He even gets along with the goats and actually herds the chickens away from the girls when they're all in the pastures together.
What he isn't doing is getting along with our cats. Neither Alex nor Garrett are thrilled with the new addition to our family. It's taken several days, but at the moment Alex and Jack have reached a truce of sorts - Alex stays higher than Jack can reach and hisses and Jack barks incessantly. Whatever. It works.
Garrett on the other hand...well, we couldn't find him for two days. It was so bad that Tuesday after work DH, the girls, and I spent quite a bit of time canvasing the neighborhood and yelling for him. I was in the bedroom putting together a teacher gift when I heard a very, very faint meow. I thought I was hearing things at first but it kept coming as I continued to call for Garrett. I dropped what I was doing and ran outside because I figured as faint as it was it had to be coming from there.
I circled the house and called again and again. Every once and a while I'd hear the meow but it was still very faint and I just couldn't figure out where it was coming from - although I usually heard it from the front of the house. I asked DH if the cat could be stuck under the house. He looked at me rather skeptically but grabbed a flashlight and crawled into the dark, spiderweb-infested space - grumbling the entire time. At one point he yelled that he'd found him only to realize it was Alex (they look so much alike our neighbors didn't realize we had two cats).
Finally giving up, we all headed back inside. I was really worried. We'd already lost a dog this month, I really didn't want to deal with losing Sweet Pea's cat too. It would not have been pretty.
I was giving the girls a bath when DH came up behind me and whispered, "come here." We found Garrett, crouched in a corner between a book case and the computer desk. There is no telling how long the poor boy had been back there, probably two solid days. DH was not pleased and groused about crawling under the house for nothing (well, not nothing as I got a good laugh out of it but don't tell him that).
At the moment, Garrett is still lodged in the corner and will not, under any circumstances come out. I figure he will when he gets hungry enough. Until then, at least we know where he is now.
Since I wrote this blog, Garrett is still refusing to come out of the corner and Jack has torn the arm off my sofa. I think the honeymoon stage is over :-) Although I can't seem to stay mad. Not when Jack looks up at me with his brown/blue droopy eyes. It's almost as bad as when Baby Girl pouts. I just can't stay mad at him.
Instigator
10 comments:
Poor kitty, Instigator! Surely he'll come out soon. :/
You are giving me so much fodder for not letting Drama Queen have a dog in the house. Or outside. I've just gotten to the point (after moving) where I think the outside cats are actually going to stick around and not run off.
Oh, the drama of having animals. :) They really are like people, with their own personalities. Don't worry, Garrett will come out when he's good and ready. One of our cats hid behind the freezer in the garage for 4 days after we moved. Then he would come out, but if one of us went in the room, back behind the freezer it was. I think he was not too happy with us for moving him... :)
When I first got Licorice, she ate my patio chair cushions. Buddy will eat anything that he comes in contact with that he thinks might taste good. So far, not the couch.
With my recent move, they both went to my mother's yard, three houses down. So far, Buddy has dug under the fence and broken out twice. My stepdad tied him on the dog run and he weaseled out of his harness. I never knew he was a Houdini. Hopefully we can keep him from running off over the next few weeks.
The cats are adjusting better to the move. Jello was under the bed for a day or two, but Knight was out and about, exploring the apartment immediately. I think they're just happy to get away from the dogs for a while.
Can't wait for the new house where we can all be in one place again.
Cats do NOT like change in any way, shape, form or manner. My cat Spook is a prime example. She was an indoor/outdoor cat until we moved 2 years ago and now she'll barely set a paw outside the house. And lately she's decided the dining room rug is her personal poop place. And sadly, there's nothing I can do. I can't just get rid of her (well, I suppose I could be heartless and do it).
This is why when she's gone to kitty-cat heaven I'm not getting any more cats. I'm tired of clawed furniture and litter box smells.
I hope your animals come to a truce soon. Garrett will come out when he gets hungry enough. Just be gentle cause while they don't like change, they do like love.
PM
See, fish don't poop on the rug or eat the furniture.
And DG cleans the tank :-)
Poor kitties! Change is hard. I hope they all adjust soon. I hope Garrett is coming out to eat when the house is quiet and Jack is asleep!
I think he must be, Carol. Because we've picked him up several times and taken him to food and water but he doesn't eat it (even though he knows we won't let the dog near). He does use the litter box though so...
Instigator
Aw, poor kitty! They usually adapt though. Our cat is ridiculous. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, scares him. You can vacuum him. Loud noises? He comes running. Dogs? They're just bigger play toys. :) But, man, he is a one-cat wrecking ball. We've been in this house a week, and he's already broken one glass picture, a motorized bank, and nearly shattered a cake stand. I can't wait for him to figure out how to reach the alarm keypad. I figure one day I'll come home and there'll be five firetrucks and ten police cars in front of my house because he's pressed the buttons. :)
It's hard I know. I have 6 cats at the moment and am getting the 7th (all ferals and strays). None will be very pleased with this for a while. It takes a good 3 months for them to at least tolerate each other and eventually some of them become friends but not all lol. Is it possible to keep the dog contained for a certain amount of time each day until they get a little more used to each other?
Yes, actually, it is. We have baby gates left over from when the girls were little (and because everyone in my family sleepwalks) that we've been putting up. If he ever gets a wild hair, Jack could easily clear them but so far he hasn't tried. And now that we know where Garrett is, we're letting both cats out of the house during the day while no one is home. They actually much prefer to be outside anyway :-)
Instigator
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