We’ve noticed lately that Zeeke and Zoe really don’t seem to play together much anymore. I also noticed that what “playing” they do involves Zeeke fitting Zoe’s entire head in his mouth. I don’t think she severely dislikes it… but I’m not so certain that she enjoys it, either. On the other hand, she does play with Merlin the cat…. and they beat each other up. I’ve never seen anything like it before…. I’ve seen Merlin licking her ear very cutely, grooming her…. right before he climbs on top of her and then starts biting her neck like he’s a big cat taking down gizelle. Of course this gizelle is quite large and really enjoys this game. They’re just strange.

Just now they (Merlin and Zoe) finished a wrestle match and she came over to snuggle with me for a few seconds. (Seconds is all she has for me!) Then she went and got a rawhide chew and layed down RIGHT next to the cat - facing him, in fact. The rawhide was inches from his head. I really don’t think she was trying to share it - she doesn’t share very well with others - but it was like she wanted to spend that time with him or something. Very odd indeed.

Zoe is adjusting very well to my pregnancy. She’s pretty low-maintainance, her playing with the cat on the bed beside me and then settling down to chew on a treat or a toy. Now that I have more energy I like to play with her a little bit every day, give her attention, tell her what a pretty girl she is. It doesn’t seem to matter how much I do or even what I do, as long as I’m focussed on her she’s the happiest girl ever. (Although that charactarizes much of her personality.)

The cats don’t seem to notice any difference - or don’t care if they have. They just want to be fed, and get attention. Jo solves this by standing in front of my monitor and refusing to move, and Merlin… well Merlin’s way of getting attention is by climbing on top of you and never giving up no matter how many times you shoo him off. Den can get quite annoyed by this constant yo-yo cat, which can go on for an excess of 10 minutes.

Zeeke… Zeeke doesn’t care as long as daddy is around to spend time with him. If daddy isn’t, however, he spends his time letting me know just how ticked off he is at my energy level and commitment to keeping him constantly occupied. OMG he drives me crazy barking at me. And there’s not much I could really do before, between the puking and the exhaustion and the work I still needed to get done in between, he was SOL until daddy got home. I really don’t know how Zeeke is possibly going to handle a new baby in a good way. He’s simply going to be ticked that we’re not paying enough attention to him.

So that’s my quick recap! We’re going to visit my parents over christmas, and we have booked the kennel and arranged with my work to watch the cats. I’m relieved. The kennel is expensive, but so worth it. The dogs come back to us SO happy and tired. They get such great attention there, time out with other dogs in the yard, they get to spend the entire time together. It’s perfect. It’s really really good that we have this kennel…. I don’t know how I’d leave Zoe otherwise!!