“My world turned upside down since the day a loud crying miniature human with no teeth and hair suddenly turned up and invaded MY house without MY permission!”

– Caviar

Our house was in utter chaos when we brought our baby home. It’s been a real struggle balancing two needy babies that constantly need my attention.

A few years ago I shoved my phone in my sister’s and husband’s (Nara & Tomasi) faces. “Which one shall we get?” I asked excitedly swiping my phone left to right and back and forth. Displayed on my phone were two very different looking kittens, one was an adorable chubby British Shorthair and the other was a fluffy mostly white Siberian.

It was a unanimous decision to adopt the kitten with the exceptionally worried look on his face which was defined by his furrowed eyebrows. Who even knew cats had brows?

We met Caviar when he was 2 months old but we couldn’t bring him home until he was almost 3 months as he still needed to be around his real cat mother. The lady gave him to us on a Friday, the day before our planned weekend trip to Adelaide. We felt terrible, we only had a day to spend getting to know Caviar the kitten before we had to leave.

The hallway in between our bedrooms was spacious with doors on both sides, we kitten proofed our hallway and left plenty of water and dry cat food. I hated what I did next but had to, which was beg my whiny eldest brother who lived nearby to visit Caviar twice a day to feed him fresh mince; he reluctantly agreed to do this for us. I cheekily also asked him to play with Caviar knowing he would explode “THERE IS NO WAY I WILL BE PLAYING WITH YOUR DAMN KITTEN!” well that was that.

We arrived home on Sunday night, I could not wait to see tiny Caviar again. As soon as we opened the door to our hallway Caviar marched out into the lounge room. He was furiously trotting around the room eyeing each one of us and then proceeded to tell us off with his squeaky meows. It was the cutest thing ever.

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Our weekend trip away may have contributed to why Caviar is the way he is now; needy, clingy with bad separation anxiety. We felt so guilty to think that we may have caused this trauma to him. Each morning when we left for work I could see Caviar tense up and panic each time we left the house. I had to fix this for him as I couldn’t bear to see him so stressed.

This led to us adopting his adorable orphan brother Teddie from a shelter a few months after. Surely having another cat to keep him company would help as leaving our jobs was not an option as we haven’t won lotto yet. Well, Tiny Teddie kept Caviar entertained for a few weeks but after Caviar learned that Teddie came from a feral street cat mother and, he lacked clean cat etiquette so he started looking down at him. Their relationship soured even further as Teddie kept stealing Caviar’s food with a hiss or a growl.

Caviar preferred humans and lucky me I was his favourite, he choose me and I loved it. I gloated to Tomasi and Nara that he loved me the most each time Caviar jumped on my lap and into my arms, they would just roll their eyes at me.

When I was pregnant I was no longer working and spent most of my time at home due to suffering from severe morning sickness. Both cats kept me company when I was in bed but it was Caviar that comforted me 24/7, he would be on my chest purring loudly. During this time he loved laying right near my belly where baby was, I am sure he knew there was something growing inside of me I felt like he was protective of me and my unborn baby.

Kai arrived late 2019, they kept me in hospital for 5 days as I had lost a litre of blood whilst giving birth, this was double the amount they deemed was normal. I felt mentally and physically drained after giving birth and took ages to recover.

Once the doctor discharged me I was so happy to go home to my own bed, I missed my house and cats so much. I was also excited to finally introduce my baby to them.

When we came through the door Teddy and Caviar ran up to us but was instantly suspicious they knew something was up. We gently secured little Kai into his baby bouncer so we could safely introduce him to the cats. They slowly crept cautiously towards us to have a peek at baby, then out of nowhere Kai woke up and burst out crying. Like the speed of lightning both cats scattered out of the dining room, Caviar skidded and clumsily hit himself on the edge of the door. Well, that first meeting went to plan and was a huge success… NOT!

Both cats pretty much ignored Kai for the first few weeks but unlike Teddie, Caviar chooses to ignore me too. After another few weeks of playing the ‘I don’t care” card, Caviar could no longer contain himself. It started with the loud lingering yowling at our bedroom door. Each night his cries got louder and when there was no response he would go ballistic and scratch on the door.

As much as I loved Caviar and understood what he was feeling, I couldn’t give him the attention he craved at the time. Nara showered him with even more love and invited him to sleep with her every night which he accepted, but he was still unsettled and unhappy…….then Caviar took a turn for the worse!

Nara was woken up in the middle of the night by disturbances coming from our laundry room. When she went to investigate she saw Caviar next to our screen door with his back arched, the fur on neck stood up and his eyes were fully dilated. Not far from him was Teddie, Caviar was aggressively hissing fiercely at him threatening to attack any second.

Instead of getting the message to stay away Teddie insisted on slowly stepping closer to his brother to see what was up with his crazy behaviour, this, of course, angered Caviar even more and his hissing got worse, he was a snake defending itself from danger. Nara scooped up Teddie and moved him safety away then she went to comfort Caviar, just when she was about to pick him up he angrily hissed at her too.

When Nara told us about the incident the following morning we were all shocked and concerned as this type of behaviour was so out of character for him, he has never displayed any aggression towards us or Teddie. Nara said it was like he was in a trance or bad dream and didn’t recognise anyone. I went to cuddle him and he looked at me with innocently, he acted like his normal self so we hoped he just had a rare moment.

After a few months of giving me his cold cat shoulder, Caviar was ready to claim back his favourite human. He started showing up and rudely barge in between Kai and me.

I was nursing Kai on the couch and Caviar out of nowhere jumped up in front of us and pushed his little nose onto Kai’s cheeks, he stood there taking in his scent for ages. I think it was then he realised Kai was a harmless mini human that could not inflict any pain to him, so going forward he started acting brazen and asserted his dominance.

Countless times, he would softly head-butt Kai to get him out of his way, regardless of whether there was enough room for him on my lap, he didn’t care he would roll himself into a ball and sit on me awkwardly and proudly gazed into my eyes. I felt bad but I had to call Tomasi or Nara to get him off me as it wasn’t practical to nurse a baby on one side and have a 7.5 kg (16.5 lb) cat on the other.

If looks could kill they would have been dead before taking him off me. Caviar would give them the biggest dirty. He would then proceed to show us he was not happy by attacking whatever was near him. If we had boxes in the house he would take his frustration on it by biting it, little pieces of the ripped up cardboard went into his mouth and he spat it out by shaking his head rapidly. I have never seen a cat act in this manner!

But that was not all, Caviar was observing the way Kai behaved and what he needed to do to get my attention. So we started seeing Caviar acting like a human baby, he would use Kai’s bouncer and sleep in there, he would cry when he heard Kai cry so they would cry together. He would also jump into Kai’s large portable cot in the living room and cried loudly until someone came to pick him up and comfort him!

Caviar’s jealousy and possessiveness crack me up, it’s adorable and to be honest it made me feel special that I meant so much to him. However, the mean side of him kept seeping out too, he kept bullying Teddie and Teddie ain’t no doormat, it’s usually him that is the aggressor especially when food is involved. We would often hear Teddie shriek in pain then saw him race across the room to get away from the demon cat Caviar had become.

We were desperate to keep the peace in the house, Teddie needed to be safe, Caviar needed to calm down and I needed my sanity back! I was sceptical myself but suggested that we tried ‘Feliway’, it was regularly advertised on TV, a plug-in diffuser to help cats cope with stress and changes.

After a bit of research we decided to give Feliway ago, we plugged in near their cat tree and play area. The diffuser lasted a month, all three of us is uncertain if it helped Caviar cope, he did cry a little less and he stopped being violent to Teddie but this could have been just a coincidence as perhaps Caviar was adapting to the change himself. We bought another two months worth anyway just in case, we will continue to observe Caviar’s behaviour to decide if Feliway does what it promises.

By the time Kai was 4 months, I had time to adjust to being a first-time mother. With this I ensured any spare time I had I spent it with Caviar, he welcomed this and cherished every moment we had together and purred in delight.

Kai is now nine and a half months and is touching and pulling everything he can get his hands on. The table has turned, rather than protect Kai from the cats it’s now the other way round. I am forever trying to teach Kai how to touch the cats softly and never pull on their whiskers, fur or tail.

Both cats have been so patient with Kai, they have never shown any sort of aggression towards him, even when I missed opportunities to stop him from unintentionally hurting them. Instead of swiping at him, they would flinch or run away from him. They truly are the most beautiful cats inside and out, but I am biased.

I am thankful that Caviar is much better these days, don’t get me wrong he still sooks daily and he still fights with Teddy here and there he is no longer a demon cat from hell (exaggeration he could have been a lot worse!)

However, Caviar is still clingy and possessive of me as ever but that’s what makes him special and precious. He makes me laugh daily with his antics, yesterday I called Kai to come to me and tapped my lap, instead my four-legged baby came out of nowhere and plonked himself on me, he then looked up at me and blinked softly to say “you called?” Hahaha, how can I resist?! I need him as much as he needs me.

It makes me terribly sad to read that some people had to get rid of their pets to accommodate their newborn baby. I obviously can’t judge those people as I don’t know how extreme their situation is but our pets don’t see themselves as our pets, we are their only family and they depend on us for love and companionship. I can’t and don’t want to imagine how devastated and heartbroken our cats, (especially Caviar) would be if we gave up on them.

Every single day I try to make time to teach Kai to be kind, gentle and respectful to his older fur-bros, I do hope he ends up loving and caring for animals as much as I do. I know in my heart that one day I will walk into his room and see the 3 of them in bed sleeping together cozily, this time it will be me that will be a little jealous and possessive of all 3 of them!

The sole purpose of my story is for entertainment, we are not selling/endorsing any company or its product, nor are we sponsored/affiliated to any company or products shown or mentioned in this post.