See this? It’s one of the first pictures of Tig3 and Gracie together.
And Gracie isn’t very happy about it. Tig just wants to be near the big cat, but he’s had a very, very tough day. See, this weekend I put the two of them together by allowing Tig to come downstairs at will during the daytime. He drove Gracie nuts. At first, she kept to the high ground—the sofa, the kitchen chair next to mine, or the shelf in between the living room and kitchen. And Gracie growled. A lot. Pawed at Tig when he got too close, and let him know he was not very welcome. But I figured they had to learn to live together, so I mostly let them be. I was waiting for Gracie to smack him around once or twice and settle things.
Be careful what you wish for. Because shortly before noon today, there was a hiss and a growl and suddenly Tig was running towards me, with his right eye closed—and dripping blood. I grabbed him, brought him upstairs, put him in the cat carrier, threw on a pair of jeans and my sneakers, called the vet and moved my four o’clock appointment with them to five minutes from the phone call, and rushed over. Poor Tig suffered one further indignity—I was so worried and driving a bit faster than usual, and didn’t pay attention to the carrier. It fell off the seat and wedged in between the dash and the seat. By the time we got to the vet, Tig was a bit terrified.
The good news is that by the time we got to the vet, I was pretty sure Gracie hadn’t hit his eye. The vet checked him out and confirmed my suspicion. Gracie’s claw caught Tig’s inner eyelid. He’s going to be just fine. But boy, did he have a tough day, because after that, he got two shots, as today he was scheduled for his next series of vaccinations.
So we went home, and I locked him in my office. He fell asleep fairly quickly, and slept all afternoon. I let him come downstairs after he woke, but he was very, very cautious around Miss Gracie. Who didn’t growl at him, satisifed that she showed him who was boss.
Well, he decided that he’d stake out his spot on the sofa. She tried to bully him out of it. I told her who was the REAL boss in this house, and she shut up and settled down. Which is good, because he has every right to his spot on the sofa.
Yeah, rough day for Tig. For me, too. But we’re better now.
Yeeouch!!! Very lucky she didn’t hook his cornea. Glad he’s OK. BTW — how’d you ever come out with his dirty ears?
Suffering buildum character.
Glad to hear Gracie didn’t hurt Tig’s eye. I’ve had a scratched cornea myself, and I didn’t like it one bit.
I’m glad Gracie missed Tig’s eye, too. Refua shlema to him.
From the look of things, Tig’s going to dwarf Gracie once he comes into his full growth. I hope they make their peace by then!
He looks so adorable and innocent in these pics, glad he is ok after this encounter.
Gracie looks healthy and seems to have overcome her serious health problems of the past.
Tig 3 is growing, and soon will overtake Gracie in size. I wonder if somehow she may understand this, and be trying to control him while she is still able to [as if any of us really understand a cat’s motivation!]
Someday, I hope to see a picture of the two of them together, enjoying each others company!
In the meantime, good luck being the referee!
He doesn’t have ear mites, Morton. My vet said he may just produce more wax than average, just like some people do. He’s fine with me cleaning his ears periodically, so I’m doing that.
I switched his cat food to one with less grain, so we’ll see if that does anything. It seems to have already stopped the kitty farts.
Herschel, I think Gracie will be able to boss Tig around for about a year. Then he’s going to discover that he’s bigger, stronger, and male. And that Gracie is a wuss. I’ll be stopping him from bullying her, I’m sure. His predecessor used to beat her up from time to time.
But phew, I never want to see another cat come towards me dripping blood from a closed eye. That was scary.
Yeah, Maine Coones get pretty big. Gracie better learn to tolerate him.
Love the pic of them together but sure sounded like a scary encounter for both Tig3 and you. Glad his eyeball wasn’t punctured. I was thinking of more than a scratched cornea obviously.
Hopefully, the two of them will eventually get along or at least coexist peacefully. He’s such a cutie, how can one not love the kitty.
Note to self – before introducing the new cat to the household, trim everyones claws short.
August :-)