Tiger's Fifteenth Birthday Part Two

All October long I mark what would have been Tiger's fifteenth birthday.  

Let's continue with another re-post from last year, slightly edited.  Hindsight as they say.....

How Tyler and Tiger met

I fell asleep with my new cat curled up on my chest.  He was warm, cuddly, and purred the whole night.  I was in heaven.  Despite my love for Tyler, and our inseparable bond, one thing he was not was a lap cat.  I can count on one hand how many times he sat on my lap in nearly 14 years. It was nice to have a cat that liked to cuddle, and Tiger LOVED to cuddle. 

I woke up the next morning to evidence that Tiger had eaten and used the litter box.  Both VERY good signs considering how he was just a few hours before at the shelter.  I found him sitting in the window behind my headboard, soaking up some sun and his new view. 

"Good morning Tiger.  Enjoying your new view?"

MEOWOOO.  He arched his back as I scratched it. 

He seemed MUCH happier.  What a difference a good night's sleep makes.

AROOOO!

AROOOO!

Tyler was HOWLING outside the bedroom door.  Whatever was going on without him did NOT meet his approval.  He HAD to be involved in everything!  Well, he is a cat after all.  Cats hate being left out of the loop.  Especially Tyler.

Tiger didn't seem bothered at all by Tyler's howling.  In fact what struck me was how relaxed and secure he seemed, just chilling in the window. The sadness of the shelter had been replaced by.....comfort and contentment.  It was nice to see.

"Ok Tiger, enjoy the sunshine, I'm going to have breakfast and chat with the old man, I'll check in on you in a bit."

As soon as I opened the door to leave Tiger jumped out of the window and ran right out of the bedroom before I could stop him. 

Waiting for him, right outside the door was.....the boss.  Tyler.

Oh well, so much for following the rules of cat introduction.  I mean, who writes these rules anyway.  Don't they know it NEVER works out the way they suggest?  Cats will do what cats will do. Slow introductions my ass.

Let's see what happens.

For the next 10 minutes, each cat sniffed the other.  Face to face.  Face to tail.  You get the idea.  Each sniffed the other. Tiger did not seem spooked at all.  He calmly, gently, introduced himself to Tyler and let Tyler check him out.  No signs of fear, no signs of aggression.  It's as if they already knew each other.

This is one calm cat, that's for sure. 

At that precise moment, Tyler reared up, lifted a front paw and smacked Tiger in the head.  No hissing, no growling, just WHACK.  Satisfied, he walked away, heading into the bedroom that he had been locked out of for the past 8 hours.

Again, Tiger was unfazed by it all.  Clearly he knew who was boss.  Once Tyler was out of view, Tiger began exploring the apartment, slowly, tentatively, room by room, object by object, before settling in on to watch the world from the living room window.

Well, that wasn't what I expected at all.  One smack and Tiger was accepted.  I guess Tyler was in favor of having this large orange cat share his home.  Works for me!

I went about my business getting out breakfast for myself and bringing in the paper.  I still read physical newspapers at the time, no tablets quite yet.  Tiger was cool and calm, eventually wandering into the kitchen and what became his favorite spot, my kitchen table to see what I was up to.

"Boys, do you want to have breakfast with me?"

"Chirp" Tyler wandered in and sat by his bowl, staring at me.

"MEOWOO" Tiger agreed, watching me from the edge of the table.

"Ok then."  I grabbed Tiger's bowls from the bedroom and gave them a spot next to Tyler's bowls, and served them both breakfast.

They ate.  

Side by side.

As if it had always been that way.