Cat Update

True conversation:

Lovely Bride: Have you seen Emily?

Me: She's out front.

Lovely Bride: Out front?

Me: Under the tree.

Lovely Bride: What's she doing under the tree?

Me: Because that's where we buried her, dear.

Of course, she was looking for Victoria, not the late Emily-cat, but now that we are back to temporary three-catness, it is hard not to make the mental slip and equate the all-new, all-different X-Cats with their original versions. Harley is lumpy and affectionate and not always the sharpest tool in the shed, and feels a lot like Longshot. Vic wants to be dominant and petted only when she chooses to be petted, and feels like Emily. And Gozer has long silky fur and smaller and wants to curl up in your lap, and reminds me very much of Rogue. The truth of the matter is that they are three separate individuals from their originals, but the connections are there, such that conversations like the one above have become common.

I am also reminded that the original feline trio didn't get along, and so too we're having adaptation problems between Gozer and the two installed cats. Its a lot of hissing and growling and Gozer making a run at the two larger tabbies. Gozer herself has settled in nicely, meaning that she is no longing hiding up on top of the furnace, and her fave places in the house a) are right next to the Lovely Bride or I, b) right next to the other cats (making them growl), or c) hiding under the bedspread in the guest room when she's tired of a or b. The immediate result of her presence is that ALL THREE cats are now clingy, in that they want to be reassured that we still love them. Harley and Vic* have taken to lairing on the chairs in the dining room (always a favorite hiding spot) and on the sills of windows (which gives them good sight lines).

So Goze is more relaxed, the other cats a bit more edgey. We can live with it, for the time being. No one has started shredding books in frustration, and things may just settle down. I'd declare the end of major Feline operations, but I know cats, and I'm no fool.

More later,

*Was "Harley and Emily" in the first draft, which shows you how easy it has become to connect the old cats and the new.