We've got a guest cat in our house.

It's no secret that our friend thespian, Stephanie Clarkson, has been ill for a while now, and has been hospitalized. Her friends have been stopping by her apartment to take care of her cat, and the rest of the things that need attention, but her cat is the kind of cat that just needs people around, so it just makes more sense for someone to take her into their house until Stephanie can get back home.

Stephanie's cat is named "small", in the same sense of an Italian guy called "Tiny." I think small is bigger than both of our cats put together. And she is settling in pretty well. She's been here for just about two days, and has completely made herself at home.

Now, how she's doing with our cats is -- awkward. They're at the "wary but not really hostile" stage. There is hissing and growling when she gets to close to them, or they get too close to her, but the fact that she's not very athletic seems to be helping -- she can't follow them up to the top of the bookcases, nor can she squeeze herself into the narrow spots between the boxes under the bed. Our cats' having places from which they can watch small without small being able to reach them seems to help.

We've been shutting her downstairs overnight, but keeping her up here when one of us is home and awake, both because small needs human contact, and to give opportunities for the cats to get used to each other. We referee by standing in between cats when it appears helpful to do so, but there hasn't been any violence. Hissing, growling, and very, very poofy tails, but no attacks, and, indeed, no flattened ears. Definite wariness, definitely all keeping an eye on each other, but I think they'll be to the point of being okay ignoring each other pretty soon, and it's not impossible that they'll get to the point of playing with each other. Which I'd like -- I think a second playmate with be useful for Nicky because he tends to want to play more than Nora does. And I think small could benefit by a bit more active play with another cat; exercise is good for everybody, and she seems to get winded pretty quickly when playing with the feather toy. It could be that, when they get used to each other, chasing each other around could be fun. And, as small is very social, perhaps having some other cats to groom and snuggle would be good for her.

I hope so, anyway. But all I really expect is for Nick and Nora to be comfortable ignoring small, and vice versa. That's just fine. And we're really only a couple days away from that, I think.