Strange Bedfellows

Tony and Boo; as you can tell, it’s hard to get a shot of them together and still

I’ve talked about Boo on this blog before. He’s the deadliest of our three black felines, a twelve-year-old lethal hunter that leaves critter carcasses spread across the property.

Even though foster dogs are always coming and going at the Farnival, Boo’s never had problems; normally, he just swats the overly interested canines in the maw hard enough to leave bloody claw marks and the discussion is over.

But Boo has made a friend, and they are the unlikeliest of bedfellows. Lately, Tony – our twelve-week-old, happy-go-lucky foster puppy and Boo, our aloof murdering feline have become buds.

Their friendship started on the trails, behind the house, or at least that’s when I noticed it. Whenever we were walking in the woods and Tony saw Boo, he’d bolt towards him like he just spied a rock star, kissing and jumping, tail whipping back and forth. But instead of swatting him, Boo would leap away, find a high spot on a tree, and rest until T-bone discovered a leaf, stick, or other dog to distract his short attention span. I rationalized – at first – that Boo let it go down because he was surprised.

Now, I’m beginning to believe that our mercenary feline enjoys the adoration. I’ve watched Tony act like a groupie around Boo time and time again and waited for Boo to teach T-bone a lesson about personal space – as he’d done to the multitude of other dogs that have lived here – but he never does.

In fact, Boo doesn’t even leap away when Tony molests him anymore. Instead, he sits there, stretching his lean, graceful neck, trying to look all cool while an excited clumsy puppy licks out his ears like a motorized Q-tip.

On more than one occasion, I’ve even caught them together in the house, Boo sitting on the footstool, gently swatting at Tony’s head while the puppy leaps at him.

Watching these strange couplings evolve is one of the best parts of fostering animals, maybe because it’s such a mystery. I can’t even guess why some animals become buds and others could care less about one another. But I know that the friendships that form never fail to surprise me.