The New Cat

We have a new cat named Gordo. He's affectionate, well-behaved, and cute. Mike likes him and Missy gives him 2 thumbs up. He puts on a good show when people come over. He is a nice cat. Despite all of that, our other cat, Rufus, has no use for him what so ever. Gordo wants to be friends but when he sniffs Rufus' behind he gets hissed at. When he follows Rufus to the food bowl, he gets hissed at. When he jumps on the bed where Rufus is, he gets hissed at. Rufus avoids Gordo as much as he can but when Gordo gets too close - hhhisssssss. Rufus is huge and looks very menacing but he is a big baby and afraid of cats he doesn't know. That is most likely the only reason why Gordo isn't wanking around with one ear and a limp.

There is a reason for Rufus' social problems. We had to put our first cat down because he had cancer. His name was Wally. Wally and Rufus were best buddies. Wally had a bad attitude toward other cats and would protect Rufus even though Wally was scrawny and declawed. It's all about attitude :) Anyway, these two would go wandering in the woods together, sleep together, eat together, and most nights there would be feline wrestlemania on our living room floor in front of the TV. They were hilariously entertaining. When Wally died Rufus didn't know what he was doing. He would hang around the house, going in and out the door. Wally was his only friend because he was afraid of every other cat in the neighborhood.

I think we can learn a lot about people behavior from animal behavior, even though they have no concience and a pea size brain. I think my cats demonstrate resistance to change.

1) Gordo is cute, most people like him, but he's not the same. - A lot of times we love what we had and don't want it replaced by something new. Even though a lot of people like it and we know in our heads that it isn't bad (this is where the analogy breaks down becuase we can reason and cats can't) but we still do not like it because it is not familiar to us.

2) Gordo pushes himself on Rufus. - Sometimes people just need to get used to things and then they'll come around. If we push change on people, they will turn around and hiss at us (figuratively of course). Sometimes in our attempts at trying to get people to change, they can feel that we are violating their personal preferences or their history. Much like butt sniffing to a cat, and no one wants their butt sniffed.

3) Rufus is afraid. - People do not like things that replace things that were important to them. They have nothing to identify with; they are alone. No wonder people hiss at new ideas, especially when it eliminates something they love. Many times instead of hiss, they will just avoid the topic. Especially if there is no one else of like opinion.

So what's the solution then? Wait it out. Here I have two cats who really are very similar, but they just don't know it yet. Instead, they hiss and avoid. I don't know how long they can keep it up but eventually they will have to get along because they live in the same house.