PET COHABITATION

Relationships Are Very Much The Same Animal Or Human

I believe that my relationships with my animals have prepared me for the major human losses that I have faced, and will face, during the course of my life. YOU WILL OUT LIVE your pets, unless maybe you get a turtle or bird that lives to 100. I have lived with pets since I can remember the first cat we had when I was 3 - Blackie (he was a black cat—imagine that? I have wondered as an adult if I was the one that was allowed to name the cat such an imaginative name). I have lost many beloved cats and dogs during my life since I grew up with Blackie and Tuffie (the first dog my family had - a Pomeranian - he was tough in his own mind!) that I loved more than most people I know. Losing them is never easy but I have never let it stop me from adding a new friend when an old one died, usually from old age though I had a few get cancer and die too early but that is part of life. I can’t imagine ever living without furry friends to keep me company. Their love is precious and mostly unconditional, one of the major conditions of course would be a food bowl full of food! They can make you laugh even when you don't want to.

I have written on this subject many times before this because I find the similar complexities in the relationships between me and my human friends, me and my animal friends, and my animals with their animal friends to bear a great deal of similarities to each other in the way’s they work. I think it speaks to the nature of all relationships that senescent beings have with each other. It isn’t dependent on the intellectual level so much as it is dependent on the nature of the beings involved. I heard some “animal expert” say that they thought that a dog or a cat has the approximate intelligence of a 5 or 6 year old human. If you really think about this that is pretty damned intelligent! I have met many adult human beings that I am not sure I would credit with that much intelligence! I have four animals living with me that have an incredibly intricate and complex relationship with each other and with me. The dynamic relationship in my house is formed by me, my two 13 year old cats – one is a male and one is a female – and two 80 % wolf and 20 % malamute dogs of which one is a female that is now almost 9 and a male that is now almost 6. The cats were established members of the household when the two wolf dogs came to live with me, the 9 year old female was 3 years old when I brought her to my house and had been raised around cats and is a very sweet animal though I would venture to say that if you threatened my life she would probably call on her ancestral calling and kill anyone that would do me any harm and the 6 year old male is very large and has already threatened a couple of people he got bad “vibes” off of but didn’t act on his feelings because the “strange” (and he was right in calling the fact that they were strange I found out eventually) people didn’t do me any harm. I watch the interactions these four animals have with each other, and with me, in “our” house and I amazed at how intricate and intelligent they are in the way they deal with each other. Just tonight the female wolf dog came up to me for attention and the always jealous male came up and asserted his “largeness” upon the situation so that she eventually said “fine, you win” and walked away. He weighs 130 pounds and she only weighs 60 pounds so she always defers to him when he gets jealous and wants the attention on him. They are a bonded couple, the male always gets to be right in the world of the wolf, it is not the way humans believe it should be but it is the way of the wolf and they don’t fight about it because that is the way they survive. The 2 cats come in as an interesting ingredient in the nature of things, they were here first and the female wolf dog came from a house that she shared with cats and she is a very gentle creature (though totally capable of being a wolf if she needs to be but in my house she doesn’t need to be one) and the male was only 10 weeks old when I brought him and the 3 year old female to live with me so I taught him that he had to be “nice to the kitties”. Fortunately the 2 cats had already lived with 2 other wolf dogs, another male and female I adopted several years before that I let my roommate keep when I moved to my own place, so they were experienced in how to deal with large canines and how to not put themselves in harm’s way when trying to keep the much larger creatures in line (so to speak). There are times when the cats are both laying on the couch by me and the male wolf dog comes over and starts asking for attention and he rubs he very large head (it is as big as either one of the cats whole bodies) against my leg and gets closer and closer to the cats until they finally leave and he gets on the couch and lays his head on my lap. He is very pleased with himself for getting the cats to leave and getting to take the position they had before he intimidated them out of my lap that they held before he threatened to “sit” on them and “yes” he will try to sit on them if they don’t leave when he puts on his jealous performance. Most of the time he will just look at the cats sitting on my lap from wherever he is sitting, or laying, in the room and not do anything but now and then he just can’t help himself and has to act on his jealousy. I find the intricate peace that these four creatures have come to in the way they deal with each other fascinating.

My first wolf dog Mocha would take her bones to a corner in the living room and set them down and push invisible dirt over the bone in the corner of the room. She would then walk away and go back and check to see if the bone was still covered, at least that is all you could assume she was doing, and if it wasn't to her satisfaction she would walk over and out more invisible dirt on it. I had one friend come over just after she had done this and he went over to where the bone was and she watched him very carefully and seemed relieved when he left the bone alone. A little while later my friend went back over to the bone and picked it up and Mocha gave him a look that seemed to say “how did you find that, I had it buried so well I thought?" Obviously I can't prove what she was thinking but her actions kind of made this seem like the only scenario. I think there is a lot more going on in our animal friends minds than we realize.

This is a photo of my nine year old wolf dog that had been lying on the floor while this kitten was playing with her tail, the expression on the kitten's face is priceless as the wolf rug came alive in front of his yes. The comments I posted after the photo are my interpretation of the possible thoughts that might have been going through the mind of the wolf and the kitten. This female wolf wouldn't hurt a flea but I was pretty impressed by the braveness of the tiny kitten when he was faced with a "live" very large creature staring at him as if to say to him, what the heck are you doing to my tail little boy?

I thought you were a rug until you sat up and looked at me!

My what big eyes you have!

The better to see you with you silly little kitten.