Raining cats and dogs

I have a zoo.  I am also an adult daughter who moved back in with her parents bringing with me a cat and a dog and chaos erupts pretty much most of the day.  The cat has gotten smart in either running from them or boxing if they corner her and make her mad.  I am lucky that I did not have to give up my pets when I moved back in with my parents.  And we also have a scarlet mackaw thrown into the mix.

I had this happen twice when a daughter moved back home for a few months, bringing a pet with her. LOL!  The first time we had two dogs and a cat in the house and the new puppy was very polite.  The second time we only had one dog in the house and the cat decided she was now an outdoor cat because new puppy was determined to be in control!    The breed makes a difference.   

We have a dog, 2 cats, a chinchilla, and 2 sugar gliders.  All but the sugar gliders are pictured here.

Our dog Triskit is friendly with people.  No fears there.  However, whenever anything around the house is in a place where she doesn't expect it, she's very timid, backing away and growling or barking.  One night, she was growling and barking at her own shadow on the back fence -- I swear to you that's true!  Our security light (motion-activated) came on, throwing her shadow on the fence, and she was scared to death.

She's a little bit intimidated by our cats sometimes, but not too badly.  Basically, the generally better-behaved but more reclusive cat (Carter) terrorizes her more than our outgoing, follow-you-from-room-to-room, bad boy (Meijer).  I guess that's because normally Carter tries to kiss her or lick Triskit's feet, but, as a reformed outdoor cat, he gets jealous when she goes out to potty.  So, sometimes when she comes back in, he'll swat at her or jump at her unexpectedly, causing her to scatter to get away.  Meijer, who is the embodiment of the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat.", pretty much just leaves her alone -- as he gets into anything and everything else. 

However, even though she's a bit intimidated by them, she also feels it's her job to enforce the rules, even if she's scared.  So, if we scold the cats for something, she'll run over and bark and paw at them to get them to stop.  Even if they are doing something for which they've been scolded in the past (like investigating a partially opened screen door or scratching on the furniture, she'll go charging in to bark and paw at them until they stop.

After an initial fascination with the chinchilla, Carter ignores him completely.  (Dusty stays in a separate chinchilla cage, though, just in case!)  Meijer is often fascinated by him, though, sometimes sitting  on top of the cage and "fishing" for him through the bars.  (I like to think this is just playing, but I can't be sure.)  The chinchilla, who was big buddies with the cat in his former home, takes it all in stride.  Sometimes, he will raise up and pull at the hairs on Meijer's paws when he's fishing. 

When people are around, oddly, our more reclusive cat is more likely to make a public appearance before the outgoing and inquisitive one.  I'm not sure why that is.

Triskit loves the sugar gliders (and the chinchilla), but because they'd make a tasty morsel for the cats, they're only around them under very protective circumstances.  Otherwise, they're in a large cage where they can glide about.  (Though my DD has seen Meijer sneak in and stare at them.)

I have 8 cats and a dog. There have been some times when a new animal has come into our home when we've had older pets. It can be a challenge but usually everything works out. Its best if you ease the new members of your household into the pets life.

 It takes awhile but usually even the most stubborn animal comes around.

We took in a pregnant stray kitty when we had an old orange tabby and he took to the babies right away...He was like a grandpap to them.

One thing I can say about all my pets..each one has a very distinctive personality.

If you clicked on the link to the pictures of our animal group, you'd know just by looking how much trouble our bad boy Meijer can get into.  He has that look in his eyes, especially in the picture of him with the Grinch hat on!

My dog is my baby. He is so precious. He is energetic one minute and a complete lazy bones the next. I wouldn't trade him for anything.