Kitten Wars 2/15/15: Perfume is in the Nose of the Beholder ….

17 Feb 2015 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars, reflections Tags: , , , , , , ,

Kitten Wars 2/15/15

Well, Teeny has been in one of her more affectionate heats of late. Alex and I have been going around removing anything that might possibly smell of us so the she doesn’t follow along and “scent” it up with that lovely (not so) perfume of hers. Evidently, after our walk, Buddy came back smelling a bit too much of me. Now I freely admit that I gave him a big hug and good pet after being such a wonderful dog, but I surely did not intend for the cat to determine that the dog was now free game. Doing the creepy crouch heat walk of hers, she made her way over to where he lay watching her with one eye. She sniffed the air daintily then promptly turned her rump towards him and perfumed his nose up properly. You’ve never seen a dog rise in such horrified confusion as poor Buddy did. He tried racing around the kitchen, running into the walls as tears welled up in his eyes. Finally, he ran over to where I was on the couch and started shoving his nose under all the cushions trying to get rid of it that way. Meanwhile, Teeny lifted her head up, looked over at us with enormous eyes and blinked as if not realizing just quite what she had done.

Needless to say, the dog got a good bathing of his nose. He has been keeping his distance from her rear ever since. Its kinda cute, he’s upset with her so he will do a quick pounce-bark at her, then remember what she did and run away.

Kitten Wars 9/17/14 The Pounce is Strong in This One

17 Sep 2014 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars, reflections Tags: , , , , , , ,

I came home to one very playful kitty (Cleo) and one very affectionate cat (Teeny). Now, Teeny has only recently become an affectionate every day cat. For the last week she has begun waking me at 6 AM, whether I want to get up or not, by coming up to my face, bumping it, purring, and prrruupping at me until I either get up or move her away. If you haven’t had a determined cat before, well, let me tell you, moving Teeny away is no easy feat. Oh, you can pick her up and place her off the bed, on the other side of the bed, etc while remaining under the covers. This does not deter her in the least when she wants you to get up. She knows when my alarm should go off and is determined that I get up out of my cozy nest of blankets. No amount of moving her, removing her, or discouraging her work other than placing her on the other side of the bedroom door. But, then she begins scratching at the door until you let her back in. So its either get up or have one affectionate cat all over you until you do get up because you simply cannot breathe with all of her bunny fur in your face.

But, I digress. Cleo was in a very playful mood when I got home and was gleefully pouncing on everything that moved and some that didn’t. If a shoe lace fell, Cleo attacked. If the shadow moved, Cleo attacked. If Teeny shifted her eyes, Cleo … attacked. When Teeny first came into my home in June, she was a grumpy grande dame who generally hissed at anything that she didn’t like. There were days when I believed that all she knew how to do was hiss and spit, run and hide. Those days, I am glad to say, are long gone. When Cleo attacked Teeny, rolling her over, Teeny rolled over and continued walking over to get her rub. Cleo attacked again, pouncing over Teeny this time and was completely ignored by the cat on a mission.

So, Cleo changed tactics. Instead of wrestling and pouncing, she decided to batt at Teeny’s ear tufts. Maybe this new maneuver would gain her the attention she craved. Teeny leveled a look on Cleo that any teacher would have been proud to own, stuck her paw on Cleo’s head and pressed down much in the manner of the Pope when he is blessing someone. I got the feeling she was telling Cleo something important. So Cleo backed up a tiny bit to rethink what she was doing, but when Teeny prepared to leap up to the bathroom counter, she just couldn’t control herself any longer. As Teeny’s back hips quivered in the “jump ready” stance, Cleo pounced for all she was worth. The two wrestled for a few moments, then Teeny, pinned Cleo with her paw and put her nose on Cleo’s, looking her directly in the eyes. Momentarily mesmerized, Cleo lay there just long enough for Teeny to make the leap to the counter to get her rub.

Kitten Wars

14 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars Tags: , , , , , ,

Well the battle grounds have moved from the living room to my bedroom once more. While it was once a war, we are living in a strange glow of peace for now. Where once Cleo ruled supreme as queen of the quilted comforter, I am finding more and more that Teeny has decided that her daytime rest area and night time haunt happen to be my bed. I have found where she has arranged my covers to suit her over and over again. Of late I am now finding a cat occupying that place and not the fluffy tail of the one who would slink away. She has become much bolder as she knows us all. Cleo does not seem to mind being usurped as she has been making it a habit to curl up next to Teeny while they clean each other. Buddy feels quite neglected by all this because he has known from a very early age that DOGS are NOT allowed on the bed. Being the mostly rule abiding canine that he is, he puts his head on his paws and sighs when they start up with the girly cat-ness that they are.

Kitten Wars 7/11/14

12 Jul 2014 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in Kitten Wars Tags: , ,

Well, Teeny has adapted and made herself quite the member of my household. Cleo now washes her each day, treating her elder as if she were her own kitten. Cleo keeps trying to pounce and play with Teeny, but Teeny is not having that one. Buddy has taken a very philosophical approach, after all he is the only dog in the house, how else should he react? He basically leaves her alone and lets her hiss at him as she walks by. Then he looks up at me with the, “what did I do” look and puts his head back on his paws until her next pass.

Cleo has been very appreciative of having a new cat sister in the house. She almost drives Teeny crazy with all the attention that she showers on the poor cat. Teeny takes it all in stride. After all Cleo was the first of my little family that Teeny decided was OK.

As far as I was concerned, well, she ignored me or hissed at me until she realized that I was the one who opened the fridge and took out the “dead bird”. Once she got a good whiff of my lemon chicken heating up, that was all she wrote. Teeny came in demanding that I give her some. She and I went back and forth a few times with her walking off and me refusing to give it to her until she came up to me. In the end though, she gave in to the lure of “dead bird”. Now when I go into the kitchen she climbs her front legs up my leg to tell me that she wants something. She’s even gone so far as to wake me up and lead me to the fridge to tell me to get her “dead bird” out for her. LOL and I don’t always give in. If I did, then I wouldn’t have any “dead bird” for me 😉