate.
Cat lover that I am, I keep trying to make Noes feel welcome. But this cat is hard work. Very, very occasionally I can persuade her to climb my lap, but she is always on edge. The only intimate happy moments we share, is when I fill her bowl. Then she purrs.
We have her for a week, this time.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment