Doug’s Dynamic Drivel

Both Diane and I were very concerned before the move that my cat Riley, a known scrapper, would beat up both of her cats: Pixie (a.k.a. lap slut) a small but compact 5 year old female who wants nothing more from life than food and a comfy lap, any lap, to sit on, and Felix a 1 year old male who just wants to be friends with everyone and to torture Pixie. Indeed it was with great trepidation that first day when we let them all out of their cages. There was a lot of hissing, growling and general bad behavior on Riley’s part and curiosity on the part of the other two cats, but no battle royals.

The funny part though is that here, two weeks later, Pixie who spent most of her time at Diane’s old house cowering from Felix’s attempts to play, bully, torture her, has been the most comfortable with the move - she settled in right away and made it her space and Felix has been leaving her alone, so she’s very happy. Felix is starting to settle in and we let him go outside for the first time last night. I think he likes his new yard.

Riley, however, has been a total mystery. When I moved into my last place he adapted very well even though there was an old cat there who put him in his place immediately as well as Bear Bait (a.k.a. Abbie the dog). This time though he has not done so well. He’s basically hiding in the basement all day and night and only coming upstairs to eat. He tolerates the other two cats except if I’m petting them and they come to near then he takes a swat at the (jealousy I’m sure). What has really surprised me though, more than anything, is that for a cat who basically lived outside in Rossland, only coming in when the weather was too extreme or he wanted food or attention, is that he appears to be absolutely petrified to go outside. Maybe he “thinks” if he does we’ll disappear. He seems very insecure right now. I hope he gets his old self back. I miss that Riley.

[tags]moving cats, joining families, cats, surprises, pets[/tags]

Related posts

• No related posts.