Friday Felines

It's always interesting to see how the dynamic changes when you bring a new cat into a household. Part of the reason I wanted a third cat was for Rupert. He's still very young, not even two. And while Peno does play with him, she's 14 and doesn't play for very long - usually two minutes tops.

And while Rupert is pretty good with her, he's still a young male, and likes to get rough and tumble - which she hates. She quickly puts him in his place when he gets out of hand - but I figured another, younger cat would give her a break, and give Rupert a better outlet for his crazies.

And I was right. The first night I brought Burton home, Rupert was wary, and hung out mostly under the couch - only emerging occasionally to give me a dirty look. But by morning they were playing together.  Since then, they've played every morning, with Rupert progressively getting more and more confident. His favourite game is to trap Burton in their tent and sit on him. But don't worry - little Burt gives as good as he gets. His favourite toy is Rupert's tail.

It's taken Rupert a little longer to forgive me. Before Burt came along, Rupert had started to seek out snuggle time. For some reason, it was always between 4 and 7 p.m. He'd come and sit and stare at me until I made a lap for him to climb in. It was most inconvenient for me, because it was usually around the time that I had to get up to make dinner. Since he wasn't much of a lap cat, I took full advantage and we ate a lot more late dinners.

But then along came Burt and lap time was over. I'd try to seek him out and let him know he was still loved just as much, but he mostly ran under the futon and gave me stink-eye. But slowly, over the last few days, he's been looking for loving again.

You can tell by the look on his face that he's still making it plain that despite play-time, he does not approve of the interloper.

But I don't think it will be too much longer before he forgives me entirely.