Posted by Ted on September 12, 2002, at 20:25:31
In reply to You might like this short story too... » ~Alii~, posted by IsoM on September 12, 2002, at 13:24:59
We (my wife and I) have 2 cats, who happen to hate each other. The older, Dusty, we got from a litter as a kitten. My wife spoiled "her baby" terribly. She was an indoor-outdoor kitty at the time. When she was about 2 years old, another cat in the neighborhood started beating her up. With considerable effort, I managed to catch the tormentor, who seemed to be an outside-only stray, with the intent of taking it to the humane society (SPCA for those of you outside USA). Well, after only a couple of hours of being caught, and while hiding behind a bunch of "stuff" in our back patio, I mustered up the courage to reach into the stuff and pet the stranger. He hopped right out, purring. He was about 1 year old, solid black, and absolutely the most affectionate cat I ever met. Smart too: He lived by his wits for a long time. Since he was a stray, we had to teach him to play. He had never seen things like string before (boring) or rabbit fur toy mice (really fun).
Well, we couldn't take this charmer to the HS, so we kept him. Since he and our other cat *HATED* each other, I built a door out of 2x4s and chicken wire and installed it in the center of our house. Dusty, our older cat, got the bedrooms and bathroms and InkSpot, the new kitty, got the kitchen, living room, and dining room. After a few years, we left the door open most of the time while at home. Now we leave the door open most all the time except when on travel away from home.
Dusty and InkSpot are exclusively indoor cats now and they still hate each other. Actually, Dusty just hates InkSpot, but he says that he'll finish any fight she wants to start. And he does, even though he's not nearly as tough as he thinks anymore.
Ted
(BTW: This complete story is published in a book of cat stories, along with a couple of photos. If interested, ask and I will look for the ISBN number.)
poster:Ted
thread:30104
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020908/msgs/30213.html