As you are aware, there has been a lot commotion in the FIV Suite over the last few months.  Some of the boys have been “playing rough,” and there have a been  a lot of “time outs” for the involved parties.  Interestingly, it is the friendliest cats that cause the most trouble.  The more feral, Shea and Oscar, do not cause trouble.

As I type this, I wonder if this is because the friendly cats are more apt to bump into each other vying for human attention.  The feral boys may tolerate, or even appreciate, human interaction, but they don’t seek it out assertively.

As if to confirm my theory, I walked back to the suite to assess the state of things and saw Shea and Oscar lying on the warm floor of the solarium.  They were lying on their backs, head to head.  As I watched, I saw they were slowly batting each others’ front paws.  It was incredibly cute, so I reached for my phone to record it as video.

I was too late, but I snapped the photo at the right, taken just after their playing ended.

While the “tough guys” were inside, strutting around & comparing macho-ness, these two were enjoying the warm sun and playing.

I have explained to them repeatedly that we removed a key component of their “manliness,” so they can all calm down.  But they don’t listen. They are cats, after all.

Your correspondent,
Jonathan