We all knew that she wasn’t going to like him right away. It was a change for all of us and while we could understand the change, she couldn’t. It wasn’t exactly something that we could have sat down and talked to her about. She wouldn’t have understood a word we were saying.
When a husband and wife decide to have another baby, they can sit down with their first born and explain to them that they will be getting a younger brother or sister. They can explain that a baby is growing inside their mother’s belly. They can prepare their child for a baby who is going to cry a lot and need extra attention for quite a while. Their child may not be happy about it at first, but they’ll eventually get used to it. At least they had a warning.
When you bring home a puppy to your cat, though? No. There is no warning to the cat. There is no explanation as to why you brought home a puppy. There is no explaining that the puppy is now your cat’s baby sister.
When we first brought the puppy home, she was so little she fit into the palm of my hand. We all had to be careful around her because she was only a few months old and so small. No one wanted to step on her by accident.
We let our cat take a closer look at our new puppy. He sniffed her for a moment, hissed at her, and then ran away. We all felt bad. It was a hard concept to take in. He didn’t understand why we needed a puppy when we had him. But we knew that he would get over it in time. He and his sister would grow to love each other and play together as she got older.
Of course, as she grew bigger she still had the mind of a puppy. She ran circles in the living room, barked all the time, her energy overall was just over the top. She tried to play with her brother and he ignored her most of the time. He was older and didn’t have as much energy as she did.
They still managed to get along well with each other, though.
Then there was one day I walked into the kitchen and he was giving his little sister a bath. He licking her on top of her head as she stood there wanting to get away, but he kept her there to be groomed. I smiled at the sight and took out my phone to take a picture. Before I could snap a photo, the cat noticed me and began to lick his chest in embarrassment instead.
I guess after two years of being siblings, he was finally over his jealously and actually cared for the puppy. Even though he didn’t want to admit it.
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