Bruno and Jack
March 10, 2004

Jack, a 10-month-old kitten, needed a cat-sitter for 5 days while his human, Jym, was out of town. As an experiment, I offered to keep him here. I thought Bruno might like the company, since he'd been acting needy and bored lately. Oops, my bad.

Bruno and Jack are similar in that they're both very good-natured, solid black cats. But Bruno's calm borders on lethargy, while Jack is manic. Bruno follows the Way of the Peaceful Warrior; Jack follows anything that moves. Bruno is submissive in nature, while Jack is dominant; but Bruno weighs twice as much as Jack, an advantage he employed to maintain sovereignty over the apartment.

For the first two days, you could cut the tension with a knife. Bruno growled and hissed at Jack. Jack howled and cried at the windows. Neither cat wanted anything to do with me, so while the feline population had doubled in my home, I slept alone. Gradually, Bruno's hissing subsided, and after a few sniffing sessions, the two sparred. By the third night, both were sleeping with me. Now, on the fifth and final day of Jack's visit, they're friends. All is harmonious, except I still haven't had one good night's sleep due to Jack's incessant morning meowing, and the fact that he knocks over glass shelves and breaks things and just generally trashes the place. As cute as he is, I'm looking forward to returning to my peaceful life with just Bruno.

Here is a chronicle of this morning, their last morning together with me.

Jack (right) challenges Bruno by licking his ass.

Now that he has Bruno's attention, Jack sniffs the chair. Then he runs into the other room.

Bruno follows Jack and waits.

Now Bruno waits on the bed. He's worn this expression of mild annoyance through pretty much Jack's entire stay.

Jack (right) positions himself closer to Bruno. Bruno is patient. He waits until Jack comes within range and then....

Bruno kicks Jack's ass!

Jack bares his teeth, but he's no match for Bruno's superior weight.

Jack launches the burning death rays, making Bruno pull back momentarily.

Jack takes a break to lick himself. Bruno humors him.

Back to kicking ass! Bruno appears to be on the bottom this time.

Jack and Bruno retire to the studio.

Business as usual.