Cats and Dogs

We have, in our household, a cat and a dog. The cat came first. This cat has endured a whole pack of dogs in his lifetime - when Harley and Billie mated there were 5 pups. 2 of which we kept so for a few months we had 7 dogs and for over a year we had 4 dogs.


Now in this position a lesser elderly feline may have shied away. No - not our Scamp. 


He is now 13 years old and every now and then looks like he could be on his last legs ...when suddenly a little "scampish" light comes into his eyes and he becomes like a skittish kitten again - ready to stand his ground or play with the dogs.


And when I say play .... I do mean play!


Soon after the Puppies were born, it was pretty chaotic in the house with 7 dogs. I would carry on with housework as ever and be followed about the house by 7 little hangers on .... honestly ... it was worse than having 3 toddlers - I couldn't even go to the loo alone !!!


One day I was doing the laundry - taking the dirty washing from upstairs down to the washing machine, taking the clean ironed piles of clothes to each of the children's rooms e.t.c. This involved several trips up and down the stairs. The cat watched with interest   ....... several trips occurred with the dogs following me, up and down each time.


I was downstairs ..... when the cat decided it was playtime.


He casually sauntered up to one of the steps and streeeeettched out, across the whole step - yes - the whole of the step - and he just lay there. I came back up the stairs and naturally just stepped over him. 


You could see the panic in the dogs eyes ....... "oh no ...... what do we do now ....... which way do we go" !! 


They hopped up and down the steps below the cat - moved from one end of a stair step to the next - and could not fathom out what to do!!! Backwards and forwards !


I stopped to watch this process and swear the cat had a huge smile .... he was certainly purring as he licked his paws. I continued up and down several more times and the cat just wallowed in his own superiority !!! He eventually relented and sauntered back off the staircase with the dogs watching him with awe.


When it came to feeding time, the cat was still in charge. 


Now that Jess and Gina have moved out they have taken their dogs with them but we still have Harley. Today I fed them both - Scamp always eats first - Harley patiently waits in the hallway. This is not something we have trained him to do although we did always feed the cat first - but he will sit and either wait for me to actually call him or wait until the cat has finished.


Today, the cat decided what was in Harley's bowl was infinitely more interesting than in his own. He finished his bowl ...... sauntered over to Harley (who had just started eating)  and growled ...... honestly actually growled !!! Harley thought about it for a minute - both had their heads in Harley's bowl and then Harley acknowledged the cat's hierarchical position and bowed down to him !! 


This time I watched in awe ! 
Oh ..... and he even caught and bought in a mouse yesterday !!!