cats – Hearing Elmo

We are blessed with 3 cats. I say “blessed”, because if you’ve ever had a cat… one that was a real pet and not the “mouse police” for the barn, you know that cats have their own endearing ways and are a blessing.

I don’t know that families ever own indoor cats, as really indoor cats own families. All 3 of our cats have completely different personalities. Kiki, (shown above with Chloe), is rather fond of my assistance dog. You’ll note that Kiki gets the comfy chair and Chloe? Well Chloe knows her place. Kiki and Chloe have a unique relationship. Kiki is a very smart cat. She knows that Chloe is mine, and that I’m her “pack leader”. I know this because Kiki will come and “tell on” Chloe, and also let’s Chloe know that although she may be a working dog… Kiki will never, EVER… be caught working.

Wednesday I went out back to mow the lawn. I walked out the back door, across my deck, commanded Chloe to stay in a “down”, walked down the steps and over to the shed, drug the lawn mower out… started it and mowed the backyard. These details are important. It took me 30 minutes to mow the backyard, and Chloe watched from the top of the steps the entire time. She’s not crazy about the noise of the lawnmower, but she trusts me and she obeys. She was very glad to have me come back up the steps to her. She seemed a little extra excited to see me, and it didn’t take me long to discover why. It seems Kiki darted out the door with Chloe and I. She couldn’t get down the steps because Chloe was in the way, and the lawnmower is very noisy. So she lay down right next to Chloe in the morning sun and “made biscuits”. She purred and slept, and kneaded that 30 minutes away. Chloe obediently stayed in a down. The hair on her back was sticking up ever which way, but she obeyed ME… and tolerated her friend’s massage.

It struck me that the two have actually become friends. Chloe is my alarm clock and wakes me up when she hears my alarm. First thing we do is run Chloe outside to “hurry up”. The cats have their own room. (Don’t think very hard why the cats think they own the family and not the other way around!). I’ve been noticing that when the cats are let out of their room in the morning, Kiki comes over to actually greet Chloe. Chloe has learned not to sniff Kiki’s umm… Kiki’s… Chloe has learned not to sniff Kiki. However, Chloe has also learned that Kiki will tolerate nose sniffing and some playful face licks. Kiki will curl around Chloe’s legs and rub up against her purring all the while. They are buddies. “Who’d have thunk?”

One of the reason’s I love Fidos For Freedom, is that the puppy raisers are encouraged to have all kinds of pets. The assistance dogs have really “seen it all”, by the time they get to their partner’s home. However… I don’t think Chloe’s puppy raiser had rabbits.