The Wrath of Kismet

   Tonight I returned home from work to find Aki cowering and shivering in the kitchen. She had blood on her face, and was so glad to see me walk through the door that she went crazier than usual. It appeared that there had been an altercation: the age-old battle of Dog vs. Cat. I was really worried about how Cat had fared against my mighty hunter...
   I calmed Aki down and went to find Kismet, and to my great relief, found that she was fine. Almost proud. Not scared a bit. So I went back to Aki and cleaned up her face with peroxide, called the vet to confirm there was nothing else to do, and clipped Kismet's claws for the first time in about three weeks. They were sharp, and Aki's blood was under her back claws. Since I've never kept a kitty with claws, I had no idea how frequently to keep them clipped. (My Facebook friends tell me it could be as often as every 10 days, and that's probably right, given the frequency with which Kismet sharpens them on the cardboard scratching post.)

sleeping tiger

   I can't believe my 21-pound dog was bested by my 10-pound cat! There's a new sheriff in town, Aki. I will say that I believe entirely that this incident was Aki's fault. She had become accustomed to feeling like the boss of the house, and Gypsy and Atom stayed clear of her for the most part, since they were largely defenseless. My guess is that Aki chased Kismet, cornered her, and was prodding or otherwise intimidating her, provoking her to strike back. I guess I should've named her "Killer" instead of "Kismet"!