Saturday, January 23, 2010

I have been remiss in introducing a new member of the family. Meet Coco.



Coco was a stray that showed up outside our house last September. We have an old barn in our backyard, and there has been a semi-feral cat living under it since before we moved in. He's skittish, and never lets us get too close. We did feed him, though. When Coco started coming around, presumably for the food, she was young, and skinny, and extremely affectionate, and kept getting beat up by the resident cat.

Because she was so affectionate, she came running whenever we were outside, and of course Emma fell immediately, irrevocably in love. Though I tried to deny it, I knew I was sunk when Emma named her.

I was Mean Mom for almost a month, since we already have one cat, and didn't think we needed to take on another. Our first cat, Naia, while incredibly sweet and mushy toward us, has always been aggressive toward other cats and I didn't think we wanted to go there.



So Emma was allowed to play with Coco outside (since there were no fleas, obvious infections, or aggression), but Coco was not allowed in the house. Then Coco and Naia started sizing each other up through the screen door. First there was hissing and growling. Then there was looking, then there was sniffing. Then there was indifference. There began to be pressure from the six-year-old to let Coco in "just for a minute" so Naia could talk to her. And yes, I caved. She really is a sweet cat.



Suffice it to say that "just for a minute" turned into "just for an hour or so", then "just during the daytime", then hey presto, we have another cat.



Naia has accepted Coco far better than I would have ever thought possible. They are buddies. Naia is almost 12 years old, and has been a bit creaky for the past year. He didn't jump as easily or as high, rarely played, rarely ran, and generally acted like a senior cat. Since Coco joined the family, he plays bat-the-crumpled-paper with her, chases her, is chased by her, and is better able to jump onto the bathroom counter. It's quite a difference. They get along very well, though Naia is definitely the alpha cat.



Naia always sleeps next to my knees at night, and Coco does too sometimes, but she has particularly staked out Emma's bed.



Often as close to Emma as she can get.



Naia and Coco also are frequently found snuggled up together during the day, either on one of the cat beds, or the couch, or the very cutest, on My Chair.



One or both of them is usually on me when I'm sitting in My Chair, especially when I have an afghan.

This can make it a bit difficult to do anything on my computer, though.

6 comments:

Lynn said...

I love that last photo! Love it! And congrats on your new addition; she's lovely.

yoko said...

Awww! Reminds me of my two cats my family had, that would curl up together like yin and yang. Coco looks like she's settled into the family nicely!

Anonymous said...

I've really enjoyed this! Makes me forget my worries and "come over to your house" for a while! Thanks! Maggle

rustyconc said...

Looks like you've got another winner there!

I think the young-pet-rejuvenates-the-old creaky one happens alot. I've heard other stories, and it happened in my house growing up too: the new puppy added years of fun (and maybe even just years) to the older dog's life.

We thought Digo might become fast friends with Corbin, but for the moment, Digo is just scared of him (since C wants to grab his ears and nose).

froggiemeanie said...

That last photo is awesome. What affectionate kitties!

PJ said...

What a sweet story! It just proves animals truly have an understanding that we may never get... love your pic of you and your laptop on the couch! HA!