Literally my brain began scrolling through all the reasons that it was a horrible idea - the crazy side of me kept whispering "but maybe it will be okay... get a cat..."
So I did it, against the rational and generally smarter part of my brain. Me and the crazy half roped my enabler friend Melissa into coming with us to get a cat (yes I feel like the crazy part of my brain is it's own character) enter Arthur.
This tiny black ball of wild fluff, he's funny and sweet and the PERFECT magnet for an Akita with a high prey drive. Anyways I went into it thinking - if this doesn't work Arthur will have to find a new home. Well a couple days of having him around was enough to know the little fluff was gonna be sticking around and the big fluff would have to figure out how to deal with it.
Anyways I won't lie about after the first week of Arthur being completely segregated to the spare room, I wasn't sure how the two animals would ever co-exist. I felt split in two, the one side with the unwavering loyalty to the dog I've loved for over ten years who would always come first, and the other half to this tiny little life that I'd committed to take care of and love. It was awful.
Fast forward to now, a month into being a cat and a dog owner. over the past couple days I watched my 100lb dog continue to show great restraint with the tiny little 5lb kitten who insists on springing at her and wrapping himself around her legs (yes he loves her), yesterday I even had the courage to let them hang out without muzzling Briar (for Arthur's safety of course) I could not be more relieved, and the light at the end of the tunnel is bright.
Proof that with some patience and a lot of baby steps, anything is possible.
