Life + Love

When Luna Met Charlie

If we’re playing photo assumption, it might look like Charlie is the king of our castle (he is), and that Luna looks curious slash slightly terrified in this picture? Like Luna’s worried about what she’s getting into, non?

But that’s where we would be wrong.

Charlie is a total love bug. He’s has such great disposition and is a complete cuddle monkey.

Stage 1:

Mind you, Charlie lost all chill when Luna came into our lives, which was not surprising. Jonesy hated Luna at first sight and would constantly hiss at her, setting the tone for their relationship. The first couple of weeks, Charlie would yowl at the sight of 12 week old Luna. He would never hurt her. Just voice his displeasure and then he would run far away.

Stage 2:

Then he got used to the idea of another kitty in the house, and he was ok.

Luna was getting more confident in our house and would always run and tackle Charlie, whenever she saw him.

They would often “wrastle”, both taking turns being the pursuer and the pursued. And for a tiny little kitty, she sure could throw her body at him and tip him over, not unlike WWF wrestlers jumping off the top rope and slamming their body sideways onto their opponents.

And she really loves to bite Charlie under the neck while play fighting.

Charlie, at this stage, has been uber patient with Luna, as she made him (not by choice) her rough-housing playmate.

Charlie would sometimes make like a snapping turtle, opening and closing his mouth at her, but never biting her. Our vet said it was his way of telling Luna that she needs to back off. Luna, however, took this as a sign of play and would mimic him instead. (2 snapping turtles!) Not too bright.

For all her cuteness, Luna definitely has issues with boundaries – in that she can’t read the room nor take a hint.

Stage 3:

Charlie likes to groom Luna, showering her affection, while licking her head. She enjoys being licked, especially when she wakes up and gets a little needy, seeking him out for licks. She will also reciprocate. However, her licking him usually turns into a headlock for poor Charlie.

He does draw the line at sharing his usual spaces with her. Like sitting behind me on my my bucket chair, when I’m at my desk. As she really wants to be around him, she’ll also want to cram herself onto the chair. Charlie would get upset and run away. He’s definitely not used to sharing me with another cat.

Before February, she was still too little to be able to jump onto any counters. This was the saving grace for Charlie and Jonesy, as this is where they’d escape her clutches.

But now, she can jump onto counters, and onto upper cabinets. So now, there’s no safe spot, unless we keep them in separate parts of the house.

Stage 4:

Where we currently are. Luna wants to be around Charlie, wants to play with him, but if I didn’t know any better, might be slightly a bully towards him? She still loves to play fight with him. She still goes for biting his neck and really hanging on – where Sean or myself have to intervene and extricate her from Charlie.

I don’t want to say she’s purposely needling him, but she’s definitely good at getting a rise out of him.

Like this time:

Or this time:

My poor, sweet Charlie. We know that they both like each other, but she always takes it too far. We’re sure that Luna will eventually mellow out with time. We just hope that it’ll be sometime soon.