Kittens, Kittens, Kittens!

"Can you get me some kitten videos?" I asked.

"It'll be an easy post," I said.

The kittens look back whenever I peek in on them. I hear them mews, probably for wet food as much as attention. I don't go in.

But today, I did. We ended up having a photo shoot.

Loki came, too.

Before you think, "Mike manages to write about his dog even when his topic is the cats," Loki was Carrie's idea.

This was Loki's fourth trip into the room? Carrie's brought him in before to try and build cross-species relations.

Everyone is nervous around each other. Aria leans more towards the "I'll claw your face off if you get too close" while Tsuki will just hiss enough to get time to duck under the cabinetry. Loki wants to be friends without being injured.....and he's highly aware of the chance he could be injured! He'd rather be in the barn and not trapped in a small room with teeth and claws. You have to shove him through the door before gets away.

So I thought I would get Carrie playing with the kittens and making them do all sorts of acrobatics for the camera. Instead, I got a gentle thawing of Cold War relations and some surprising......'intimacy?' I'm not sure what to call the dog licking a cat's butt in human terms.

Maybe 'grooming' in cat? It's what a mother cat would do. I think it translates to 'snack' in dog, so it's more of a happy coincidence than 'working as intended.'

This is why I don't let Loki give me kisses.

Everyone was very wary of each other, but they've been showing signs of being able to co-exist.

It's probably for the best we're in a small room. The cats have nowhere to run and activate Loki's herding brain. He'd interpret running as play and they'd interpret it as murderous intent. They outnumber Loki in a fight, but I think either one on their own would put him to the claw (Especially, Aria).

Eventually, the hope is that the kittens will be prowling all over the barn as their mouse-free territory. Loki will run in and out as we do horse chores and no one will do anything to startle a horse.

I got a few shots of kittens being kittens.

I'll have to hope for kitten acrobatics and climbing next time.

You got some litter on your nose, Tsuki.

I suppose I should mention the house cats, as well.

Max is still a ninja. She likes to lurk at doors just before they're opened and to sleep in Shane's room. She knows how to co-exist with others. She tolerates Loki, Bucket, and Happy.

Bucket does not. She's okay with Max...most of the time. She'll try to tangle with Happy every now and then if she thinks Happy doesn't see her coming. Otherwise, she lurks. All day. She'll be behind the couch, around the kitchen table, or trying to break into a cabinet. 

Happy's happy. She's the alpha cat. She can speak dog (even if he can be annoying). 

She was trying to groom Loki the other day. "He's got more fur than you can handle, cat." Loki yawned as she was licking his face. It's impressive how well they get on. Happy's whole face could've fit in Loki's mouth, but she kept trying to groom him. He started to bat at her with his paws (ineffectively cause he's a dog) and wanted to play, but she said, "Nah."

Hopefully, the kittens and Loki will get to that level of trust. I'd settle for a Max-like ability to coexist. There are no plans to bring the kittens in the house. I don't know if they'll ever come up to the house and look into windows or not.