Jealousy

It's interesting to observe the animals sometimes, and in just how much like humans they really are.  Right now we're dealing with some severe jealousy on the part of the cats.  They just hate how much attention that Argos gets.  I hate to see them so upset, but you can't exactly explain to them that a dog is not as naturally self-sufficient as they, and needs to be with us.

Annie is probably the most blatant about it, mostly because she has the least amount of fear of him.  She has hissed at him a couple of times, and once even tried to slap him with her paw.  (He didn't even notice, as she was batting at his back.) 

Charlotte and Bit are more cautious - in fact, Bit is still terrified of him - but they're jealous too.  Charlotte contents herself with sitting in the doorway of whatever room he is in and glaring in at him balefully.  Bit stands outside the room that we're all in and just cries, repeatedly.  She's too afraid to come in, but desperately wants our attention.

We try to give it to them - the poor cats have a huge adjustment to make, and they were the queens of the house until we got him.  We both spend some time with each of them every day, petting, reassuring, holding.  It seems to help - they are usually happy for the attention.  Bit has taken to sleeping on the bed with us every night, something that she hasn't done since she was a kitten.  But I don't know if that's just to be near us, or to be near the warmth.  For a long-haired cat, she gets cold easily, so with these frigid nights, she just might be drawn to the body heat and the blankets up on our bed.  :)

So, the saga continues.  I know that it will take awhile for everyone to adjust.  I should probably consider ourselves fortunate that they're out from under the bed, where they all camped the first week or so that we had Argos.  And that he doesn't show any interest in them at all - I don't know what we would do if he was interested in chasing them.