Dot and Buster's truce

Last week, Dot's wanderings into Buster's territory caused some chases
and fights, but it seems now that they've become weary and wary of
each other's fighting abilities, and now mostly posture and bluff.

At the same time, it's become the time of year for the squirrels to
gather acorns from the many oak trees in the back yard, and Buster's
decided to take over Dot's chair as his lookout spot. So Dot
sometimes became displaced into the dining room and living room. The
end result is that these two seem to have traded easements in their
territories. And that gives Dot access to the rest of the house!

As Dot's become more adventurous, I notice that Buster's beginning to
imitate her. I think he's sometimes a bit jealous of her and wants to
do anything interesting that she does. If she scratches a scratching
post, Buster will scratch it too a few moments after. Dot also taught
him to sleep by or between my legs at night, so now she'll mostly
sleep by my head. They're a pretty squabbly pair of bedmates with
each other though.

Dot hasn't had any peeing issues lately. She seems pretty particular
about where she goes, so I've been setting up litterboxes that are to
her liking. She likes to pee in a shallow litterbox, and poop in a
covered litterbox. If she pees in the covered litterbox, I usually
suspect that she found something wrong with the shallow litterbox
(like Buster's just used it). She seems to have lost some of her
litterbox shyness - she'll casually pee in her box even with me and
Buster around.

On an unrelated note, Dot is going to TED again tomorrow. Since she's
started to hang out with me more, I've become suspicious of her chin.
She's always had an overly prominent chin, which gives her a pensive
look, but comparing it to Buster's svelte chin, it looks abnormally
swollen to me. It also has some scabs that I suspected was acne, and
I had been cleaning the food dishes daily lately with either soapy
water or rubbing alcohol. But the scabs and swelling reminded me all
of a sudden of Betty's jaw cancer, which is why I want to have it
examined.

Takayuki wrote:

Last week, Dot's wanderings into Buster's territory caused some chases
and fights, but it seems now that they've become weary and wary of
each other's fighting abilities, and now mostly posture and bluff.

That's excellent progress! Sounds like they're learning to tolerate
each other's presence.

As Dot's become more adventurous, I notice that Buster's beginning to
imitate her. I think he's sometimes a bit jealous of her and wants to
do anything interesting that she does. If she scratches a scratching
post, Buster will scratch it too a few moments after. Dot also taught
him to sleep by or between my legs at night, so now she'll mostly
sleep by my head.

I guess this is where the term "copycat" came from. It always cracks
me up when cats do that. Mine are forever copying each others' sleeping
positions.

On the other hand, with the scratching post, Buster might be asserting
his territoriality, by scratching it after she does. My cats get very
territorial about the scratching posts. Roxy has been known to try to
chase Smudge away from one of them, the little brat.

They're a pretty squabbly pair of bedmates with
each other though.

That's too bad, but hopefully, they'll calm down in that area, too.

Bedtime is about the only place all of mine will get along. I will
often wake up to find all of them curled up on the bed, each within
two feet of the others, snoozing peacefully.

Dot hasn't had any peeing issues lately. She seems pretty particular
about where she goes, so I've been setting up litterboxes that are to
her liking. She likes to pee in a shallow litterbox, and poop in a
covered litterbox. If she pees in the covered litterbox, I usually
suspect that she found something wrong with the shallow litterbox
(like Buster's just used it). She seems to have lost some of her
litterbox shyness - she'll casually pee in her box even with me and
Buster around.

She sounds a lot less stressed-out!

On an unrelated note, Dot is going to TED again tomorrow. Since she's
started to hang out with me more, I've become suspicious of her chin.
She's always had an overly prominent chin, which gives her a pensive
look, but comparing it to Buster's svelte chin, it looks abnormally
swollen to me. It also has some scabs that I suspected was acne, and
I had been cleaning the food dishes daily lately with either soapy
water or rubbing alcohol. But the scabs and swelling reminded me all
of a sudden of Betty's jaw cancer, which is why I want to have it
examined.

If she has scabs, it sounds like a more surface-y condition, but it's
good to get it checked out, especially if she has chronic infections.
Purrs for an easy solution!

Joyce

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
Last week, Dot's wanderings into Buster's territory caused some chases
and fights, but it seems now that they've become weary and wary of
each other's fighting abilities, and now mostly posture and bluff.

At the same time, it's become the time of year for the squirrels to
gather acorns from the many oak trees in the back yard, and Buster's
decided to take over Dot's chair as his lookout spot. So Dot
sometimes became displaced into the dining room and living room. The
end result is that these two seem to have traded easements in their
territories. And that gives Dot access to the rest of the house!

As Dot's become more adventurous, I notice that Buster's beginning to
imitate her. I think he's sometimes a bit jealous of her and wants to
do anything interesting that she does. If she scratches a scratching
post, Buster will scratch it too a few moments after. Dot also taught
him to sleep by or between my legs at night, so now she'll mostly
sleep by my head. They're a pretty squabbly pair of bedmates with
each other though.

Dot hasn't had any peeing issues lately. She seems pretty particular
about where she goes, so I've been setting up litterboxes that are to
her liking. She likes to pee in a shallow litterbox, and poop in a
covered litterbox. If she pees in the covered litterbox, I usually
suspect that she found something wrong with the shallow litterbox
(like Buster's just used it). She seems to have lost some of her
litterbox shyness - she'll casually pee in her box even with me and
Buster around.

On an unrelated note, Dot is going to TED again tomorrow. Since she's
started to hang out with me more, I've become suspicious of her chin.
She's always had an overly prominent chin, which gives her a pensive
look, but comparing it to Buster's svelte chin, it looks abnormally
swollen to me. It also has some scabs that I suspected was acne, and
I had been cleaning the food dishes daily lately with either soapy
water or rubbing alcohol. But the scabs and swelling reminded me all
of a sudden of Betty's jaw cancer, which is why I want to have it
examined.

Purrs that TED doesn't find any serious problems. Do you use plastic food
dishes? My TED told me that chin acne in cats is often the result of an
allergy to plastic. Now I use ceramic or metal dishes.

Joy

wrote:
That's excellent progress! Sounds like they're learning to tolerate
each other's presence.

It's a very strange integration with these two. Separating them for 8
weeks didn't work, but apparently their finally fighting got something
out of their systems.

I guess this is where the term "copycat" came from. It always cracks
me up when cats do that. Mine are forever copying each others' sleeping
positions.

On the other hand, with the scratching post, Buster might be asserting
his territoriality, by scratching it after she does. My cats get very
territorial about the scratching posts. Roxy has been known to try to
chase Smudge away from one of them, the little brat.

And they were previously friends for so long!

They're a pretty squabbly pair of bedmates with
each other though.

That's too bad, but hopefully, they'll calm down in that area, too.

Bedtime is about the only place all of mine will get along. I will
often wake up to find all of them curled up on the bed, each within
two feet of the others, snoozing peacefully.

Dot and Buster use my body for defilade when I'm in bed. It feels
like I'm a pile of sandbags in the middle of a trench warfare
stalemate.

"Joy" wrote:
Purrs that TED doesn't find any serious problems. Do you use plastic food
dishes? My TED told me that chin acne in cats is often the result of an
allergy to plastic. Now I use ceramic or metal dishes.

Their dishes are all ceramic. One is a cute terra-cotta one that has
a brown glaze - I prepare Dot's meds in it.

Takayuki wrote:

My cats get very
territorial about the scratching posts. Roxy has been known to try to
chase Smudge away from one of them, the little brat.

And they were previously friends for so long!

sigh I know! I miss that. It's one of the unfortunate side effects
of my having adopted Licky. Roxy apparently thinks he's Cool, so she
imitates what he does. (Vice versa, too.)

Dot and Buster use my body for defilade when I'm in bed. It feels
like I'm a pile of sandbags in the middle of a trench warfare
stalemate.

That doesn't sound very restful. Are you getting enough sleep??

BTW, I had no idea what "defilade" meant so I looked it up. Then
I started thinking that this was probably the opposite of "enfilade"
(which for some reason I always hear in my head as a French word,
"on-fil-AHD"), so I looked that up too. Now I'm wondering, Enfilade -
if you're reading this - why have you named yourself as "A column of
troops vulnerable to sweeping gunfire"??

Joyce

Takayuki wrote:
territories. And that gives Dot access to the rest of the house!

Yay!!!

water or rubbing alcohol. But the scabs and swelling reminded me all
of a sudden of Betty's jaw cancer, which is why I want to have it
examined.

Lots of purrs for it to be absolutely nothing.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

On 2007-09-06 13:21:03 -0500, Takayuki said:

Last week, Dot's wanderings into Buster's territory caused some chases
and fights, but it seems now that they've become weary and wary of
each other's fighting abilities, and now mostly posture and bluff.

At the same time, it's become the time of year for the squirrels to
gather acorns from the many oak trees in the back yard, and Buster's
decided to take over Dot's chair as his lookout spot. So Dot
sometimes became displaced into the dining room and living room. The
end result is that these two seem to have traded easements in their
territories. And that gives Dot access to the rest of the house!

As Dot's become more adventurous, I notice that Buster's beginning to
imitate her. I think he's sometimes a bit jealous of her and wants to
do anything interesting that she does. If she scratches a scratching
post, Buster will scratch it too a few moments after. Dot also taught
him to sleep by or between my legs at night, so now she'll mostly
sleep by my head. They're a pretty squabbly pair of bedmates with
each other though.

Heh. Yeah, Sugar and Pearl were apt to erupt if too close in bed for some time.


Dot hasn't had any peeing issues lately. She seems pretty particular
about where she goes, so I've been setting up litterboxes that are to
her liking. She likes to pee in a shallow litterbox, and poop in a
covered litterbox. If she pees in the covered litterbox, I usually
suspect that she found something wrong with the shallow litterbox
(like Buster's just used it). She seems to have lost some of her
litterbox shyness - she'll casually pee in her box even with me and
Buster around.

On an unrelated note, Dot is going to TED again tomorrow. Since she's
started to hang out with me more, I've become suspicious of her chin.
She's always had an overly prominent chin, which gives her a pensive
look, but comparing it to Buster's svelte chin, it looks abnormally
swollen to me. It also has some scabs that I suspected was acne, and
I had been cleaning the food dishes daily lately with either soapy
water or rubbing alcohol. But the scabs and swelling reminded me all
of a sudden of Betty's jaw cancer, which is why I want to have it
examined.

Always good to be careful, but I am betting it won't be anything worse
than chin acne at worst. Keep us posted.

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
Last week, Dot's wanderings into Buster's territory caused some chases
and fights, but it seems now that they've become weary and wary of
each other's fighting abilities, and now mostly posture and bluff.

At the same time, it's become the time of year for the squirrels to
gather acorns from the many oak trees in the back yard, and Buster's
decided to take over Dot's chair as his lookout spot. So Dot
sometimes became displaced into the dining room and living room. The
end result is that these two seem to have traded easements in their
territories. And that gives Dot access to the rest of the house!

As Dot's become more adventurous, I notice that Buster's beginning to
imitate her. I think he's sometimes a bit jealous of her and wants to
do anything interesting that she does. If she scratches a scratching
post, Buster will scratch it too a few moments after. Dot also taught
him to sleep by or between my legs at night, so now she'll mostly
sleep by my head. They're a pretty squabbly pair of bedmates with
each other though.

Dot hasn't had any peeing issues lately. She seems pretty particular
about where she goes, so I've been setting up litterboxes that are to
her liking. She likes to pee in a shallow litterbox, and poop in a
covered litterbox. If she pees in the covered litterbox, I usually
suspect that she found something wrong with the shallow litterbox
(like Buster's just used it). She seems to have lost some of her
litterbox shyness - she'll casually pee in her box even with me and
Buster around.

On an unrelated note, Dot is going to TED again tomorrow. Since she's
started to hang out with me more, I've become suspicious of her chin.
She's always had an overly prominent chin, which gives her a pensive
look, but comparing it to Buster's svelte chin, it looks abnormally
swollen to me. It also has some scabs that I suspected was acne, and
I had been cleaning the food dishes daily lately with either soapy
water or rubbing alcohol. But the scabs and swelling reminded me all
of a sudden of Betty's jaw cancer, which is why I want to have it
examined.


Most likely just a nasty case of chin acne. But if its that bad, she could
probably use a shot anyway so it won't be a wasted trip to the vet.

Not to mention your peace of mind.

Jo

Takayuki wrote:

Last week, Dot's wanderings into Buster's territory caused some chases
and fights, but it seems now that they've become weary and wary of
each other's fighting abilities, and now mostly posture and bluff.

Posture and bluff is good Yeah, that is just fine.

At the same time, it's become the time of year for the squirrels to
gather acorns from the many oak trees in the back yard, and Buster's
decided to take over Dot's chair as his lookout spot.
Oh I just can't wait if I get a kitty for them to get a load of the wildlife
in the crabapple tree here!
So Dot
sometimes became displaced into the dining room and living room. The
end result is that these two seem to have traded easements in their
territories. And that gives Dot access to the rest of the house!

As Dot's become more adventurous, I notice that Buster's beginning to
imitate her. I think he's sometimes a bit jealous of her and wants to
do anything interesting that she does. If she scratches a scratching
post, Buster will scratch it too a few moments after. Dot also taught
him to sleep by or between my legs at night, so now she'll mostly
sleep by my head. They're a pretty squabbly pair of bedmates with
each other though.

I wouldn't want to be the one in the middle but it does sound like they are
getting cozier!

Dot hasn't had any peeing issues lately. She seems pretty particular
about where she goes, so I've been setting up litterboxes that are to
her liking. She likes to pee in a shallow litterbox, and poop in a
covered litterbox. If she pees in the covered litterbox, I usually
suspect that she found something wrong with the shallow litterbox
(like Buster's just used it). She seems to have lost some of her
litterbox shyness - she'll casually pee in her box even with me and
Buster around.

Oy, well, that I wouldn't be able to empathize about. My Shadow was the
opposite. Wouldn't go to the litter box unless her "daddy" was going to
his. When he started to get home later and later and later...oh, my. She
never accepted me as easily as a bathroom buddy but I guess I was better
than exploding.

On an unrelated note, Dot is going to TED again tomorrow. Since she's
started to hang out with me more, I've become suspicious of her chin.
She's always had an overly prominent chin, which gives her a pensive
look, but comparing it to Buster's svelte chin, it looks abnormally
swollen to me. It also has some scabs that I suspected was acne, and
I had been cleaning the food dishes daily lately with either soapy
water or rubbing alcohol. But the scabs and swelling reminded me all
of a sudden of Betty's jaw cancer, which is why I want to have it
examined.

I will pray to Bast that all is okay but I am sure it is. If she is a
chronic sufferer of chin acne I don't think it is at all unlikely that she
has perhaps a permanent swelling. Ask any lady (or I guess, guy!) with
metal allergies and their pierced ears. Lobe lumps, anyone? Betcha they
prescribe some steriod type of something and all is fine! Please don't
forget to post back and let us know how it goes.