Tag Archives: feline politics

I Haven’t Lost All My…

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As I noted a couple of months ago, the classic Backyard Bowl has been discontinued in favor of daily offerings to the various Gods of Feral Critters, over on the other side of the house, near the catio.

However, we* do maintain the water bowl in its historical location, and it continues to get visitors.

* Although I say “we”, 95% or more of the actual maintenance is done by Maggie.

Meet Marbles.

Named, as local tradition has it, by appearance. He*’s a marble tabby, so the name is pretty much inevitable.

* Conjecturally. We haven’t gotten a good look at putatively his hindquarters.

He’s not as consistent in his visits as G’aw; sometimes weeks will go by without a sighting, but we’re always happy to see him. He’s very skittish when it comes to humans. Where G’aw will keep a cautious distance, but say “hello” and “can’t you fill that bowl any faster”, Marbles will vanish if he even thinks someone is looking at him.

Which is perfectly fine. Not everyone needs to be friendly–and to be blunt, it would be highly hypocritical of me to cast aspersions on someone for being a curmudgeonly anti-social grump.

That said, we do seem to be the only ones in the area who are pleased to see him. G’aw faces him down if they both show up at the same time.

And as for the other neighbors, well…did you notice the bird sitting on the fence? It did its best car alarm imitation the entire time Marbles was in the yard.

Triad

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Yuki, Emeraldas, and Lefty have an interesting relationship.

Or, I suppose, set of relationships.

As best we can tell, Em is madly in love with Yuki, taking every opportunity to snuggle up, groom him and be groomed by him. Yuki seems to enjoy the attention–except when she gets too vigorous and knocks him over (he’s not very stable on his feet)–but doesn’t go out of his way to spend time with her.

Her Majesty also spends much of her time with Lefty. There’s far less grooming, mutual or otherwise, but significant amounts of quiet chilling, especially in the late evening when they share my chair in the dining room.

As for the boys, they’ll snuggle up and indulge in a bit of mutual grooming, but there’s a definite air of making do, especially as they only occasionally do it when Emeraldas is around.

So a scene like this one is rare.

No question, Em is the hinge pin in the scissor of their triad.

Or maybe that’s the wrong metaphor. Never mind, it’s late and so is the post. I’ll go with it.

And close with a shot of Yuki, showing just how he feels about her grooming efforts.

Sit Right Down

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I promised you a critter post this week, and by gosh and by golly, here it is.

(Good thing I didn’t promise it for Friday, huh? No, Saturday is not, as Maggie suggested, the new Friday. I’ll put ’em up on Friday as often as possible, but there will still be occasional slippage to Saturday.)

Anyway, onward to the actual post.

Emeraldas and Lefty both enjoy sitting in my chair in the dining room. Em will often grab it overnight and up until the bipeds start stirring. Lefty takes over after breakfast and generally maintains possession until dinner time.

In the evening, though?

Yeah, neither one is willing to give way to the other.

Cats being cats, joint possession needs to be negotiated. With extensive meepling, ear nibbling, and forehead bopping. Every. Single. Evening.

Silver Lining

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I mentioned last week that until Yuki builds up more strength and regains more control over his hind legs, we’re restricting his movements. He’s occupying the master suite: plenty of places to hang out, a favored locale for several of the gang, and frequently occupied by bipeds to give him snuggles. And, most importantly, no stairs. He’s definitely not ready for stair-climbing–no matter what he thinks.

He’s mostly putting up with it, but he dearly misses his favorite afternoon pastime: sprawling on the floor outside Maggie’s office and teasing the inhabitants, Kaja in particular.

We’ve never understood the root of their mutual antagonism, but it goes way back. In fact, the last time Yuki had to wear a Cone o’ Shame, it was because he’d incited Kaja to assault.

Since that attack, Kaja has been living in Maggie’s office, along with her littermate, Rhubarb. It was a joint decision: she largely refused to ignore Yuki’s attempts to tick her off, and he couldn’t resist teasing her, but wasn’t nimble enough to get out of her way. So when Kaja stopped roaming the house, we mostly stopped opening the office door except when we were actually walking in and out of the room.

But now, with Yuki confined to quarters, we’ve been leaving the door open in the evenings, so the Flying Monkeys can go exploring. And it’s working. Somewhat.

They’re not hugely brave about it, and oddly enough, Rhubarb has been more adventurous than Kaja. He’s made it down to the dining room and kitchen a couple of times, while she hasn’t even made it to the foot of the stairs.

But they’ve been doing the meet-and-greet with Lefty and Emeraldas, both of whom joined the crew long after Kaja gave up on the world outside Maggie’s office. Largely amicable meets, I might add–for local values of “amicable”.

The result:

Top to bottom and left to right: Kokoro, Rhubarb, Kaja, Sachiko, and Emeraldas.

Yes, five cats in one photo.

Even more impressively, Lefty and ‘Nuki were by my feet, well within sight and smell of the stairs, just ill-placed for photographic documentation.

We’ve been hopeful about reintegrating Kaja before, only to be disappointed. But this is an excellent sign.

A Rare Sight

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This was originally going to be titled “Birds of a Feather” but second thoughts prevailed.

I’ve long held the opinion that every home requires a meezer.

We are currently blessed–if that’s the word–with two. Kokoro is, naturally, the undisputed* empress of the household and queen of all she surveys.

* In her own mind, at least

Emeraldas, on the other forepaw, is the most recent addition to the clowder, and by far the least integrated. She spars vigorously with Lefty, stares at Sachiko with deep suspicion, and retreats precipitously from humans. (Contrarily, of course, she snuggles vigorously with Yuki, and..um…nevermind.)

So the Meezer Ladies don’t spend much time together. Kokoro stays in Maggie’s office, with occasional forays to the bedroom to hang out on my lap, and the kitchen to raid the empty gooshie fud cans. Emeraldas has recently relocated herself from the library upstairs to the living room downstairs–physically a journey of a mere couple of dozen stairs, but far more distant psychologically.

And yet, the twain do meet. And even pose for an occasional photo op.

It’s His Expression That Makes It Work

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Sachiko has been feeling frisky lately. Since her usual tussling partner is Watanuki–tuxedo cats have to stick together–we get a lot of scenes like this.

“Hey, Big Brudder Nookles, let’s throw down! Imma take you dis time!”

You can just hear him thinking, “Yeah, right, Kid. Just like you have the last umpty-dozen times I’ve nipped your ears for you.”

So then, of course, he throws the first slap.

We get about ten seconds of mixed martial arts, followed by thundering hoofbeats as Sachiko heads for the supposed safety of one of the condos.

‘Nuki doesn’t bother to chase her. He knows she’ll be back for another round (more than) soon enough.

Sisterly Affection

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Kokoro and Kaja have a fraught relationship.

In Kokoro’s opinion, Kaja is a late-arriving interloper on her turf. Contrarily, Kaja considers Kokoro to be an old fuddy-duddy, blocking her ascent to rulership of the household.

At least, that’s the way it has been for years. Recently, however, we’ve bee seeing signs of moderation. Maybe it’s because they’re getting more accepting as they age. Maybe they’re banding together against all the new arrivals. Or perhaps it’s just that in order to make sure Kokoro gets her meds and plenty of nutritions, we’re making her spend more time in Kaja’s presence.

Regardless, we’re pleased to see moments like this:

Meet the Pirate Queen

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I hope your Thursday was pleasant, regardless of whether it was Thanksgiving for you. And, as I promised, here’s more on MM’s situation.

Or, more accurately, on Emeraldas’ situation.

Yes, she does have a name, rather than a description*. Given her history and general attitude, naming her after a pirate of some sort seemed highly appropriate. Her backstory matches up well with that of the Leiji Matsumoto character–I hesitate to call her a heroine, but anti-heroine doesn’t seem quite accurate either–and when we realized we could keep the initial “Em” sound, everything came together.

* At various times in the past, MM stood for Mysterious Meezer, Ms. Meezer, and Meezer Mommy.

In addition to giving her a new name, we’ve also been giving her more freedom of movement and more opportunity to interact with the other felines.

You can’t see it in this picture, but the door to Maggie’s den is open, allowing Queen Em to get acquainted with Kaja and Rhubarb. Sachiko was also in the vicinity when this picture was taken, but I couldn’t squeeze her into the shot.

Em has developed a fascination with Yuki–one might even call it a fetish without stretching the point. When not separated by the fence, she’ll take every opportunity to rub against him.

Yuki seems to like her, and for the most part he tolerates her overly aggressive friendship, but sometimes it does get to be a bit too much for him.

As for the rest of the crew, Emeraldas’ relationships are works in progress. Kaja uses highly spiced language when Em appears, but then, Kaja does that for just about everybody except her littermate. With Lefty, Em alternates between friendship and slap fights.

As for everyone else, she maintains largely cordial-but-distant relationships.

Well, almost everyone else.

Kokoro, the senior meezer of the household, is distinctly unimpressed with the new arrival. Nose-sniffing sessions are punctuated with hissing and end quickly.

For the most part, however, Her Imperial Majesty prefers to ignore a mere Queen. Given her druthers, she’d far prefer to curl up on a warm blanket and wait for the pretender to go away.

Everchanging

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Sachiko and Watanuki have a peculiarly inconsistent relationship. Sometimes he’s her idol, sometimes her best friend, and sometimes beneath her notice.

Simultaneously, but not synchronously, she’s his favored companion and security consultant, sometimes his chief rival, and sometimes his best chew-toy.

The constantly changing combinations can be dizzying.

Take, for example, the other night. The Tuxedoed Terrors were sitting together at the foot of the bed. Suddenly, ‘Nuki began washing Sachiko’s ears.

By the time I was able to reach the headboard and grab my phone, he was affecting boredom while she washed his ears.

And then, by the time I adjusted the flash settings in hope of getting a better shot, Sachiko had been demoted to “Evil Villain Who Must Be Gnawed Into Submission” and ‘Nuki had been laterally transferred to “I’m Getting Away From Him Before He Eats My Throat”.

I believe Sachiko bounced off of three different walls and the ceiling in making her escape.

Watanuki turned, sprawled across my ankles, and dared me to move.

I knew better.

Another Style

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Coincidentally*, at just about the same time last Friday’s post on feline land-ownership styles went live, MM declared herself the owner of the room which she previously shared with Lefty.

* Or perhaps it’s no coincidence at all. There is a computer with unrestricted Internet access in that room. I may need to check the browser history.

The key word in that sentence is, of course, “previously”. MM’s style appears to be both autocratic and intolerant. She rules with a set of iron claws and doesn’t bother hiding them in a velvet mitt.

The immediate result of her declaration was Lefty pounding on the door and demanding to be let out. He has refused to return to the room since then, even though MM retreated to the cage and demanded that we lock her in.

MM, it should be noted, appears to exhibit a certain amount bipolar behavior. Her explorations of the room were during an “up” period, during which she’s curious, calm, and almost charming. Her declaration of ownership and subsequent retreat to her stronghold are typical of the other pole.

In any case, since Lefty won’t go into the library–in fact, he won’t even go upstairs–no matter what treats we offer, he has necessarily become a citizen of the house. There’s a learning curve: he’s still working on the concept that there’s nothing to stop Sachiko from stealing his dinner if he doesn’t eat when it’s served, and he’s still not sure about his right to sit on the dining room chairs (he’s allowed, as long as ‘Nuki doesn’t get there first.)

It’s been less than a week, but he’s seeming more comfortable downstairs than he had been before the change. He’s beginning to request patting and neck scratching. And he’s trying out new experiences.

That has a learning curve as well. His early attempts at condo living all resulted in a dangling tail.

Many had dangling paws as well.

He’s been working on it, though, and has several times succeeded in getting his entire body inside.

As for MM, she is, for now, content to remain in the cage. Since that room is one of the hottest in the house, especially in our current heat wave, we’re willing to let her stay caged and leave the door of the room open for air circulation.

We’ll revisit the situation in a week or two, when temperatures and tempers go down. For now, though, MM is happy in a grumpy sort of way, Lefty is happy in a cautious kind of way, and we’re happy in a no-thud-thud-thud-yowl-thud-hiss-yowl-in-the-middle-of-the-night way.