Welcome back to Caturday with the Notorious BKL and Friends, cat merger edition. How are the newly combined kitties working out? Wellllll, we’ve experienced some mixed results...
Welcome to another edition of Caturday with The Notorious BKL and Friends: The one where we merged the cats! Some of you have asked how the major cat merger is going, and, well, slowly about sums things up. The Notorious Bad Kitty Lucy has been engaged in a protracted territorial dispute with her new arch-nemesis Jiji — Both want to be the boss cat, and it’s fairly safe to say that the two hold no real fondness for one another.
I will say that the frequency of actual cat fighting has decreased quite a bit; BKL now largely contents herself with growling every time he walks by, and hissing when he gets a little closer. On his end, some pretty serious stalking (punctuated by the occasional lunge) helps keep her on her toes. But they’re moving towards coexistence, and now can be in the same room together — if not close together.
Exploring and exploding
Other than that, though, BKL is quite happy to have a new house to explore and new frontiers to conquer. She’s been in every bookcase, she’s escaped into the garage to have a look around, and she’s ventured into every nook and cranny that could possibly fit an adventurous cat of average size.
Her super powers include popping up in the most random of places, and she’s definitely pleased to have some new ones to add to her repertoire.
The lurkers
Look at this one, lurking in safety behind the door and watching the fray. What’s kind of interesting on her end is that she’s gotten much bolder since Jiji has shifted his focus to Bad Kitty Lucy. While always a scaredy-cat, now she’s out more, slinking less, and just generally happier with the whole situation where the other cats leave her alone.
While she’s been hiding less, though, poor Jeremy has been hiding much, much more. He’s really only been hanging out in the basement, and only comes out at night or occasionally when we are watching TV with no other cats around. Change is hard when you’re an older, set-in-your-ways feline… and if anyone has advice on how to help him settle in better, I’m all ears.
As for Gnocchi, she’s adopted a policy of non-aggression — but with a strong defense. She spends most of her time hanging out with High School Guy, and doesn’t bother the other cats as long as they don’t bother her. It’s working pretty well for her most of the time, since Jiji can easily tell that Bad Kitty Lucy is the actual threat here!
How’s your Caturday going?
Beyond merging the cats over here, we’re still also working on merging and moving kids, stuff, and two households into one — it’s a process! Operation cat cooperation was slightly slowed by our week in California, I think, because no one was here to mediate. But now that we’re back, things appear to be settling down slowly. (And yes, we saw this very appropriate dish towel on our far-away travels, but you can find equivalent shirts and equally amusing decorative signs and more over on Etsy.)
Yes, it’s a lot of cats, but what can you do? Anyway: How’s your own Caturday (or cat-free week) progressing? Let us know, and, as always, be sure to tune in next time for the latest in our ongoing Caturday adventures with the Notorious BKL and Friends.
