Frankie and Chris go through phases of liking and not liking each other. Here they are during the liking phase.
I think Frankie mostly tolerates Chris and his annoying behavior more than he actually likes him but when he washes Chris it looks like there is a little liking going on.
Since adopting Chris, no cat has gone to him for attention until we adopted Floki. I have always seen Chris seeking attention from others but not the other way around. Puck may have occasionally gone to Chris but not enough to be memorable.
It makes me feel good now to see Floki seeking attention from Chris. I probably shouldn’t be thinking of this in human terms but I imagine sending a child to school but that child has a hard time making friends. Then a new student shows up with a funny Viking name that wants to be your child’s friend. I think any parent would be happy about that, assuming the new child is not a psycho. Floki may be a little weird sometimes but he certainly is not a psycho.
Things are pretty much back to normal in our house since the big fight on Monday morning.
I brought Chris to the vet on Monday afternoon but the vet didn’t find anything wrong with him, other than his weight. We didn’t do blood tests because it didn’t seem necessary but Rose thought it would be a good idea since Chris seems more lethargic lately so we decided to bring him to Frankie’s appointment that Thursday.
Chris and Frankie were separated for a little over a day. After introducing them back on Tuesday morning, Frankie was trying to be nice but Chris didn’t trust him and growled at him for a while. I went to work so I didn’t see anything but Rose sent me this photo.
It was an uneasy truce but it was a truce.
By Thursday things were mostly back to normal.
By Friday everything was completely back to normal.
I don’t know any human who would be best friends with the guy who tried to beat the crap out of him four days earlier.
I took Chris to the vet for blood work and got the results on Friday. Everything is good except for a couple of things that are in a grey area. So for now, we will go on like nothing happened.
Even though Chris seems to sleep with Frankie more often than Puck, I think it is Chris and Puck who are probably the two best friends in our house. They are the only two that I never see fight with each other, except for a rare whap now and then. Puck often sleeps in the cubicle on the cat perch or sometimes he naps at the opposite end of the house as everyone else. That might explain why Chris chooses to sleep with Frankie more often.
In spite of the fact that Chris dominates Puck as the self-appointed alpha male, he really cares for him. You saw it in the last post and here is another example of the two of them hanging out as best buddies. I took this picture last night in low light with no flash so please forgive the less than perfect quality. I’m actually surprised it came out as good as it did.
Chris and Puck remind me of the Yin and the Yang and not just because of the way they are sleeping. They get along so well, I think, because their personalities don’t conflict but are mostly complimentary (like my wife and me).
Chris is still hard at work trying to turn Frankie from an enemy to a friend. I am happy to say he has made significant progress these last few months. It is Chris’s behavior toward Frankie when we adopted him that turned Frankie into an enemy and it is now Chris’s behavior that is slowly turning him into a friend.
I was surprised and disappointed in Chris’s attitude when we brought Frankie home but now I am very proud that he is trying to be friends. Just like in the human world, it takes many good acts to erase one bad one and Chris has worked for many months to erase weeks of bad behavior.
They have been laying close to each other for a few months lately but not too close. last week I saw them both napping with Chris’s head against Frankie’s back. I tried to get a picture but my movement woke them up. The other day Rose saw Frankie give Chris a few licks on the head and I captured the two of them lying close together. Of course, Chris came to Frankie and not the other way around but the fact that Frankie didn’t leave is real progress.
After months of fighting, Chris is now going to the extreme in trying to be Frankie’s friend. He always seems to follow Frankie when he notices him get up to leave. He walks alongside him and pushes his head into Frankie’s. It reminds me of the scene in Jurassic Park where the Tyrannosaurus headbutts a jeep as it is running next to it. I’m afraid Frankie is ready to file a restraining order.
He also has to butt in when Frankie comes to me for attention. I’m not sure if he is jealous of me giving Frankie attention or the other way around.
How can I lose this guy?
Several weeks ago I wrote a post called Rebuilding Burnt Bridges where I talked about how Chris tormented Frankie for weeks after we adopted him but then had a change of heart and decided he wanted to be friends with Frankie. Unfortunately, that came too late and Frankie didn’t trust him. Not only that, whenever Chris tried to be nice, Frankie would attack him.
Since that post Chris has continued in his efforts to make peace and lately I have seen signs that things are getting better. They still fight, and Frankie is by no means ready to be Chris’s best buddy, but there are occasions when Chris moves in close to Frankie and Frankie doesn’t attack him. Indeed, sometimes he doesn’t leave either. I know it is not much but it is much better than what we have been used to seeing. Chris may be a bad cat but he has a good heart and sometimes it shows.
I was shocked to see this scene yesterday. They are actually sleeping while touching each other.
Sorry about the quality but needed to get a quick picture of this before it was over.
Bad Cat Chris 