Sometimes I wonder about the relationship between Hobbes, Sam and Lacey.
About a year after kitten Hobbes wandered up on our back patio I saw Sam
for the first time and he looked about the same age as Hobbes. I
sometimes wonder if they could be litter mates.  Then there is Lacey who
spent an undetermined amount of time as a neighborhood stray at the same
time Sam was  patrolling the neighborhood.

Now three neighborhood strays who were adopted by us at different ages
(Hobbes, 3 mos; Lacey, 3 years; and Sam 6-7 years) are all living in the
same house.

In this story we have Lacey who just barely weighs 7 lbs. Lacey enjoys
playing chase and patty paw with everyone, but she doesn't like
wrestling. (Who can blame her? She lives with two cats that weigh just
over 11 lbs, one who weighs 17 lbs and one that weighs 27 lbs.) We have
Hobbes who would rather live in the house with just Selena.  He hisses
and growls and fights with Sam yet allows Barnabus to climb all over him
and wrestles with him. Hobbes responds to Lacey's attempts to get him to
play chase by trying to engage her in a wrestling match.  Hmmm, 7 lbs
versus 27 lbs, not very good odds for Lacey so she responds by hissing
and growling and swatting at Hobbes then running.

Last night Sam was sleeping on the back of the couch when Hobbes decided
to pounce on Lacey and engage in a wrestling match.  Lacey screamed and
hissed and in the time it took her to run and jump on the back of the
recliner, Sam had jumped down and engaged Hobbes in a classic cat stand
off.  There was Sam standing tense and giving Hobbes a stare of death
and Hobbes who was lying on his side, claws extended and ears plastered
against his head.  There was going to be a cat fight and we were going
to allow it up to a point so that Hobbes would learn to leave Lacey alone.

After about a minute of staring Sam jumped Hobbes and they rolled around
for about 5 seconds before they broke apart.  This is always how they
fight...fiercely for about 5 or 10 seconds with fur flying and yowling
and hissing but no blood shed.  Then they broke apart and Sam very
cautiously, very slowly, walked past Hobbes and sat down on the floor in
front of the chair that Lacey had run to.  Sam very deliberately,
obviously, looked up at Lacey to make sure she was watching him and then
he flopped down onto his back and rolled around the floor and rubbed his
his back on the carpet in a blatantly flirtatious manner.  It was as if
he was saying, "Look at me, I've loved you forever and now that I've
protected you I can declare my love".  I told DH it looked as if Sam
were flirting with Lacey.  I have never seen such obvious behavior like
that in a cat that wasn't trying to mate.  Everyone feline in my
household is speutered so no one is throwing off "heat" scents. Sam
wasn't neutered until last September so he was nearly 7 years old when
he lost his Tomhood. Could this be some natural reaction to a cat fight
that is just deeply ingrained or has Sam just declared himself as suitor
to Lacey?

Sometimes these critters have me just scratching my head in wonder.
Julie