Tuesday, November 06, 2012

11/6/12 The Companion and The Playmate

An unexpected benefit -- or safety? -- of getting two cats is that you have better coverage for possible roles.

For us, that means that it turns out that Zorro is indeed becoming the "playcat" for the kids, while Mommy-Meowstache is a better companion for me.

In fact, to my surprise, the Mommy-kitty is downright nervous around the kids -- hiding all the time, and even hissing at them sometimes when they try to intrude into her safehouses under furniture. Katrina got scratched the other day, minutes after she'd been soundly warned by a hiss -- which I'm sure she'll heed next time!

Mommy-kitty was nothing like this in the kitty adoption room, and it even so happened that I brought a kid with me to confirm (well, ok, my friend brought her kid, but still, an 8-year-old was present) -- and there was no sign of concern).

I should note that Gabriel reports no trouble with Mommy-Meowstache, and he spends a lot of time hanging with her alone when he gets home from school -- but she's hissed at him a few times if there's another kid around. She hisses at Zorro the most though, so maybe she's just fussy.

Even now, I'd say that Mommy-Meowstache is fine with the kids if they just observe her behavior and back off and stay backed off. But that's no fun for a kid! So thank goodness there is the brave, playful, social out-there Zorro to play with.

Meantime, when the kids are in bed, I'm quite happy to have the Mommy-kitty emerge from her enclaves and follow me around, purring constantly.

She's by far the more complex character -- much more interested in things outside, investigating suspicious activity, more observant; her play is deadly serious. Zorro spends more time lying on the bed with me and purring, but I think she'd do more of that if he weren't there.

Meantime, I love how when the kids aren't around, she's always checking in on me, almost like she's guarding me. She must know how much I need that right now.

11/6/12

1 comment:

MommaWriter said...

She's the mommy and you're her human. Of *course* she knows!