I remember when my mom's cat had kittens... Once their eyes opened and they were moving around like yours are, she pretty much let them have the run of the house and only blocked them out of rooms she didn't want them in... This is relevant because we had dogs at the time... One rather elderly pekingese who didn't give a shit about the kittens as long as they left her alone, a bully mix who Squish reminds me of a great deal (elderly though he was, he was still VERY excitable, and had a kitty fetish like Spike) and a very stupid if very lovable Akita who wasn't sure what to do with the kittens. Mom figured that since she was home with them all day and could keep an eye on them, she'd let them all just learn to get along. And they did... Once Ruger (the Akita) quit freaking them out by putting his big huge head down and snuffling them across the room (he got minor scratches a couple of times on the nose by tiny kitty claws, but he learned not to bug them) and they learned to leave Cleo (the peke) alone, they discovered that Bandit (the mix) was super fun and he had an absolutely kittygasmic time playing with them. He was always surprisingly AWARE of exactly where the kittens were at all times, and never hurt any of them... Much to my mom's surprise, he turned out to be as good or better of a guardian of the babies than Bagheera did (the kittens' mama).
*shrugs* You know your dogs better than I do, but I'd be willing to bet that letting them at each other and not working so hard to keep them apart will do a lot to calm the dogs' excitability about the cats... And I think they'll be able to take care of themselves. Plus, there's always Cassie... She's a better mom than Bagheera ever was... I think they'll be fine.
*grins* Plus... If you're not spending all your time running herd on the four-leggeds, you'll have time to work on a screen solution that will let you open the windows and stop cooking yourself to death. I live in the semi-tropical deep South... I definitely understand the heat.
Cassie never ceases to impress me, I must admit. She's still watching out for the kittens but the older they get the more relaxed she is about what she lets them do.
I've found that during the day it's actually a bit cooler with the windows closed, because the air outside gets so hot. I am shutting all the cats in the bedroom at night so I can open the windows when it's cool outside, though. Cassie would rather I didn't but she's putting up with it.
Thank you for that. I never had kittens (or any cat) before and I don't entirely trust myself to know what's best. I do, in fact, trust Spike completely but I'm less sure of Squish. I could see him getting the zoomies or chasing a fly and stepping on one, and he can also be possessive of bones and his place on the couch - not with me, but with other pets. He growled at Cassie once for jumping up next to him.
Bandit's most favoritest kittygasmic thing to do in the whole wide world was to throw himself on his back on the living room carpet and do the "Snoopy dance" as my hubby calls it... It was like Siren's Song to the kittens... They'd come from where ever they happened to be in the house and stalk and pounce. It was sooooooooooooooooo funny... As soon as kitties pounced, Bandit would jump up, butt in the air, then run zoomies around the room, barking and jumping, kitties flying and trying to swat him every time he zoomed past. He stepped on one or two over the years, but they really aren't so fragile after all... Usually they gave back exactly what they got, and were surprisingly agile and able to elude his manic insanity.
As for the possessiveness/territorial-ness... *shrugs* The animal world is amazingly more adept at reading each others signals and body language than we humans are. Plus, you've done what looks to be an amazing job of making YOU the alpha/mama in your house. I think teaching kitties and Cassie that will help remind Spike and Squish of that fact, too.
We've got puppies in the house right now, edging up on 4 weeks old... I'm dealing right now with the fact that Dino desperately, with every fiber of his 2-year old being, wants to play with the squirmy, wriggly, squeaky mess of living toys in the box... Right now, they're too little, but I think soon he's going to get more than he bargained for, lol... As long as Mathilda refuses to let him too close, I just reinforce her rule. She's backing off some, though, letting him get close enough to sniff and lick, then reminds him that they are HER pups. I think if you do like I do and take your cues from Cassie, letting her set the boundaries, you'll be fine.
*shrugs* You know your dogs better than I do, but I'd be willing to bet that letting them at each other and not working so hard to keep them apart will do a lot to calm the dogs' excitability about the cats... And I think they'll be able to take care of themselves. Plus, there's always Cassie... She's a better mom than Bagheera ever was... I think they'll be fine.
*grins* Plus... If you're not spending all your time running herd on the four-leggeds, you'll have time to work on a screen solution that will let you open the windows and stop cooking yourself to death. I live in the semi-tropical deep South... I definitely understand the heat.
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I've found that during the day it's actually a bit cooler with the windows closed, because the air outside gets so hot. I am shutting all the cats in the bedroom at night so I can open the windows when it's cool outside, though. Cassie would rather I didn't but she's putting up with it.
Thank you for that. I never had kittens (or any cat) before and I don't entirely trust myself to know what's best. I do, in fact, trust Spike completely but I'm less sure of Squish. I could see him getting the zoomies or chasing a fly and stepping on one, and he can also be possessive of bones and his place on the couch - not with me, but with other pets. He growled at Cassie once for jumping up next to him.
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As for the possessiveness/territorial-ness... *shrugs* The animal world is amazingly more adept at reading each others signals and body language than we humans are. Plus, you've done what looks to be an amazing job of making YOU the alpha/mama in your house. I think teaching kitties and Cassie that will help remind Spike and Squish of that fact, too.
We've got puppies in the house right now, edging up on 4 weeks old... I'm dealing right now with the fact that Dino desperately, with every fiber of his 2-year old being, wants to play with the squirmy, wriggly, squeaky mess of living toys in the box... Right now, they're too little, but I think soon he's going to get more than he bargained for, lol... As long as Mathilda refuses to let him too close, I just reinforce her rule. She's backing off some, though, letting him get close enough to sniff and lick, then reminds him that they are HER pups. I think if you do like I do and take your cues from Cassie, letting her set the boundaries, you'll be fine.
Good luck!
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