Of cats and dogs

Georgia and Nadia are delicate creatures. They are afraid of humans. Not so afraid that they can't be seen by our visitors, but they certainly won't walk up to a stranger shortly after the stranger enters our house.

Of the two, Georgia is the more courageous. When I first let her loose in the house, she ran around the house sniffing everything with her belly close to the ground. You could feel the tension. On the one hand, she was feeling the thrill. On the other, she was scared to death.

So, imagine my worry at bringing a Labrador cross into the house with these two. I was fully aware that they might completely shut off to us and we would never get to pet them again.

The truth is they are doing better than most cats and dogs. Georgia, as always, the courageous one, spent a lot of time sniffing the dog through her pen, walking on top of the pen and watching the dog, or just walking right up to him and sniffing him when he slept.

Surprisingly, Nadia seemed to gain confidence in the situation. Not that she cuddles with the big lug, but she doesn't let the dog restrict her in any way. I think what helps with her is that she knows she can jump much higher than the dog can. So, while he is big and scary and has a very large, wet tongue, she can get away. And she does. Her favorite maneuver is to run onto the cat tree and look down at him, tail swooshing in a kitty laugh. She takes no pity.

As the dog gets larger, and boy has she gotten larger, Georgia has become a bit more timid. But the other day, I caught on video, to cases of Georgia and Nova enjoying each other's company.

In the first, Georgia was sleeping in her patch of sun in the family room. Nova likes to sleep in that patch as well, so she walked calmly over and laid down next to Georgia. For a moment, Georgia checked out her escape routes and sized the dog up to see if she would be the next meal, and then she rolled onto her side and relaxed.

Unfortunately, at 4 mos, Nova doesn't relax and she had to keep sniffing and licking the cat. So eventually, Georgia gave up and climbed the tree.

The clip I am including here was later the same day when Georgia was hunting a bug in the same sun patch. Nova comes by to help her out and the two have a very enjoyable time bug hunting for several minutes.

Cats and dogs laying down together!!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3518702831301539733&hl=en