I mentioned Dougy’s tub yesterday and how Andy sneaked a sit in it when Dougy wasn’t paying attention….

Today, Andy, emboldened by his transgression yesterday, hopped in Dougy’s tub right in front of Dougy, who was on his favorite foot stool. You know, the one that matches the glider and that I bought so I could put my feet up.

Here’s the scene of the crime. Sorry for the crap quality of the photo, but my camera handles low light poorly. That’s Dougy in front in his tub. Andy is on the cat lounger by the wall. A short time before this photo was taken, the tub was on top of that box by the stacked carriers.

So what happened?

Dougy, on his foot stool, hassled Andy, who was on his recliner. “Hassling”: engaging Andy in a stare down, a challenge. Hassled, Andy jumped over the arm of the recliner. Dougy tried to follow him but I’d put something on the floor that stopped him from gaining speed.

Baffled, Dougy went back to the foot stool, scratched the fabric vigorously, and plopped down to rest.

Andy returned to the scene shortly after, slipped silently past Dougy (snoozing by this time), and hopped on the box, where he promptly stepped into Dougy’s tub! He seemed startled at how brazen he was! He nervously looked at Dougy, me, then rubbed his personal scent all over the tub. Don’t waste your opportunities!

Dougy didn’t miss Andy’s affront. His ears folded back at this challenge to his right to the tub….

Andy saw Dougy picked up on what he was doing. Dougy hopped down from the foot stool, ran toward the tub to reclaim it. At the same time, Andy hopped out of the tub, knocking it on the floor. He hopped on the cat lounger, scratched his scent into it, and positioned himself so he could see Dougy. Dougy stopped by the tub, smelled for Andy’s scent, but showed more concern it was on the floor. Worse yet, it was lower than Andy’s perch, the cat lounger!

(The boys each has one of these loungers, so, of course, the lounger either cat wants is the one the other cat is using at the time. That’s why Andy scratched vigorously to leave his scent on the lounger when he hopped on it to escape Dougy. “You can have the tub, Tub Boy, but the lounger is mine, MINE!)

Dougy smelled around the rim, where his brother left his mark. He rubbed on the tub to re-establish ownership. That taken care of, he pulled in his tail, circled, and positioned himself so Andy was in view.

Eyeballs locked, it looked like a second confrontation was in the works. Both boys turned their attention to me when I came back to document the scene with my camera, of course.

I put my camera down after I took the crap pictures, picked up the tub with Dougy inside, and placed it back on the box. I faced Dougy toward Andy so he didn’t have to adjust his position. Of course, he now had to look around the corner to see Andy. They both relaxed their guard, and peace returned to the kingdom!

I take care of my cats.