Ah they're so cute together! Domino's quite the little princess isn't she? You and Marion certainly go for alpha female kitties! Or maybe it's just not that hard to boss the dimwitted killer whale...

Domino is good, because when it gets tubby later on, you can always call it "Fats."

Great timing! I was just wondering when you'd post the catblog for today and let us know what you decided for a name. Glad she's integrating and the Inkblot is coming around.

Should have named him/her Tennesse because it's a tuxedo cat

Our cat sleeps with us... lies right on my body. Drives me nuts.

Nice looking cat.

Inkblot doesn't fool me for a minute. Trust me: when you're not looking he's licking her ears and head clean and letting her eat first from the bowl.

Friday Cat Blogging drew me to Calpundit years ago. Glad to see it back.

RE: cat blogging

My cats have been asking me when "cat blogging" is going to involve actual feline issues--like the fact that we've recently created a weight-loss drug for dogs but no cure for feline distemper. Now that's a controversial issue.

The secret to world peace: everyone gets their own blanket. And all the treats they want. And twenty hours sleep a day.

It's too bad that people are so easily motivated by intangibles that they do destructive things. Try telling cats they have to demonstrate their patriotism, or allegiance to a tribe/religion/party or whatever...they'll yawn at you and ask, "Where's the treat, buddy?"

They've got their priorities straight.

We wish you and your family much happiness.

Next up: we take on peace in the Middle East.

Why not? Inkblot would be much more effective than Bush.

What's the deal with newly acquired pets being dominate over the already resident pet? I've seen the same behaviour in my dogs, so having seen it two times I am free to generalize to the entire pet population.

I'd expect the newcomer to be the submissive one but apparently it isn't always the case.

Yeah, happy cats are not "destructive".

Try cleaning a two story house after six members of a pride have had some of their "non-destructive" fun - These are all indoor cats, with the exception of two who do go out for morning walks on leash.

The only proper way to live in a six member pride home is have the rooms and furnishings constructed of concrete, ceramic tile and stainless steel with large catch basins in the center of each room and a fire hose attached to the wall. They are soooo cleanly.

But, we are allowed to co-exist with the pri - For feeding and cleaning their litter boxes, we receive room and board and internet privileges, when they are not on their favorite "Les Chats Salon".

Great news, and great pictures; the one of the two of them on the bed still has me chuckling. Cats can express so much without even moving, can't they?

That and the state of the human world is why we need Friday Catblogging; I'm so glad it's back, and look forward to seeing and reading lots more about Inkblot and Domino in the years ahead. Thanks!

Every male cat I've ever known immediately surrenders the top spot in the pecking order to any female around. Inkblot seems to have shown more resistance than any of my my wimps. Of course, Eddie doesn't even realize that there is a hierarchy.

Inkblot would be much more effective than Bush.

Yes, but so would the blanket he's lying on.

Domino is a great name for a beautiful cat.

You have no idea how lucky you are they integrated so easily! When Grover came with his Mommy to live with Ridley and I, it took six months before they would get within 10 feet of each other without hissing. Even now, over a year later, Ridley gets a little nervous when space between them gets tight (and this is quite funny, since Ridley, at 20lbs, is almost 3 times Grover's size). Occasionally they will sleep near each other, and they don't fight anymore, so things are better. But getting your 2 cats to integrate so quicly is quite a feat!

Glad its going well for all of you.Now about this peace thingee?

Inkblot did no more than hiss at the new cat? Reward him for excellent behavior! Glad to see you are a two cat family again - and all are well!

Thanks for the update, Kevin!

Domino go, cat, go
All the world loves Domino

--roy orbison

And Domino is a terrific movie.

Inkblot has never been an aggressive cat, so we didn't expect any huge fireworks. For her part, Domino is pretty passive too. Basically, she just ignores Inkblot. No provocation, no nothing. She just makes a wide berth when she passes him.

But we know all about the alternative. Several years ago (pre-blog), we had a cat named Rosebud and then decided to get a second cat. That was Jasmine. Christ. Rosebud and Jasmine nearly killed each other. One night Rosebud even managed to somehow knock Jasmine behind the referigerator. I don't know how long she was there before her meowing finally woke us up and we figured out where she was. It was so bad that we eventually took turns putting one of them out in the garage at night. I think it was six months before they finally learned to get along.

cld, I was thinking of Domino Derval played by Claudine Auger.

Why not? Inkblot would be much more effective than Bush.

hard to be less effective, that's for sure.
============
Inkblot and the Dominoes
Red Blanket and other Naptime Songs

Keith G,

Domino Derval, the Bond girl from Thunderball! (I had to look it up).

And here's the photo.

Kevin:

What happened to Rosebud?

Bob

I like the name!

Kevin - in the niggling spirit of your occasional linguistic peeves: you mean your "second-storey bedroom" i.e. a bedroom on the second storey of your house. A "second story bedroom" would mean maybe the second of at least two bedrooms devoted to (bedtime?) stories. "Storey" with an "e". Not the same word as "story". And the hyphen would be a nice addition to compound adjectives.

But congrats on the new kitty!

Great name - great cats!

Do you think they are doing so well because they are not the same sex? I take it that both Rosebud and Jasmine were female.

Kevin,
Your cats are perfectly acclimated, as attested by the bed photo. It is a fundamental rule of quantum mechanics that no two cats can occupy the same orbital (bed), unless at least one of their quantum numbers is different. This is called the Pauli exclusion principle. Notice that the cats are faced in opposite directions, meaning of course that one has a spin quantum number of +1 and the other -1. Hence they can both occupy the bed (where they can rule the universe) without violating the fundamental laws of physics. Problem solved! All will be well from now on forward.

Besides spin, these cats obviously also have charm and color.

Long ago, when we got a very young female canine to join our three year old male, we introduced them both in a city park (ie: neutral territory for both of them). This seemed to work well, and only then did we bring the new one into the house. Even then, we tried to set aside different territories for a few days to allow them to adjust. I suspect this would be a lot different with cats, because they don't seem to have quite the gregarious intraspecies instincts as dogs. Also, it is harder to control cats when you loose them in a park. As for the dogs, for many years, they slept on opposite sides of the bed and basically got along fine.

You know, Kevin, you are such a decent human being.

J. Michael Neal: Every male cat I've ever known immediately surrenders the top spot in the pecking order to any female around.

Not in our house. Our female was gone for three weeks (locked in someone's garage while they were on vacation) and was shocked when she returned to find out we had rented out her room to a male kitty. Ten years later, the male is still a pill, jumping on her, biting her neck, and chasing her around the house, all in good clean tomcat fun. Both are neutered, but the male acts like he still has balls. Maybe it's because he spent his first 12 weeks living in a family child care with a ground squirrel.

Catblogging makes me happy.

We got a new kitten 8 months ago, and our old cat still hisses at 10 feet.

But the new kitten got wise, and made nice with the dogs. Now, the two dogs and the kitten sleep together, and the old sourpus is left alone (the way she likes it).

Having sent Kevin a picture of our new kitty who looks just like his and who we named Domino, I'll take full credit for the name. :-)

And Domino is a terrific movie.
Posted by: cld on January 19, 2007 at 4:24 PM | PERMALINK

No. It was a terrific vacuum cleaner.

Because it sucked.

It's been my experience that cats always take 48 hours to acclimate themselves to a new place. Nothing to worry about.

Uncle Monty - No, no, no. In American English, "story" is a perfectly fine way -- in fact, the preferred way -- to spell the word meaning "the space in a building between 2 adjacent floors." "Storey," like "gaol," is jarring to the eye of the American reader, and is "chiefly British," per at least two dictionaries (Merriam-Webster and American Heritage) and Garner's Dictionary of Modern American Usage. Yes, it's a homonym with "story" meaning "tale." And with regard to the hyphen, well, again, Americans use many fewer hyphens, and that is just how it is. See again Garner, ("Generally, AmE is much less hospitable to hyphens than BrE.") "Second story bedroom" is a perfectly correct construction.

Very nice cats, if you're a cat fancier.

Kevin,

Excellent name, Domino, seems Dominant could work just as well. Hope you spend a little more personal time with Inkblot, his space has been invaded. Cats are intensely space/territory oriented.

The best naming I ever did was when we adopted a reddish-orange stray from the vet, I named him for my wife's favorite actor (in those days) - "Redford".

Topic reminds me of the best naming of a thoroughbred horse that I've ever seen, a filly bred by a horseman named Robert Home here in Toronto, he called her 'Home Maid Bred'.

What a clever name to acknowledge her "third eye". I enjoy your cat blog updates and it seems many other readers do too. My husband and I have three dogs who provide hours of comfort and amusement in this crazy world. Pets are a blessing....Peace

The movie. You have to watch it in the right mood. The mood where Keira Knightley's shirt is off.

Yay! I'm glad all is well in Kittyland.

Kevin,

I'm glad the transition is going smoothly. It mirrors pretty much all the similar re-adjustments we've had over the years with our owners.

Our newest is a 17+ pound 2 year old, who basically took over the house as a kitten from our 16 year old female (though Sheila is autistic, so she doesn't much care). The funny thing is, Squirt also took charge over Mambo the 12ish year old male indoor/outdoor cat.

Some girls just have to be obeyed.

Great pictures.

Our female is the hisser. They've finally reached an equilibrium of a couple ass kickings a day.

The worst is when she goes for his neck while he's stretched out sleeping. Usually by the time we get there she's backed under a piece of furniture hissing and he's got flames coming out of his nostrils.

Cats can express so much without even moving, can't they?

er...no. That's just you.

My cats have been living together for 6 years, and they hate each other so much we always call it a ceasefire when they are in the same room at the same time. They have never, ever, been on the same piece of furniture together.

Ours don't fight all the time.

When it's cold the male cat will try to get close. If she wakes up she may misinterpret his advances and jump away, in which case he happily steals her warm spot (not cognizant of the fact that he just left a larger one behind when he got up.) This can continue all day. You generally just notice that he's sleeping where she was a few minutes before.

If she's a little more groggy or it's a little more cold they just sleep in a ying yang type arrangement. Of course she slowly loses position over time and eventually finds herself sitting on the edge of the chair with no where to lie down.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww......

FWIW I just got a cat for the first time in my life, a little black and white kitten showed up meowing on my porch at the pizza delivery dude and he's lived here ever since....he never did get any pizza though.....but he brought me good luck in the World Series so hey....

Since Domino was my suggestion (based one the same white spot KD cites), I take a suitably modest bow.

Good on ya, Kevin.

*smiling*

My wife's pretty confident your going to use her alternative name, Spitwad (based on the white spot on her head), when she starts scratching furniture or playing with the blinds at 4AM.

Congrats to Domino, and may she and Inkblot peacefully coexist, with plenty of tuna for both.

Kinda hard to type right now since my cat has decided it is cold and he insists that means he should share my lap with my laptop.

Thanks for the update on new kitty. Sounds as if the two have integrated fine. Pretty kitties. I love cat blogging.

Is she a Rachel Ward "Dominoe?" (Sharky's Machine - 1981)

Or, is she a Kim Basinger "Domino?" (Never Say Never Again - 1983)

Peace in the Middle East, or it's "the dominoes falling" - Well, I hope your Domino stays with you for a good stretch.

I'm sooooooo glad everything has turned out well with your two cats. So far, at least. And Domino is an excellent name!
Anne G

Thanks for the update, Kevin. Sounds like Inkblot will accept his new companion in due time.

My cat absolutely loathes other cats. When I had a roommate with another cat, it was not good times. Ms. Fatty Catty never warmed up to the other cat, who was not at all aggressive; in fact she persecuted him with extreme prejudice whenever possible.

I'd point out that a 'domino' is also the long, frequently hooded, black silk cape worn by both sexes at traditional masked balls in Venice and elsewhere. Frequently, the black mask which is also worn is called a 'domino' as well.

This cat fits well into an image of a caped and masked fancy dress ball attendee with an elegant white silk scarf at her throat.

Plus, she gets a song...

Re cat naming, I think my best was Neferkitty (for a noble, Egyptian-looking cat); and my ex-wife came up with Kitty con Queso for a playful, spacey, orange tabby from the SPCA. When I took Queso to the vet, however, the desk attendant had to scroll through hundreds of files on cats named "Kitty" before our cat's name came up.