Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,
I’d like to start off by saying HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you had a great first day of 2017 and hope you’re ready to kick off a fantastic year.
Today I took a visit to my mother’s house to see Walker. For those of you who do not know, I adopted Walker when he was a kitten. One of my friends was the foster parent of this adorable tyke, and I fell in love with him the moment he slept in my arms. About a month after meeting Walker I was allowed to take him home and raise him as my own.
Unfortunately, given my circumstances I was away from home a lot of the time, leaving a lot of the responsibility to my mother. (I know, what a childish problem to have.) Every parent is always complaining about how you’re going to give up on the pet and you’re not going to clean it’s litter box, and you’re not going to take the responsibility about the bills. But it was true, I wasn’t ready for Walker and that led him to like my mother more than he liked me.
When I first got Walker he would sleep with me every night, but as he grew older he didn’t like to get picked up anymore and really didn’t care much for me. (As you can see in the picture). It’s not that Walker and I don’t get along, it’s just… I’m better with cats that are more physically affectionate and not fully independent.
Either way. When Beau came around, Beau became extremely attached to me (and still is). Actually, at this moment he is sleeping by my feet. Beau and Walker didn’t always get along. They actually would fight a majority of the time. But that’s the thing. After Beau came along, sometimes Walker would get jealous and would start sleeping with us both. Walker also started grooming Beau right after they would get into their big fights. Beau didn’t always like this as he does not like being touched when he is tired is asleep. He instead likes to sleep curled up to someone or next to a teddy bear. But then the furballs started to cuddle and sleep side to side (if one of them wasn’t feeling in the mood to sleep with the other.) Actually up until the day I took Beau to my new place they both still slept with me (or sometimes just alone with each other.) They became inseparable, although they would still always fight… That never went away.
A few months ago my significant other and I went on a trip, so we left Beau at my mother’s house for 3 days. The whole time I was worried about Beau. Walker showed a lot of signs of dominance as soon as Beau moved back in. He started getting even more aggressive. However, my mom reports that they got a lot again and cuddled, but would box occasionally or would hiss at each other.
This brings me to my final point. My mother is thinking of downsizing in the close future. She’s worried that she won’t be able to take Walker to her new place as it has a “no pet policy.” I told her that she should at least try to bring him, but if he does cause any problems I would take him. But this still makes me nervous. I know that cats fight and cats bicker, but for the safety of Beau I don’t know if having Walker longterm will be okay. Also, it makes me uncomfortable to take Walker as he has really bonded with my mother. I don’t want him to get depressed because he misses her. I also don’t want her to get depressed because she misses him. They’re honestly the cutest!
So Pet Parents and Pet Lovers, here’s my question for you… What do you think about the situation? Do you think it’s a good idea to separate Walker from my mom? Do you have any advice on how to make Beau and Walker get along, or do you think that’s just how they play?