Spot and the ceiling fan

A little while ago I was playing with Spot and Sammy. I was sitting on
the bed dangling string toys while they played on the respective sides
of the bed. Anyway, Spot finally caught hers, and was on her back
watching the tip of the pole when something caught her attention. Yep,
she noticed the ceiling fan, and was fascinated. For the rest of the
play session, she'd play for a while, then stop and stare at the fan
spin for a minute or so before resuming play.

Note: There's been great progress in the integration. I still have to
lock Spot in a separate room at night. Spot still has food issues, and
gets very protective of the kibble. I put out before going to bed. I
put some in the bathroom and the rest in the kitchen, so Spot can
protect one bowl while the other two can eat from the second. When the
bottom of the bowl appears during the night, Spot decides she had
better make sure no one eats the last of the kibble, so she starts
chasing anyone she sees heading for the food.

They still don't play together. Sammy doesn't know what to make of
Spot. Spot is really just a teenager - probably not even a year and a
half, and gets really intense when playing.

The other night, while LB napped on the recliner, Spot and Sammy were
sitting about six inches apart looking at each other. Sammy started
the slow motion bopping routine she uses to get LB to wrestle. Oh
soooo slowly raising her paw, threatening to bop Spot on the head. LB
always rolls over on her back, whereupon Sammy jumps on her and they
wrestle for a while, before chasing each other around the apartment
for a zoomie session. Instead of rolling over, as required by the
house rules, Spot crouched down like she was going to pounce. Sammy
looked up at me with a puzzled look. I told her Spot wanted to play,
just not like LB. Sammy didn't like Spot changing the rules, so she
got up and went to complain to LB about how Spot was cheating.

But, like I said, the intregration is going well. As you can tell from
the above story, Sam lets Spot get quite close without getting upset.
And, LB only hisses when she sees Spot about half the time, now.
She'll even stay in the same room, and let Spot approach to within a
foot or two before getting up and moving away.

Spot has figured that out, and she comes up to the invisible boundary
and lays down. I've caught her a couple times slowing inching closer
when LB lets down her guard. It's really cute to watch. When LB starts
to ignore her, Spot will stretch as she lays there, and when the
stretch is over she's just a tiny bit closer than she was before it
began. I watched Spot inch up to within six inches or so of LB, before
LB realised what was going on and moved away.

Spot is trying hard to become part of the family, and it appears that
my girls are slowly accepting her. Dr Haney, the vet who found homes
for three of the kits, is still mentioning her to his clients. She's
scheduled for her shots next week, and if he decides she has gained
enough weight will then be spayed. I've stopped actively searching for
a new home for her. If Dr Haney finds a home, I'll have a decision to
make.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy and Little Bit

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