And In the Red Corner!

Today’s post is all about the ongoing war that exists in our house between Tess the senile seventeen year old tabby in the blue corner and Henley the seven month old young rogue with endless energy and a penchant for trouble in the red corner. When Henley first came home as an eight week old puppy I was happily surprised that Tess wasn’t afraid of him and was actually quite intrigued but the vivacious ball of energy. It also helped that he was a little bit shorter than her too. He was initially wary of her and so all of the humans in the house breathed a sigh of relief. 

But and there’s always a but, he started to grow, and grow, and grow. And with his increase in size so did his confidence, determination, sneakiness and ninja-like skills. Tess was no longer the big cat on the block, Henley went from double her size to quadruple her size in a matter of weeks. 

Tess has been with me for her whole life, rescued from the bush with her sister and brother she and her brother came home from being adopted at the vets. I chose Tess the little female tabby with quite a lot of ginger throughout her coat and my sister chose her bigger brother and named him Spider.

Spider

Tess

Tess grew into a medium sized cat whereas her brother Spider grew into cat with gigantic proportions. At 10 kilograms (and not fat) he ruled the roost, albeit rather casually and with plenty of smooches and naps to while away the days. Sadly Spider died four years ago from complications with a cancerous tumour that had grown in his digestive tract. I didn’t have much personal experience with animals and how they respond to severe change or grief but when Spider died Tess didn’t take it well at all. She spent the first few days he was gone walking all over the house and putting her paws up on surfaces to see if he was on them. She went off her food and spent the majority of her time pacing around the house calling out without getting an answer from him. Her food refusal got so bad that we took her to the vet fearing it wasn’t just grief but that she may be ill. The vet couldn’t find anything wrong with her and suggested giving her some of her favourite foods to entice her back into eating. Luckily the minute we brought her home she went straight to the food bowl and demolished a full serving of food. It felt like she was saying “I’ll eat, I’ll eat just don’t take me back to the scary vet.”

Skitz the Crazy

My sister moved out of home years ago to Melbourne but came back home and brought two cats with her. Skitz a crazy cat who wishes he was the only cat in the house and Princess who is more commonly known as Larney, Wei Wei or Burger (she has many nicknames). Larney is a lover and an eater but no fighter, which Skitz more than makes up for. Luckily when Henley came along it gave Tess quite a reprieve from Skitz’s bullying ways as he (and still) wants nothing to do with the loud dog thing.

Larney the lover.

Tess is set in her ways and resolutely demands to stay in the living room (the area that has been sectioned off with a baby gate to prevent Henley from going into the carpeted lounge room). And now that Henley sees Tess as a great challenge that must be engaged and pestered at all costs the peace and quiet is but a distant memory. Henley often tries to get Tess to play with him but she either doesn’t see his barking in her face, play bowing and racing around the living room as play or is just not in the mood. She is quite tolerant of his boisterous and rude manners concerning his elders (Tess) and hisses or gives him a swipe without her claws. However his playful (in his mind) nips and pawing of her that due to his sized knocks her off her feet quickly means that she has had enough and grows at him. He of course takes the growling and hissing as the sign to take it to the next level. This is where the noise goes to the next level and hey are separated like siblings who fight because they are bored or because they want attention. I often ask my mum or dad “Jenna (my older sister) and I were never this bad were we?” And Jenna and I used to fight almost all of the time growing up. So now when we hear Tess’s growl we split her and Henley up.

One of the few times where a truce is called in favour of sharing the sun.

They do have their moments when they seem to have developed a truce, mainly when there is precious sunlight that they both want to relax in or when Henley is just too tired to continue on with a battle. Tess is also a fan of Henley's comfortable cushiony bed and loves to sneak a little nap on it any time she can.

She has many beds all around the house, but you know what they say a stolen bed is the best!

There's room for two.

Mum really do I have to share? Why?

If I lean on her she'll leave on her own.

These times of truce are a quiet blessing that we all enjoy.

Do you have pets that get along one minute and are at blows the next? Henley is convinced that Tess is out to get him whereas Tess blatantly denies any wrongdoing and blames it on the annoying young whippersnapper.