A Week's Musings

Since I brought them home last Saturday night, technically it hasn't been a whole week yet. But Saturdays are always busy for me, even if I'm not getting new friends, and I thought I would do a week review here.

Well, I don't know what to call it exactly. Just random thoughts and observations about our new friends, Colby and Thimble.

The kitchen floor is littered with cats!
See how Apricot is interested in their play?
He wants to join in but can't figure out how.
I think he's sitting on his paws to keep from tempation!

Today went like yesterday, with everyone being friends, and Apricot trying to join in the play sometimes. Apricot doesn't want to have his head tackled, and he doesn't want to roll around on the floor with them. But he wouldn't mind being included in some of the less physical games.

So he and Colby chase each other every so often. It's a little astonishing and even alarming to see them go past, especially when Apricot's in the lead. But it happens the other way around too, and usually Apricot comes back quite quickly when he's the one being chased. Today once he didn't, and I was just about to go see where he was when he came down the hallway, licking his chops.

Apparently he used the chase game to get some time alone with his food dish!

Then, as we were preparing dinner (I was doing all the work and Apricot was supervising while the two played), Apricot (taking a break from supervision) runs past Colby and actually pounces him. I couldn't tell if he made contact or not. He didn't come close enough to make the kind of contact that would make Colby move, but he might have brushed him. Colby just stared after him in a kind of astonishment.

Thimble is still treating Apricot with wary respect. Colby's the one playing with him. Then again, Thimble's the one who got thumped, so he has more of a reason to respect Apricot.

And Apricot came to be on my lap, twice. Once on the settee, and once in the tv room. He made sure the lap was free of kittens before he came over. In usual Apricot fashion, he didn't stay very long. I was reassured, though. The lap thing is very new for him and I'm glad he's continuing the "grand experiment." I get the feeling that being on my lap is, indeed, an experiment for him, and one where he hasn't made up his mind yet if he truly likes it or not.

It was, however, a little startling when he got on my lap, not because I didn't see him coming (he always asks first) but because he's so heavy after the two little light-weights.

I was prepared for Maine Coons. Big cats. Somehow the fact that they're only Pocket Maine Coons right now escaped the part of my brain that expects things without telling me about it.

So ... things I have discovered.

Thimble loves being held like a baby. He would prefer to sleep this way, in my arms. Even at 5 pounds, though, he gets heavy after a while. He'll put his long paws up on my chest, up toward my chin, when he's on my lap, in the hopes of getting me to cradle him. And I do, because I won't be able to do so for long. He'll get too big or too heavy, one or the other, far too soon.

Thimble also wants to wash me. Thimble wants to wash the world. He's very fond of washing Colby, to the point where Colby doesn't do a very good job washing himself because he knows soon enough he'll get pinned down and washed by Thimble. I discourage the washing, and Thimble is disappointed, but very persistent. Thimble has yet to try to wash Apricot. I wonder how that will go.

Colby, on the other hand, is like the grasshopper in Aesop's Fables. He wants to play all day (and sleep). He does seem disappointed when he can't be on my lap closest to me because Thimble's there. Sometimes he'll come up and get there when Thimble's off doing something else (often when Thimble has fallen asleep somewhere else). And then Thimble will wake up and come over and sit on top of him, and depending on how sleepy Colby is this results in either a fight or Colby moving over so he can sleep in peace.

Apricot is currently living in a state of astonishment at their behavior.

Thimble has discovered that if you pull at the bucket in the bathtub, it will attack you by falling over with a loud clatter and spilling water on your toes. He didn't like that.

Colby growls at his toys when he has them in his mouth.

Thimble of all people is scared of the computer printer. It makes noise, you see. Colby and Apricot barely flicked an ear, but Thimble ran every time. Possibly because he was closer to it ... he was sitting on the desk at the time, right beneath it. Ah, well, he'll get used to it.

They have also turned ambushing each other outside the litter box's box into a game. I'm glad the main two litter boxes have clear sides so ambushing isn't a possibility. At least they can all go to the bathroom in peace if they don't use the one in the living room.

Colby was waiting outside to ambush Thimble when he came out. Only it wasn't Thimble in the litter box, it was Apricot. Colby backed down so fast he almost fell over backwards. Apricot regarded him with a raised eyebrow (metaphorically), as if to say, "Yes? You were planning to do what again?"

Colby will let me kiss him on his head and is well on his way to enjoying it. He's also getting the concept of my hand being held at head height and slightly cupped as an invitation to come over and pet yourself on it.

Thimble, on the other hand, does not want to be kissed on the head. I'm not sure if I should persist or if I should simply let him observe what he's missing from the interactions I have with Apricot (who loves it) and Colby.

Favoritism ... I find it very odd to discover that I'm not actually having a problem with this. When I had Pizza and Tiger, I tried very hard to be fair with both of them, even though I loved Pizza best. Now I realize that trying to be "fair" just confuses the cats. They know there's a ranking, and if you honor that, they are reassured and comforted to know that things are the way they should be. If I greet and pet Colby before I pet Thimble, I get nervous looks from Colby and irritated ones from Thimble, and nobody's happy.

When Thimble didn't quite know where he stood in the house, it made him a bit unsettled. Now that he's sure Apricot ranks above him, he's happy, as long as I don't confuse things. This does, by the way, mean that sometimes I have to do things in an inefficient manner, by going all the way to the other side of the room to greet Apricot first, then come back to the middle for Thimble, and then Colby, who is usually where Thimble is, so at least I don't have to make a triangle run!

Of course, the greeting and goodbye order only applies for those occasions; I pet whoever roams up to me while I'm just in the living room reading or whatnot. But I thought I'd have more problems than this, trying to honor their system while suppressing my need to be "fair." Somewhere along the way I lost that, though. Apricot comes first, and then the other two in whatever order they're comfortable with.