After six months of dealing with pee wars and cat fights it looks as if peace has broken out at casa az. The middle pic was taken earlier this evening – even as little as a month ago I thought I’d never see them that close to each other again.
I’d love to see them sleeping together again too but, as you can see, they still seem to prefer sleeping with the Big Cats. They do both sleep in bed with us now, but in opposite corners – that’s Azar’s ‘safe place’ up there, on top of my head. Sunny, being a dog, usually prefers sleeping at the foot of the bed.
Awhile ago we started leaving the boys to roam free at night rather than keeping them in separate rooms. And it was Nog’s idea to start feeding them together in the mornings when the only thing they are concerned about is their brekky. Then we started keeping the food dishes in the same room all the time, slowly moving them closer together. It seems that sleeping and eating together really helped them get used to each other again.
They still have little spats, and we don’t yet feel comfortable about leaving them alone together when we’re not at home, but it’s a helluva lot better than before.
casa azahar 
It is nice to see them close together again, although they’re still a bit wary at other times. The having them eat brekky together thing happened more or less by accident, but it certainly seems to have helped.
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That’s really good news
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Cross my fingers and hope it will last.
I rarely have a cat hat. Ours prefer to sleep on top of you literally. A 5 kg cat on top of your chest or tummy gets sort of heavy after a while.
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Just before Nog took that photo Azar was actually lying on top of my head, draped across my ear with his front paws dangling over my forehead – it’s a new habit he’s picked up since he figured out that the least likely place for Sunny to attack him in on the Alpha Cat’s head.
Very odd having a furry purry belly draped over your ear going PPPPPPPPUUURRRRRRRRRR!
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And Sunny long ago worked out that a 6 kg cat on your bladder first thing in the morning is a surefire way of getting you out of bed.
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That’s great news Az, the patience has proven itself.
And I’m glad to hear that you’re the Alpha Cat!!
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I am so glad that the boys are finally tolerating each other again. I was reminded of this situation the other night when Mike was out having “words” with one of the local stray cats. I went out to tell him it was time to give it up, and he began to come across the street with me, still muttering under his breath. As we approached the driveway, Smokey appeared suddenly from the wildflower strip, hackles raised, war cry issuing from his lips. Mike immediately went into aggressive/defense mode, and they faced off for a few seconds until I said ‘Smokey! What do you think you are doing! Get back to the house!” Suddenly, he appeared to realize where he was and who Mike was, and headed back to the carport. Mike came in a couple of minues later after he had settled down, and everything was okay after they butted heads. But for a minute there I thought, “Oh, no. What if they fight and I have the same situation az has had? Eek!”
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Glad to see that peace has cruised up on them…and that the pee wars seem to be behind them–so to speak!
Is Raincoaster off the hook yet? (evilgrin)
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Hmmm…not sure. Especially as I also blame the ‘pee wars’ (in part) for da finga. I mean, if I hadn’t needed a thick pee-proof protector on the sofa/mattress I probably wouldn’t have severed my tendon.
Gosh, I wonder how she lives with THE GUILT… 😉
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Sounds like it was a close call, hmh. I think the fact that ‘the moment’ was nipped in the bud saved them from doing any seious emotional damage to each other.
This morning when I was feeding the boys (all bleary-eyed at 7am) I wasn’t being terribly coordinated with getting the brekky biscuits into their little dishes quickly enough … and then I saw something I hadn’t seen in months!
There was Azar all excited in a brekky feeding frenzy, chirruping like mad and spinning in circles … and then he went over to Sunny and started rubbing up against him and gently head-butting him. I swear I almost started to cry! Instead I acted like it was the most natural thing in the world and gave them both some cuddles as they started chowing down.
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Another positive sign – the other day Sunny walked over to Azar while he was sitting near the food dishes and licked him on the forehead!!!
So yesterday when I went out to yoga (Nog had already gone out to a class) I decided to chance it and not separate them. And when I got home there were none of the tell-tale signs of a fight (clumps of black Azar fur everywhere along with the reek of cat pee). So when we both went out again later we left them together again – no problem.
But for some reason, later in the afternoon, there was quite a LOUD fight under the bed. No pee though, and then the night passed without incident with both of them on the bed. Poco á poco . . .
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I was just thinking about asking if peace had still broken out!
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It’s hard to remember how often they used to have ‘normal’ spats. The difference now is that Azar goes way OTT in the screaming his head off department immediately (he’s such a ham, that one).
What I’d really love is to see them play fight again like they used to.
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Hmmm, I’m thinking that all it takes to start a cycle like you’re getting out of is for the two of them to get seriously startled. I was at a friend’s house this afternoon, and one of the two dogs got his paw stepped on, by accident. He immediately turned around and nipped at the dog next to him, and she hadn’t done a thing!
He calmed down pretty quickly, but he was edgy the rest of the time, until we left with the other dog. And this is his “girlfriend”, whom he adores, when she comes to visit him — he waits by the front window and barks for her like a maniac when the car pulls up.
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Well, we continue leaving them to ‘roam free’ whenever we go out. And so far so good.
Now if I could just stop Sunny from peeing on any article of clothing, towel, etc left on the floor. I don’t know why he does this but he always has, and he especially loves peeing in a basket of clean laundry just brought down from the roof (grrr).
Yeah, it’s curious how quickly trust can be broken between animals – heck, even between humans.
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This is soooo cute. Yesterday Azar was sitting next to the cat dishes making a huge fuss, crying pitifully for food, and I kept telling him to knock it off because I knew he wasn’t really hungry.
Finally Sunny walked over and sat down in front of Azar, thwacked him one on the side of the head, and then walked away again.
No hissing, no spitting, no peeing … yay! 🙂
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No one likes a whiny baby… 😉
It does sound like the worst is over, though. Thank Ghod!!
I’m cat-sitting this weekend, so I’m hoping it won’t be totally scorcio, as I’ll have no way to get to my babies from the house I’m sitting at.
Thing is, my friend’s cats get *very* territorial, and they don’t want any fights breaking out. Have I mentioned lately how much I love that my cats get along…? (whew!)
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Yeah, I kind of think that the HEAT has actually helped out because the boys are so floppy these days that they can’t be bothered to fight anymore. 🙂
It’s a bit ironic that you’ve got a cat-sitting job keeping your friend’s cats from tearing each other to bits while you have to leave your well-behaved darlings alone at home. But a weekend on their own is no big deal as long as they have plenty of water.
It’s only when I’m going to be away for more than two nights that I get someone to come in and check on the beasts.
Another cute thing I’ve noticed since Nog has been out working every day until 3pm. When I get home from physio (around 2pm) there is not a cat to be seen, but as soon as they hear Nog’s voice they come out meowing like mad and hang around their food dishes looking expectant. Awww…
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Well now I definitely know that things are back to normal.
Sunny has been on this natural supplement for his kidneys for a few months now, which means crushing up his pill in a teaspoon of cat paté once a day, which he snarfs down in about ten seconds.
Just now we fed both boys and gave Sunny his meds, then I happened to turn my back for a moment … and then I saw that Azar had actually nudged Sunny away from his spiked paté and was happily chowing down while Sunny stood next to him looking more than somewhat confused.
Yay! 🙂
It was something I never understood about these two, how Sunny used to always give way to Azar if he wanted his food or wanted the water bowl. Azar would just brush up against Sunny and playfully nudge him aside and then Sunny would let him have whatever he wanted.
So … insanity restored, with both cats regaining the ‘dominance’ they prefer. What a relief.
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