These are my primary pets, Parker and Otis. Parker has been my loyal feline companion since April 2004. Otis has been my Olde English Bulldog pal since October 2011.
Lately as this prodromal labor situation has ensued, these two have been in competition for my love and attention. Actually, I think it's less "give me love" and more "are you ok, mom?". In either case, this is one of the most annoying occurrences of my entire pregnancy thus far. It wouldn't be so bad except I'm already trying to keep my mind off of the pain when I do have it.
Here's how it goes down. The second I lie down in bed, I call my cat over which is OF COURSE my first mistake. She comes to snuggle and I pet her and she snuggles up right next to my belly. She soon realizes that contractions are happening or movement is ruining her spot and she looks at me so as to say "make her stop it!". Sorry, cat. So she proceeds to put her nose in my face, lick my arm, stand up and attempt to aim her butt at my face. Cats, right?
THEN there is Otis. We have a baby gate on our bedroom door JUST for Otis. I love that pup so much but if he comes in here and attempts to get on my super tall bed, and he does, he will certainly hurt himself. DUH, puppy. He definitely loves me SO much that he would risk his hips to get up here and cuddle me. NO, Otis. Also, he eats the cat food sometimes. One more thing... this is the cat's sanctuary. I believe every pet should have his or her own safe space. This is hers.
What Otis does in retaliation of this baby gate situation is he lays right in front of the gate. When he is not, he is sitting there growling and crying and making a Chewbaca sound. He will continue this until you get up and shut the door in face, which I HATE to do. He's my favorite pup in the entire world and his wrinkly face is so adorable, I can't possibly feel good about shutting him out. So I leave the room. Like he always does, he stands in my way making it hard for me to leave the room but he does this out of respect for my pack leader status. He does. He waits for me to get in front of him before following right at my right side down the hall, into the kitchen to check if he has ample food and water, and possibly to get myself some water, too. I hang out with him for a few minutes, maybe let him outside and back in (because it's 100 degrees out now, we leave the doors closed and the AC on). Then I proceed to head back to my bedroom. He follows. I say "go play buddy" as I slowly close the door behind me. He doesn't cry or "Chewbaca" at me if the door is closed. I would just leave it closed but I think that's rude considering I'm always home and he would otherwise have no human interaction until later in the day. Everyone is happy.
His behavior is amplified this week and I'm sure it's because his animal instinct is telling him things are different lately and a big change is about to come. He has started lying in the baby's room, on her accent rug. I love this because it's very important to me for him to love her and treat her as his best friend, the way he treats me. I think he will be great with her but let's be honest, he is an Olde English Bulldog which means he is naturally rough-and-tumble in daily life and since he's about 75 pounds, he can just knock over anyone under 100 pounds without blinking an eye. That is just the way bullies are. All that means to me is that we will constantly observe when he is near baby. We would do that if he was a Bull Mastiff or a Teacup Chihuahua. This is just the rule of smart dog owners and if you don't follow it and you end up with a dangerous dog situation, this is half your fault. You can't prevent life from happening but you can keep your children as safe as possible.
Here are the competitors...
At first, Otis was looking at Parker as if to say "wanna cuddle?". As always, Parker looked at him indicating a strong "NO". At that point, Otis looked away (as shown) in response with a sad "Fine."
This is Otis at his best... playing with one of his (less tough) Kong toys. This one has seen better days because, ya know, he's a bulldog. He eats all his toys. Isn't that the point?
This is Parker. She wants out ALWAYS, until she's out, then she wants back in. Little brat cat. I love her so much. I bottle-fed this cat. She will always be my favorite pet. Sorry Otis, you are a very close 2nd.
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