We are a cat household. Prior to having children, our three cats were our kids. We have Clarisse - our 12 year old gray long haired princess female, Eddy, our 11 year old gray tabby tough boy Tom cat and Digit, our seven year old black polydactyl shy boy.
Two and a half year ago, though, their lives of constant petting, treats, grooming and being fed on time came to a halt. Our male cats, though mainly suffer over not getting fed on time, seem to ignore and/or run from our toothless fuzzyhead new additions. Our female cat, Clarisse, had other things to say about her world being rocked.
She and Sydney formed a sweet bond very early on. Every time Sydney would cry as a baby, Clarisse would come in to investigate and walk around Sydney - and Sydney would stop crying. We assumed it was love...but learned overtime it was definitely jealousy.
Clarisse has this toy. It's a rectangle shaped toy made of hot pink felt fabric and stuffed with some kind of foam and catnip. This isn't a toy Clarisse playfully rolls around with. This is a toy she attacks in the middle of the night leaving it covered in wet kitty breath.
Pre-kids, my husband and I traveled quite a bit. We'd come home and find the pink toy on our bed. Initially we thought - oh, how sweet. Then when we'd get ready for our next trip, we'd have our luggage out the night before leaving and then hear her in the middle of the night making this howling meow sound and find the pink toy the next morning by our suitcase.
After Sydney arrived this toy really got a beating. It's been left by the car seat, by the highchair, on the rug in Syd's room, by the crib and by her bed in her new room. But to torture Clarisse further, Sydney, now older - talking, walking and highly creative and imaginative - thinks the pink toy is Clarisse's way of playing. To Clarisse, not so much.
About six months ago the pink toy got dubbed as "Clarissy's pink bone". Sydney goes and gets the pink bone for Clarisse, "come on Clarissy, let's play with your pink bone." "Clarissy, you left your pink bone on my rug." "Clarissy where's your pink bone?" "Go get it Clarissy - go get your pink bone." To make matters even worse, several days Sydney will go find the pink bone and lay it next to a "sleeping" Clarisse before we leave for the day. Sydney also decided that pink bone can be shared. One time when Daddy decided to interrupt Sydney watching a Clifford, she said, "no Daddy, you go play in the living room. Go play with Clarissy's pink bone for a bit!"
Needless to say, the pink bone gets around! And as for Clarisse, we're pretty sure she thrashes around Sydney's precious stuffed "Black Kitty" when we leave everyday and manages to get it back in its original spot by the time we get home. Her little secret revenge.
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