Monty (Frances) and Jasper

Monty-cat (Frances) is a shy old fellow who was not nice to the other cats so I was asked to foster him. His MB name was Frances and he was getting into trouble with a huge kitty called Boris. The workers did not know what to do with him. He seemed to like people ok but not at all other cats. I think this was in 2001. Well, almost 8 years later, Monty is still with us. We adopted him in 2005. Last year, my daughter also adopted a kitten for her new apartment, called him Jasper. When she went to school in Calgary and asked me to take him, we feared the worst, as Monty’s attitude toward other cats had not mellowed much over the years. We were worried one or the other would have to be given away. Monty was not happy at all to see Jasper, but what I did was apply softclaws (Lee press-on-ails for cats) to Monty’s claws so the bigger older cat could not hurt the younger one. We also intended to keep them apart for the first week or so. Very effective, but what really did the trick was Jasper’s charm. Undaunted by Monty’s clearly crabby cattitude, he kept trying and trying to play, and since Monty’s clawing produced only kind of a blunt boxing kind of effect, Jasper kept seeking out Monty with friendly enthusiasm. His sweetness won over Monty within two days. Now the big old fellow washes, plays and cuddles with Jasper all the time. The softclaws gradually fell off and did not need replacing. They are great companions. Our dog Max (border collie mix, 10, not from the shelter) seems to feel left out every now and then, but all in all he likes them both and occasionally will join them in a good snoozing-critter pile-up.

Jasper has a thing about twist-ties. If we throw them on the floor, he will chase them, subdue them and then bring them back for more. Monty looks on clearly disapprovingly -- a fellow cat refusing to follow the indifference code, even fetching! But every now and then, even he will join in. Thanks Mae Bachur for these great critters that have brightened up our home so very much.

Jane