He is a guest no more. He is a fully contributing member of the family.
On top of that, he seems to have "claimed" me. As in I am his human, there to cuddle him, brush him, and feed him. He even prefers me to Chris for some reason. He's content to hang out with me and purrs just from body contact.
He's gone from wet and starving with a raging giardia infection to hale and healthy with a penchant for hunting mice in the garage. Of course once he's tired and full from hunting he comes in so I can brush another half a cat's worth of fur out of him.
He's still working out his relationship with the dogs. Wash seems to "know" he's a kitty and while he's interested in loving the kitty he seems to understand the kitty has teeth and claws.
As far as Jayne is concerned the kitty is a puppy who, for whatever reason, is refusing to play with him. This causes much piteous whining on Jayne's part.
Zoe... Zoe is funny. She's half coonhound and half Rottweiler so she does the oddest thing. She uses the coonhound hunting skills to scent him out, chase him down, and corner him. Then the Rottweiler part turns on and she tries to LOVE him. This hasn't been working out so well. Kitty doesn't want sharp little teeth attempting to groom him, even out of love. Even worse, the more excited she gets the mouthier she gets and the hissing and scratching starts. We're working on that.
Important thing is though, the dogs aren't killing him and he seems to tolerate them well. In fact he's considerably calmer than they are. He tolerates all the butt-sniffing they throw his way and only objects when the teeth come out.
Yes, we have a low-key cat.
So low-key, and so adaptable, and so unflappable that... well... combine those traits with Zoe's tendency to keep an eye on him (and his silver-tipped guard hairs) and there's only one name that works.
Badger.
Mel
