Feline Friday

I’ll be honest, the move has not gone smoothly.  Not only are we still unpacking, but we’re still fixing problems that the previous residents created. Our landlord has been very responsive, but it’s annoying …

So… two cats learning to cohabit. I probably mentioned this before …  We set up Duchess’s food bowl and litter box in a room downstairs, and Shadow’s things are upstairs.  Duchess tends to stay in “her” room.  She’s become very territorial.  But she does venture out to the living room.

Shadow is young and easy going, and has already adapted to the new house.  She especially loves the kitchen window.

She is also fond of the living room couch.

Shadow likes being upstairs, too, but only if the door is open.  She does not like to be confined, even though “her” room upstairs has comfy furniture, two windows, her food bowl, and all her toys.

Poor baby has such a hard life.

As for how they get along …we are still working on boundaries and hierarchy.  Shadow really, really, really wants to play with Duchess.  Duchess wants nothing to do with Shadow.

Shadow goes looking for Duchess in “Duchess’s room”, which does not go over well with Duchess.

For the most part Duchess is still mad at me for bringing Shadow here.  Sometimes she lets me pet her, sometimes she ignores me.  But she’s very protective of Drew, he is her human and no other cat is allowed to go near him.

One night Duchess sat down next to me on the couch.  She allowed me to pet her. And the whole time I was petting Duchess she was giving Shadow smug, “mean girl” looks.  Clearly Duchess was trying to make Shadow jealous. Shadow was not jealous.  

On the other hand, Drew committed a mortal sin when he decided to pet Shadow… because the next night …

Drew was lying on the couch.  Duchess was lying on the top of the couch.  Shadow jumped up onto the couch.  The two cats were face to face.

 

  

All was well…until Shadow literally got between Duchess and Drew.

And then the claws came out … 

I feel bad for Duchess, she just seems unhappy because of Shadow.  But it’s only been a couple of weeks, I’m sure she’ll adjust.