Lola's taken a stab at being an outdoor cat
We took Lola to our summer house for the first time yesterday. At fist she was a bit unsure, hiding in the garage and then inside the house, but an hour or two since we arrived she started venturing outside, and by afternoon she'd already examined every bush and flower bed and sharpened her claws on every tree. She loved the place so much that when I tried to put her back in the carrier, my arms and legs got all scratched, she was fighting me so hard.
The additional challenge yesterday was the fact that Scooby was with us, and the few times they've met before didn't exactly go smoothly. It was fine, though, Scooby is half-blind and half-deaf, so a lot of the times he didn't even notice her, and when he did, he just ignored her. It was very funny to watch, a few times they accidentally found themselves face to face (muzzle to muzzle?), they stopped dead, turned around and moved the other way. At one time Lola was lying on the couch and Scooby came in. He noticed her lying there, stopped and stared at her from maybe 30 cm away. She just kept staring back and they might have been standing like that for 30 seconds, not moving, until Scooby gave up and turned away. So now we know which is the stronger one :P We noticed that as long as we ignore the cat when the dog is around, the dog ignores the cat, too. But as soon as we give any indication that we see Lola, Scooby seems to be thinking: "they see the cat, I can't pretend I don't see it, so now I have to behave like a dog and bark at it."
I hope that with time their cohabitation will be only easier and they'll be able to spend the night in the small house without killing each other.
The additional challenge yesterday was the fact that Scooby was with us, and the few times they've met before didn't exactly go smoothly. It was fine, though, Scooby is half-blind and half-deaf, so a lot of the times he didn't even notice her, and when he did, he just ignored her. It was very funny to watch, a few times they accidentally found themselves face to face (muzzle to muzzle?), they stopped dead, turned around and moved the other way. At one time Lola was lying on the couch and Scooby came in. He noticed her lying there, stopped and stared at her from maybe 30 cm away. She just kept staring back and they might have been standing like that for 30 seconds, not moving, until Scooby gave up and turned away. So now we know which is the stronger one :P We noticed that as long as we ignore the cat when the dog is around, the dog ignores the cat, too. But as soon as we give any indication that we see Lola, Scooby seems to be thinking: "they see the cat, I can't pretend I don't see it, so now I have to behave like a dog and bark at it."
I hope that with time their cohabitation will be only easier and they'll be able to spend the night in the small house without killing each other.