Riley Meets Suzie

By Dad

     “What the heck?” Suzie cat thought almost out-oud with a her usual silent meow. “Who is this new brown and white thing intruding into my kingdom here? And don’t even think about sniffing my food and water dishes, let alone somewhere else more private,” she more or less commanded with her eyes. “I have firmly established her ownership of this house, from four years of living here,” she knew very well.

     You see, Mom and Dad had just rescued a 12 ½ year old Springer Spaniel, named Riley, from the local pound. They wanted to give him the best years of his life for the likely remaining three or so years he probably had left, given all his medical problems and old age. Plus the way Riley looked at Suzie’s Mom and Dad yesterday when they first met Riley, was virtually irresistible.

     Suzie remembered the look she gave them herself in her pound prison some 4 years ago, when they so kindly and generously rescued her. In one day, she went from a dismal and damp 4 by 6 space with too many other yappy dogs nearby, to nearly 2000 square feet of roaming area and a very large yard and entire forest and river to explore on sunny days which weren’t that often, but no matter about that.

     And all this was just because she didn’t enjoy the company of her other housemates and got a bit bizarre with her behavior at her first home, which her previous parents didn’t appreciate enough to let her stay there. Going to the pound was a sad memory she didn’t want to experience ever again. That was something not to be forgotten or jeopardized in any way. This was her mantra in her new home.

     “Well now, I am not sure how this is going to work,” thought Suzie from her perch, with Riley looking at her rather strangely, not knowing what to think himself about coming into this new home of his, or hers or maybe both theirs? “This is very odd,” was the animal thought they both had simultaneously at the same time, and “certainly something that may need a little work from our mom and dad!” “How exactly is this going to work?” was both their prominent dog and cat thought, mostly intuitively, as animals all had this ability much more than humans.

    Both Suzie and Riley, being chowhounds, quickly turned their attention away from each other and instantly started their pre-eating routines…Suzie rubbing past Dad’s ankles several time before he got the message to open a can of her favorite cat food—salmon, and Riley poking his nose at Mom’s knees and begging for a mix of his special diet dry and wet food with medicine to help with his intestinal troubles he inherited from the few days he was at the pound, or maybe it was more psychological as separation fear from being separated from both his previous mom and his long term housemate Marley, an elderly Australian Sheppard that his new mom and dad missed out on adopting by a few hours.

     Well the eating didn’t last long, even after some refreshing fresh water gulping, lapping and inhaling, and so now the usual aftermath had to occur. Fortunately, Suzi knew where her litter box had been moved to the night before and so she headed upstairs. Riley was too arthritic and had hip dysplasia so upstairs was seemingly off limits to him. He surmised, “Maybe the plan was for me is to rule the downstairs and this strange little critter had her own upstairs. Too much to think or worry about for now though, and since I am already house-trained from more than 12-years before, it is outside I go.”

     “Ah, this looks rather interesting” he barked for the first time, gladly noticing his new parent’s house was right on the river—the South fork of the Snoqualmie to be specific. He had learned about that at a dog school he had attended as a young pup. Before doing his business after he sniffed out the perfect spot of course, he speculated that his strange housemate, might go fishing here.

     Then suddenly he put things together quickly in his non-cognitive high EQ dog’s mind, “My new upstairs housemate is a Siamese cat that doesn’t meow like one. Oh wow, this is going to be such great fun!” He had no idea how he knew this, but somehow it made perfect sense, so it was time to do what he came outside to do so he could further explore his new home inside right afterwards. It was raining, as usual in North Bend, “So enough of this outdoor stuff,” he muttered under his breath. He looked up at Dad and with his eyes, said, “Okay I am ready to go back inside and look around.” Dad complied with the polite request.

     Being an older dog however, it was time for an early evening nap. “Oh boy oh boy” he commented on noticing his brand knew extra-large self-warming bolster bed right there by the fireplace. “This is absolutely dog-fabulous and will help my old-age arthritis problem,” he thought, with thankful eyes looking at his new mom and dad. Those eyes and look would melt anyone’s heart.

     Of course, what Riley didn’t know was that Suzie’s second favorite spot in this house, besides her perch where she watched the birds, squirrels and chipmunks eat and play, was on top of the ‘Ov-Glove’ by the fireplace in the winter time.  Well, maybe her new eating area upstairs by the window was a close second favorite spot.

     “Now this is an interesting sight, almost cat amusing” thought Suzie coming down the steps slowly and carefully with moments of hesitation to investigate this latest intrusion into her home. “What does he think he is doing curled up in this bed I have never seen before, by my fireplace?” she asked herself, already knowing his gender from secretly watching him lift his leg, from her upstairs balcony, in Dad’s office. “He must be asleep and since I am awake, I think I will just go over there and check him out to see if I will allow him in my house,” was her immediate reaction and she always followed through on her-always-correct cat instincts.

     But what she didn’t know was Riley had a very sensitive sniffer at the end of his nose and he was only dog day-dreaming and not really asleep. He knew very well about cat’s curiosity from the earlier cat-testing that was done by the vet at the pound, being that Mom and dad wanted this house-sharing to go well without any dog and cat problems. So, he willingly let her do her own sniffing for comfort, which she did for several minutes, before thinking, “Okay, I will have to adapt to this very odd situation, but the upstairs is all mine because he can’t climb the steps as well as I can, and we will just have to share the downstairs some of the time.”

     And so, Riley and Suzie were properly introduced as natural as it could be and now it was time for Mom, Dad, Suzie and Riley to settle down downstairs to watch a movie they could all enjoy, “A Dog’s Purpose.” Afterwards, all four said, “goodnight” and quickly went off to human, dog and cat dreamland. Not so oddly, all dreamed about what everyone wanted to say to each other that simply couldn’t be expressed in animal or human terms. This was certainly a great day of introductions and bonding, they all thought to themselves. Life is good!

     Now, what is on for tomorrow? A trip to Video Only to see about a 70-inch 4K for downstairs, since Riley could do the stairs to watch that LG OLED there? But, first Mom and Dad had to go to Pets Mart in Issaquah to buy a ramp for Riley to get in and out of the Honda CRV for quick errand and longer road trips to the beach perhaps. Suzie wasn’t big on riding in the car. She would rather stay at home and sleep or watch the critters scurry outdoors, from her perch downstairs, since this would be readily available now that Riley was gone. Cat independence is definitely genetic.

   Afterwards, Dad wanted to take Riley to Rattlesnake Lake for a walk suitable to an older dog, slow and easy with lots of breaks and water. Mom wanted to go too, since Suzie was such a low-maintenance cat, comfortable and happy to rule the whole household in their absence. So off to Issaquah the three headed, but only to get a ram for the car and possibly for the stairs, not a TV which wasn’t a priority quite yet. First Issaquah and then Rattlesnake lake, maybe with an afternoon nap in between.

     Now with Riley coming into the household, Mom and Dad’s weekend traditional eating-out routine at the River Bend café and other places, was history and so a quick trip to QFC was in order, to gets some thick T-bone steaks and planked salmon for Saturday and Sunday grilling. Maybe some potatoes to bake and load up with fix n’s and green beans to steam in a little bit of brandy. Wine for sure. But Riley had to have his special dog food, while some of the left-overs could go to Suzie. Hopefully, Riley will get better soon, for that promised filet mignon grilled to perfection, later on.

     To be continued…