An unlikely babysitter

We have no children, but we recently aquired a hampster. Today said hampster was running around on the spare bed when Paul left the room to get changed, and I left the room to make some toast for him (him being Paul, not the hampster, though I'm sure the latter also would have enjoyed some toast). And so we left the kitty to make sure that the hampster did not leave the bed. Which he did not.

The cat's name is Emma. The hampster's name is Ollie. Ollie is short for "Othniel", the first judge. Paul thought that we could name all our hampsters after the judges, which seemed like a good idea; we assumed that several hampsters would quickly become lunch for Emma, and it would save the time of trying to think of a name for each one.

My friend Hannie once told me that I "played well with others". I cried, because that was the nicest compliment I could imagine. I now honour my cat by saying the same about her --- she plays well with others, even our hampster.

Sometimes Emma takes a swipe or two, but I do that to Paul, so I can't blame her. But she's never tried to bite, never pounced except in fun, and she sleeps on the dresser next to his cage during the day. One day Ollie curled up behind her, buried himself under her tail, and slept there for a few minutes. That was cute.

And so the experiment continues.