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juushikaI come bearing cute pictures, the likes of which may never be seen again. No, really:
On a whim I put Alfie and Kuzco on a chair together. Interactions between these two are the reason that Kuzco has spent the last few years living in a cage on his own: Alfie is pushy and borderline aggressive with Kuzco because Kuzco is a tiny little pig; Kuzco meanwhile has a Napoleon complex like you have never seen and will not take this behavior, ahem, lying down. They used to argue so constantly that Kuzco would try to jump out of the cage to escape it, and even without Dink around to egg them on (he used to pick on Kuzco once Alfie started it), I doubt they will ever be able to cohabitate. Bickering through the bars is best for them.
But yesterday on a whim, because I had one out and the other was begging at the bars, I put them on a chair together. A chair is a nice, confined, neutral area where there's not enough room for circling or strutting or humping attempts, and I was there to split them up as necessary. But what they ended up doing was snuggling. Alfie stuck his head into Kuzco's fur and eventually wiggled up against him so that they were a little overlapping mess of white and brown crazy spikes. Kuzco even lost his perpetual "they're all going to eat me" expression—eventually. They snuggled. It was adorable. It will probably never happen again.
So I took pictures.
Apologies for the shitty quality, but it's autumn in Oregon—we haven't a lot of natural light to go around. (And not only do I abhor flash above all things, trust me you do not want to see pictures of Alfie taken with it. He looks like a demon-pig.)
Alfie is definitely lonely without Dink—Mum compared it to losing a life partner and I think she's right. Alfie and Dink were rarely snuggle buddies but they were cage mates for years, and you can't get much more intimate than that. When Kuzco started living alone he grew a lot more human-oriented, coming to the cage bars for attention. Alfie, on the other hand, not so much. He's neurotic and distrusts humans entirely, so while he definitely desires contact he will never, ever ask for it. He has gotten better about out-of-cage snuggle time though, so that's something. Ideally he'd have a cage mate but I don't want to take on another pig, and Kuzco is a no go. So it's a split cage and begrudged snuggle time for him, poor boy.
On a related note, the boys are healthy and well. My headspace is much improved, as well—I think I am finally at terms with Dink's death.
On a whim I put Alfie and Kuzco on a chair together. Interactions between these two are the reason that Kuzco has spent the last few years living in a cage on his own: Alfie is pushy and borderline aggressive with Kuzco because Kuzco is a tiny little pig; Kuzco meanwhile has a Napoleon complex like you have never seen and will not take this behavior, ahem, lying down. They used to argue so constantly that Kuzco would try to jump out of the cage to escape it, and even without Dink around to egg them on (he used to pick on Kuzco once Alfie started it), I doubt they will ever be able to cohabitate. Bickering through the bars is best for them.
But yesterday on a whim, because I had one out and the other was begging at the bars, I put them on a chair together. A chair is a nice, confined, neutral area where there's not enough room for circling or strutting or humping attempts, and I was there to split them up as necessary. But what they ended up doing was snuggling. Alfie stuck his head into Kuzco's fur and eventually wiggled up against him so that they were a little overlapping mess of white and brown crazy spikes. Kuzco even lost his perpetual "they're all going to eat me" expression—eventually. They snuggled. It was adorable. It will probably never happen again.
So I took pictures.
Apologies for the shitty quality, but it's autumn in Oregon—we haven't a lot of natural light to go around. (And not only do I abhor flash above all things, trust me you do not want to see pictures of Alfie taken with it. He looks like a demon-pig.)
Alfie is definitely lonely without Dink—Mum compared it to losing a life partner and I think she's right. Alfie and Dink were rarely snuggle buddies but they were cage mates for years, and you can't get much more intimate than that. When Kuzco started living alone he grew a lot more human-oriented, coming to the cage bars for attention. Alfie, on the other hand, not so much. He's neurotic and distrusts humans entirely, so while he definitely desires contact he will never, ever ask for it. He has gotten better about out-of-cage snuggle time though, so that's something. Ideally he'd have a cage mate but I don't want to take on another pig, and Kuzco is a no go. So it's a split cage and begrudged snuggle time for him, poor boy.
On a related note, the boys are healthy and well. My headspace is much improved, as well—I think I am finally at terms with Dink's death.
