Tough love

Nissa on the left, Princess on the right

At the moment I am feeding my neighbour's cats while they are away on a 6 week holiday.  They have two cats, one of whom is just out of kittenhood.  They mostly stay outside apparently and only go inside occasionally so the neighbours have just closed up the house so they can have the alarm on and left the cats to be outside cats.  This is fine (although I would never do that), there are many cats that are outside cats and they have a nice covered back alfresco area that is sheltered from the wind and their little nests where they like to sleep.

So I've been feeding them now for a bit over two weeks and the little one, Princess, is getting a bit lonely.  When I've been outside gardening she comes over for a play and some attention.  Normally there is a dog there to and they are good friends and play together but the dog is being looked after by someone else.  The other cat, Jay Jay, is older and runs away from me (probably because I shoo him when he comes over because when we first moved in he kept belting up the Meow).

Unfortunately, Nissa and Princess do not get along.  I think they should because they could be twin sisters, they are very similar looking.  I've been trying to encourage Nissa to be friendly to Princess but it just hasn't been working very well.  The best I've gotten so far is tolerance (yesterday) when they were both in the front garden with me (metres apart and glaring - but at least not snarling and hissing).

And this is where the tough love comes in.  A few days ago I felt so sorry for Princess so I let her come inside for a cuddle.  And she found Nissa's left over food and I let her eat it (Nissa didn't want it).  And I put her on my lap and gave her pats.  And she was happy.  But then, I put her back outside before Nissa came in and she came around the back and meowed at the door.  And then she found the cat door and came in herself.  And then, later on, when Nissa was back inside, Princess came in the cat door and Nissa leapt, spitting and snarling across the room to give her a good thwack on the head.  Since then poor Princess has been too scared to come inside.  Which is probably a good thing.  But I still feel sorry for her outside and lonely at night when its so cold.

So I have come to the conclusion (for about the sixty fifth time) that I am way too much of a soft touch and no good at all at tough love.

Luckily, Nissa is.



Are you a push over like me?