Snippets of an ordinary life in an extraordinary world
Well, the family is mostly happy again. Rosco has settled in, and Mandy and Toby have settled down. It’s fun to have a little kitten in the house again, especially now that the older cats have decided they’ll stoop to sharing their humans with another furball.
We humans sometimes don’t adapt well to change, and I’ve learned this week that cats suffer through change just as miserably as we do. On Sunday, Nathan succumbed to his first-ever pet impulse buy. Yes, he bought a cat entirely on impulse. I know! It shocked me, too.
Rosco (see pics of him here) is about 4 months old. Nathan found him at PetSmart. We both have soft spots for orange tabbies, especially ever since we lost our little Oliver (an orange tabby) to complications from vet surgery. So, Rosco tugged at Nathan’s heartstrings and convinced Nathan to beg me to let Rosco come home with us. Which was a no-brainer when we realized that the adoption agency was the Harris County Animal Control center, which is definitely NOT a no-kill organization. Which isn’t meant to say bad things about Harris County Animal Control, just that it’s the primary urgency behind our impulse purchase.
Mandy and Toby, our first two cats (see pics of them here), have lived in their comfortably shielded home together for over a year. When we brought Toby home in September 2002, Mandy was sweet and loving, if a little impatient sometimes. Toby, on the other hand, was a little hellion. In all the time we’ve had him, he hasn’t seemed to grasp the true meaning of a hiss. It’s like he says, “Hiss means yes!” as he’s terrorizing Mandy. So, when we brought home our new little guy, we figured he’d be a distraction for Toby and Mandy would catch a break.
WRONG!!
I have been completely shocked at the reaction of Mandy and Toby since we introduced Rosco into the house. They’ve both been cranky, hissing monsters to the poor little guy. Especially Toby, who we figured would be the happiest to have an energetic new playmate. So for the last few days, I’ve been worried that we ruined our happy little pet family.
But we’ve had a couple of breakthroughs this week. Mandy is finally cuddling with Rosco, albeit grudgingly and quickly. Toby is still a cranky old codger, but he’s at least waiting till Rosco gets a little closer before hissing and snarling. (I never figured cats could actually snarl!) Toby even lets Rosco get close enough to touch noses occasionally. So, hopefully with another week or so, our happy little pet family will be happy to have their addition.
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