"Hi Nina, how are you?"
"Hi Demitri - err you have never called me before"
"Umm, yeah, listen, how do you fancy another cat?"
[at this point I paused for half a second, my heart leaped at the possibility of another cat, but my brain gave off warning signals that my partner would not entertain the idea]
"Err, Fred will go mad but I can't say no," - thinking on my feet, I continued "If no one else will take the little man I will look after him and find him a new home"
So that was that. Two days later, the kitten was delivered, apparently without a name. I thought about this for a few minutes and decided not to name him (despite the fact he looks like a 'Bandit' as his facial colourings looks like he is wearing a burglars mask over his eyes) however as he was a temporary cat, and the third in the house, I named him '3'.
I was confident that Eggy would be fine meeting a new kitten, after all he's only 6 months old himself, Bacon however, I predicted a lot of noise and bluff. And lots of running away. I was right on both counts. Eggy came in from outside through the catflap and literally ran straight into '3' on the stairs. '3' has a panic attack at this surprise and leapt straight upwards in shock, his tail fat with alarm, eyes huge with bewilderment. Eggy leaned forward to sniff the new smell of this creature, and the little fella promptly boxed him on the nose in terror. Eggy was a little surprised at this kind of welcome, but was so curious he tried again to get a better smell. Their noses touched. A brief scramble up and down the stairs and Eggy had a new shadow, his name was '3'.
For the next hour they chased each other around the house, behind sofas, up the backs of chairs, behind curtains, under tables, around chair legs and inside boxes. It's been a long time since I have seen cats actually play and not really wanting to assert authority on each other, just experiencing the joy of someone else who wants to do exactly the same thing - go crazy and have fun! It was very funny to watch this charade continue in every room of the house, from one to another then back again, upstairs in the bathroom and down the stairs, '3' in front with Eggy right behind and BAM! Straight into Bacon who had heard the noise and had come up the stairs to investigate.
Bacon did a kitten jump straight up in the air, which is funny to see as he is a big fat black cat who looks like the feline equivalent of a mean door bouncer at a rough nightclub. He was scaredy cat! He hissed and showed his teeth, '3' just sat and blinked at him. Not bothered. Bacon backed off and '3' ran past downstairs, leaving behind a fat cat with assorted question marks hovering over his head.
Eggy and '3' continued to play, unfortunately Bacon took refuge in a corner under some stored tables, which is where the kitten were playing earlier. The two playmates were headlong down the house, straight under the tables to find a quivering monster cat scared out of his mind. More hissing, more backing off, more giggling from me at the oversized pussy cowering in the corner at a small kitten who would fit in a half pint glass. I decided to open a tin of tuna to entice Bacon out, to no avail. Eggy and '3' ate silently, side by side without a problem.
After a munch and a first visit to the litter tray (who's a Good Boy) fighting resumed around the house, Eggy pretending to be a big cat bully but not quite pulling it off..
In the night there was several occurrences of bare toes getting scratched and bitten, usually this is Eggy but as the newcomer spent most of the night on top of the duvet he seems to have learned quickly that toes in duvets shout things like "Gerroff!" and "GetOutOfIt!"
This morning Bacon was slightly more accommodating, less afraid, less hissing, photos have been put on Facebook appealing for a new owner to come forward .. fingers crossed!
