Look Who's Coming to Dinner

As you may recall, Maude does not deal well with other cats.

Previous stints with her fellow felines have resulted in all manners of hissing, growling and stalking.

Granted, she adapts well enough to another cat with time, but for the most part she's an entirely different cat the first few days (weeks) she has company.

So imagine my... concern... when I volunteered my pad to a friend coming into town to pick up a Scottish Terrier puppy for he and his wife.

Maude's never seen or heard a dog before, except for maybe through the comfort (and safe distance) of my well-sealed windows, possibly watching the passersby down below. So I had no idea how she'd respond to sharing her living quarters with another species when she gives other cats such a hard time.

When my friend first walked into the room, Maude was clearly curious — begging for affection, rubbing up against his legs, as is custom for this person-friendly cat.

But she hadn't noticed the pet carrier in his hands, and when he set it down on my living room floor — and the carrier moved — and then barked...

Maude was none-too-pleased.

But she neither growled nor hissed — simply looked at the carrier and slowly retreated (so as to maintain her dignity and not let on that she was scared) to the safety of the rug underneath my bed.

She stayed there for two hours.

When she later emerged — creeping across the floor of my living room, getting closer and closer to the sleeping pup — it was apparent she wasn't strictly anti-dog.

At one point, she even let him sniff her (and she sniffed him back), under our careful surveillance to make sure the pup (who was very curious about her and clearly wanted to play) mostly kept his distance (because we all know that what to him would be "play-time" would to her imply she was "under attack").

But he was a good little dog, just staring at her and wagging his tail, trying to get in closer but not putting up a fight when we'd hold him back.

And Maude's response:

She watched him, never growling or hissing, and even purred when petted (when she's around another cat, nothing can get her to purr).

My hope is that this means I'll be able to get a dog at some point in the future — or maybe it's just that she liked this particular dog?

Can't say I blame her.