LB spent the first week with the kitten not unfriendly, but not open to rough play. I figured it had something to do with all those claws and teeth, and maybe it did. But after LB watched Landlady’s puppy Dharma having such fun wrestling with the little monster, he seemed to figure he wanted some of that too.
A mere three days later, it’s clear LB considers Zoe* his own personal kitten. And he’s so gentle with her! I mean, he can be such a clumsy, bumbling oaf. But he’s very careful with her. When she gets rougher than he likes, he very gently stops her. When he’s standing and she’s underneath attacking his belly, he patiently waits till she’s out from under before lying back down. He now seems convinced that she can’t really hurt him with her claws, and she has lost all fear of him.
As you can see, he’s not really putting a lot of effort into it. I guess he figures she’ll come to him.
The other two still refuse to be in a room with her.
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*Provisional
Hooray!!!
There needs to be a hypoglycemia alert on those pictures. 😀
Your dog is very patient. My dog just doesn’t do cats, I think she wants to kill each and every one she sees. I don’t speak ‘dog’, but that what it sounds like she’s saying anyway.
Glad two of your roomies are getting along famously, maybe the others will come around as well.
The kitten stage doesn’t actually last very long, and I suspect that’s what is bothering Click and Ghost. Once the kitten becomes a cat, they’ll probably all tolerate each other fine.
My big Rott/Lab adopted a tiny feral kitten once. Carried it around in his mouth sometimes like a toy, but never harmed it. They played hard for a while, but once the cat matured they mellowed into merely compatible acquaintances, not lifelong bosom buddies.
But then… with animals you just never know. 🙂 I’ve heard of race horses that bonded with such improbable “buddies” as a rooster or a goat.
Be careful. I have a cat that was by a yellow lab/pitbull mix. Cat now thinks he’s a dog with super powers. It gets him into no ends of trouble.