When Abbey died, we knew that Tiger would be lonely. He was a farm-cat
with a lot of energy, who always tried to play with our other cats,
but was rebuffed.
So we made the decision to buy a purebreed cat whose reputed
characteristics would best match Tiger's high spirits.
We bought a Bengal, Louis, who Tiger adopted as a brother. Bengals are
energetic hybrids, who like to play.
Tonight I went out to a convenience store to buy cigarettes. I came
home to discover that Tiger had knocked down a glass I'd had near my
desk, and shattered it into a thousand pieces. He'd prolly done this
to draw attention to his empty treat-bowl. (he's quite proud of this
technique of pushing-things-off to get our attention)
Grumbling, I swept up the pieces and dumped them in the trash.
At that moment, I saw Louis rocket upstairs from the basement, and
chase Tiger into the living room. Over the next few minutes I saw
Louis chasing Tiger, Tiger chasing Louis, Louis chasing Tiger, Tiger
hiding and being surprised by a Louis sneak-attack, and Louis chasing
Tiger some more.
We try to engineer our cats, and often it fails since cats have their
own agendas. But this was, in retrospect, a pretty successful
cat-engineering. Louis is keeping Tiger young, and they love each
other. Sometimes it works.. =)
BLink
-L. - 16 Mar 2005 09:04 GMT
> When Abbey died, we knew that Tiger would be lonely. He was a farm-cat
> with a lot of energy, who always tried to play with our other cats,
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> We bought a Bengal, Louis, who Tiger adopted as a brother. Bengals are
> energetic hybrids, who like to play.
Despite my loathing of cat breeding, it does sound like you made a good
match in this case. :) I love it when they play tag. :)
I notice you post a lot at night - are you a night owl like me? It's
the only time I get "me time" - when my sweet DS is sleeping. :)
-L.
Brian Link - 17 Mar 2005 04:27 GMT
>> When Abbey died, we knew that Tiger would be lonely. He was a
>farm-cat
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
>-L.
I'm a programmer, and work weird hours. I like to say I'm on "Hawaii
Time". It's a lot easier to get stuff done at night, with no phone
calls, requests to drive my son around, or diversions like running out
for fast food.
So I usually take a break between 1 and 2, or just post after I'm done
working around 3.
BLink
Priscilla H. Ballou - 16 Mar 2005 20:45 GMT
> When Abbey died, we knew that Tiger would be lonely. He was a farm-cat
> with a lot of energy, who always tried to play with our other cats,
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> cat-engineering. Louis is keeping Tiger young, and they love each
> other. Sometimes it works.. =)
When Sebbie (a feral kitten) came on board as cat number 3 about 4 years
ago, I declared the full complement of felines to have been achieved.
He was definitely #3 on the pecking order, though, and has been
ostrasized at times by Caley and Benjamin, cats #1 and 2.
Last September, I was caught off guard by being handed 4 week-old
Francis (then called Sprocket), and he soon became a permanent part of
my household. I was, of course, concerned about his being accepted.
Well, naturally Caley and Benjamin had problems with him, but a totally
unexpected benefit has devolved. Francis and Sebbie are becoming best
buddies. All the time now I'm catching them on the sofa playing
side-by-side bop-tag or wrestling over and over until they become one
ball of fur. Rare is the squeak or cry, so I am delightedly confident
that they are playing. Sebbie finally has a pal! It's wonderful to
see. An engineering accident.
Priscilla