The Dogs and Their Kitty

Given the number of dogs-staring-at-the-cat pictures I have on my phone, I figured it was appropriate for a post about it.

How the dogs interact with the cat varies over the course of the day. While us humans are at work or school, the kitty has free roam of the house and the dogs are locked up in the office. She seems to enjoy having free rein over the house, as evidenced by the tongue lick marks I've found on the butter when we forget to cover it, things she's knocked off the coffee table, and occasionally finding her hiding somewhere weird when we get home.  She'll sometimes be up high on a shelf or in a pile of as-yet unpacked moving boxes because the dogs were let out before she could run back her to laundry room.

But when we are home, a feline-canine magnetism develops that is hard to ignore.

Taters turns into a statue, positioning himself with a good view of the kitty. He won't move a muscle unless you offer him food or suggest a romp outside. And sometimes not even then. We think he stares at her in hopes that SOMEDAY she'll surprise him and want to be chased through the house. But I think he'll have to wait a looooooooong time for that to happen.

Ruby gets magnetized sometimes, too.

 I don't know how they can stand to stare at her for so long. Once bedtime rolls around, they make sure to get a good spot for horizontal position staring while we get ready to sleep.  Usually we place Nina on a king sized pillow between the headboard and my pillow. She used to stay there for quite some time but has recently decided that she'd rather walk around the entire bed to find the perfect nest, despite the crazy dogs lurk

If Nina would allow it, Ruby would have her snout shoved into Nina's fur (or better yet, her "undercarriage") whenever they're in bed.

Pretty girls!

Clearly, Nina is not too perturbed by the canine affections.

Sometimes, Ruby will get too tired to actually stare at the kitty so they'll snuggle up for a bit. Nina tries to groom Ruby, but Ruby always growls.

Our sleeping arrangements shift depending on our moods (do we want a cat taking up space in the bed tonight?) and Eddie's requests (sometimes he wants Nina to sleep with him). Like I said, she usually sleeps on a pillow in our bed. But sometimes she sleeps with Eddie--and half of those times he ends up in our room in the middle of the night complaining that Nina is walking all over him. So then we put her outside the hallway and she goes about her nocturnal feline business.

Eddie and kitty!

I get up to pee nearly every night and lately I've been finding Nina and Taters snuggled up together in the middle of the bed, where Taters sleeps every night.

ISN'T THAT ADORABLE?

Here's another one in case you didn't realize just how cute it is to see your dog and cat (and husband) snuggling.

Sometimes Nina chooses the weirdest places to sleep. She's soooooo soft and silky and warm that I put up with it.

I think they'd snuggle this way during the day if it weren't for annoying Ruby trying to police the situation. We call her the Yard Duty, except she growls and barks instead of blows a whistle.

In this case, Ruby was warning Dave to stop bothering her. He was stroking Ruby's head with one of Nina's shed whiskers and she was NOT happy about it. Of course, I could have taken a similar picture when Ruby is "protecting" Nina from Taters....Ruby seems to think Nina needs protecting sometimes.

Ruby wasn't thrilled at getting a bath from Nina. 

Oh, the complexities of inter-species homes...