Thursday, April 2, 2009

Friends with Fur

Almost everyone who knows we have cats has asked us how they are doing with the baby. While I understand that all pets will go through an adjustment period when a new person, animal, or sometimes even a piece of furniture is added to the household, I also strongly believe that your animals take their cues from you on how to react to these new additions. If you are laid back about the new situation, chances are they will be too. There are always exceptions, but for the most part this has been my experience in the past, and it certainly has held true for Wiggle's arrival.

When we brought Wiggle home, we left him in his carseat for a couple of minutes and let each cat come up to get a good look and sniff him. For the first few weeks they seemed to give him and us a wide berth, but gradually they appeared to show more interest in him. We always encourage their curiousity and never shoo them away if they want to check out Wiggle. This approach seems to be working because once they come up and smell him or check him out, they seem to lose interest for the most part. Occassionally, Lander likes to give a few headbutts to show his love, and Puck likes to snuggle in next to us when he is nursing. Morty appears to spend a great deal of time under the bed, but she did that before Wiggle was born too.

While the cats have taken an interest in Wiggle, he has barely seemed to notice the cats even if they are standing above him or sniffing his head. Lately, I have been trying to "introduce" Wiggle to the cats. If I put his hand on Puck's fur when she is close, he will often break into a wide grin, but his interest does not really go any further than that.

We also want to help the cats realize that Wiggle will abuse them, and that they, being older and wiser, will just have to take it. When I say "abuse" it is important to note that I do not mean I will encourage or permit Wiggle to ride the cats, pull their tails, mercilessly chase the cats, etc, but in learning to pet the cats there will be some hair and tail pulling, as well as lots of drooling and some ear-splitting squeels of delight. To that end, we have been putting the cats through some training. This mainly consists of us laying Wiggle across the cats in various poses for our own amusement. Here are some shots from said "training."

I love this one because it looks like Wiggle is sneaking up behind Puck for a sneak-attack.


Apparently, you can practice tummy time anywhere!

Puck put up with a few minutes of this assualt and then left the bed in a hurry. Later that evening she climbed up on the boppy pillow on my lap during a nursing session, so I dont' think she was too traumatized by the experience.

1 comment:

  1. I think you've got the right attitude on this. Clearly, Puck is pretty laid back about it!

    :)

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