As the World Purrs..

Since Khan came to live with us, I've been encouraging a friendship between him and Clementine. They just seemed like the most compatible, they are often on the bed together, and Clementine is willing to work with me in exchange for attention. So I've spent several months trying to convince them to get closer.

This is tricky business. Khan, sweet, wonderful and off-kilter as he is, doesn't really behave like other cats do, and he confuses the rest of the clan. When he first arrived he used to stalk them, for no particular reason. He also had a brief "bully" period where he would either prevent them from going into the litter box, or be lying in wait when they came out. He wouldn't actually attack, he'd just kind of stare them down until they were terrified of him. We managed to get over that and get everybody on a more even keel, but Khan wasn't making any effort toward friendship.

So with Clemmy as my (mostly) willing guinea pig, I set out to show Khan how lovely it would be to have someone furry to snuggle up with once in awhile. It was a very gradual process. I was able to get Clem to lie down closer and closer to the oblivious Khan (ok, sometimes I had to push her an inch closer). She got into it, though, and would do things like lie a few inches from him but then decide to very casually streeetch and roll so that she wound up with her tail draped over his face. Or sometimes her paw would be extended enough to touch his tail. He would put up with this for a few minutes and then get up and walk away. Clementine would turn her head and look at me as if to say, "What's his problem?" I'd sigh and tell her not to give up on him.

So now...here is where we are (Photo 1, Khan left, Clem rt; Photo 2, Clem left, Khan rt):

It's progress! Khan still doesn't quite seem to buy into the whole "closeness" thing, but he is allowing Clem to get this close to him, and touch him. When she tries to sniff or lick him, he hisses or lifts a paw to her and she backs off. But we're coming along..