It is a very mild battle to be sure, but the lines have been drawn.
Moises is fascinated by Poncho’s food. He wants to eat Poncho’s food. This is odd because M has never shown any interest in any food other than his own. He didn’t eat Tikka’s food. He doesn’t eat people food. But now things are different. Perhaps it is just simple jealousy.
Poncho pretty much ignores Moises, and Moises has come to learn this. Except when it comes to food. Poncho smells that this cat has been around his food dish (although the dish is ceramic and perhaps does not smell, but the wood floor surely does), and he has started taking a few bites, then walking a foot or two away and peeing. This has nothing to do with needing a walk, and everything to do with marking territory. “My food! Stay away!” says Poncho.
The problem is that cats don’t necessarily follow dog rules.
Today we saw a bit of an escalation. Moises went right up to Poncho and tried to sneak his head in the bowl. Poncho pushed him aside. Moises backed off. Poncho took a few steps from the bowl to mark his space. Moises saw his opportunity and seized it only to be chased away by Poncho. Luckily I had towels at the ready, having already set up “oopsie stations” in the house, simply because my house is twice the size of Poncho’s former home and accidents will happen, although they are already happening with far less frequency.
This is not an accident however.
The whole scenario is really rather humerous. No one is biting or scratching. One simply has to laugh. The solution, at least for now, is that Moises will have to be locked out of the kitchen when Poncho is eating. I had already learned that if there is no cat there is no pee-behavior.
In the meantime, Poncho and I have gotten more and more in sync and are doing fine, except for this morning perhaps, but I am siding with Poncho on this one. When I left the kitchen a few minutes ago, Poncho’s food bowl was surrounded by a semi-circular ring of towels, which had been laid out on his marked perimeter. I can’t pick them up and mop because Poncho is lying on the towels guarding his bowl. He is alert and wary. He might not see the cat, but he can smell him and he knows where he is.
Soon enough, a temporary cease-fire will occur, at least until the next meal time, and life will continue on its merry way. Change is a bitch, isn’t it? But in another day, or another week, or three, it will all be forgotten. Poncho will have adapted. I will have adapted. Moises as well. The world keeps changing. More often than not that change is not the one we wanted, and so we just laugh and try to keep up.
Here come my weary soldiers. It must be time for me to go mop up
