The Not Always Peaceable Kingdom

Planning their next mischief

We live with quite a menagerie - now one dog, two cats, and three chickens. It adds to the excitement of life to cohabit simultaneously with creatures that if given the opportunity, would prey upon each other. As it stands at the moment, Chelsea does not feel that Oscar should be allowed to enter the house unmolested. She doesn't actually want to eat the cats but she would like to eat their cat food.  Oscar and the chickens engage in some mutual stalking but the chickens are too large and he is too old to make a serious attempt. Chelsea, on the other hand finds it very satisfying to pounce at a chicken to watch it squawk and flap and would be happy to consummate the pouncing with a chicken dinner.

Exactly who is stalking who?

The cats are getting on in years now. Oscar is 11 and Pumpkin is at least 12 years old. Our peaceful two cat, two human world has vanished and the current reality is far less peaceful.  Pumpkin, in particular, is feeling the effects of age and just hasn't been willing to run the doggy gauntlet to eat and use the litter box. In order to provide Pumpkin with a pleasant and safe place to pass her twilight years, we started feeding her tastier wet food and put a litter box in our bathroom. Stewart and I are not exactly jazzed to be sharing our bathroom with the cats. The cats on the other hand, are over the moon that we are feeding them wet food and will spend hours on the bathroom's heated floor sprawled in a food coma. We need to avoid stepping on our feline squatters so frequently that Stewart grumpily remarked that he trips over an animal at least once a day.

In our bubble!

Stewart deserves special appreciation for tolerating all the creatures in his midst. He would not feel at all deprived to live in a pet free environment. He does not appreciate finding unidentifiable cat fluids on the floor or being woken by Chelsea jamming her cold nose into his ear when she wants breakfast. Chelsea does earn her keep by cleaning up any dropped food before it hits the ground. Her presence has also deterred the cats from scratching on the furniture. Her ferocious dislike of the mailman is irritating but she does provide some security in our easy to break into house. The cats on the other hand are not concerned with providing any assistance to the family. That Pumpkin tends to register her frustration with the current level of service by howling outside our bedroom door at night and pointedly refusing to use the litter box does not win her any points. I see him wince just a little when I tell him I just examined a completely healthy 19 year old cat for its annual exam.

The First Egg

The chickens may stand at the bottom of the food chain but at the moment they are the star pets. That they don't live in the house with us is a massive point in their favor. To everyone's great delight, they started laying eggs in late January.  The chickens are altogether ridiculous creatures. Having now observed their behavior, I'm a little irritated by the ubiquitous comparisons made between chickens and groups of women that appear in older literature.  The chickens bustle and squawk, take dust baths and have in fact, established a pecking order. They come to all of us readily because we bring them food and treats. They do take food seriously and will start pecking at fingers and shoes if it isn't quickly forthcoming. One day, they approached Owen with such a glint in their eyes that he got nervous and ran away with the chickens in hot pursuit.