Anyone with more than one cat knows that territory is divided up. One cat's favorite chair is off limits to the others. And cats will time share, for instance for a while Brendan would get my lap from 6PM until 8PM, then Fergus would arrive and Brendan would move over. But then they started both wanting my lap, which meant I ended up with two. It was a bit crowded so Brendan moved back to O's lap. Silas only comes up for a pat around 9:30 and that's it. But then, he's Mr. No Trouble To Anybody and doesn't have the stomach for status disputes.
We've been getting cold weather lately and today the snow is coming down. The house gets pretty cold at night since we are using just the wood stove and the monitor heater set to 50 at night. Like everyone else, we are going to avoid turning on the gas furnace which burns dollar bills, as long as we can. This means the warmest spot at night is....on top of me. O is actually bigger and warmer but he's taller and I think he turns over in his sleep so the cats all prefer my side of the bed.
At the moment this is how it goes.
The contestants:
Fergus, the lightweight at 8 pounds but the most determined to be Alpha Cat. Agile and smart.
Brendan, 10 pounds, wisdom and status on his side. Brendan can chill out a kitten with a scornful stare. Brendan prefers to avoid confrontation since it is below his dignity.
Silas, our heavyweight champion wrestler is at least 12 pounds. However the big guy is the gentle giant and the scaredy cat of the family. He's the one who hides in the drawer when anyone shows up.
So we go to bed and take Brendan and place him on his special polar fleece blanket at the foot of the bed. He purrs. I lie down. Fergus hops up and cuddles behind my knees. Brendan moves up to my chest.
I go to sleep surrounded by fur. It's a nice cozy feeling.
Silas arrives, purrs in my ears ( and he has a purr like a double bass). He climbs over me. I try to get him to stay near my shoulders away from Fergus. But no, he wants to be next to Fergus.
Fergus won't have that. He leaps on Silas and does Tiger At The Water Hole, getting a hold on Silas at the throat. Silas pounds off to hide.
I go to sleep again.
In the morning Brendan has moved to his private room. Fergus is cuddled up close to me in Brendan's favorite spot and is the only cat on the bed.
1 comment:
My cats also keep me warm at night. Harley usually sleeps on my right side, or more often than not, on top of me. Caesar is either at the foot of the bed by Wolf or on the right side of me--when Harley isn't there. Francesca sleeps between us, her body spread out in one long line. Or she sleeps on the other side of the bed from Caesar, down by my feet.
It's all very cozy.
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