Leander is seven years older than Verbal. And they fight like crazy.

I adopted Verbal when he was three months old from a household full of animals. So he has made a lot of friends in his short life. He's easy to get a long with (when he's not annoying as hell), and he's hilarious. Leander spent her early life as a stray, went through some very stressful times when she was initially adopted by yours truly, and has led a relatively solitary life since then. But she adapts well to adventure (I've moved her 6 times in the five years I've owned her), and she doesn't let the uncertainty of her small life change her: an intrinsically sweet-natured girl. Nevertheless, when Verbal came along, I don't think she knew what to make of him.

Here was this fellow cat -- so similar to her -- yet quite different. He's always up to something. He wants to play with her, even when she wants nothing to do with him (sometimes especially b/c of that). And he will, at times, randomly race around the room. And she certainly loves him. Cats clean themselves for hours a day. But they can't always get behind their ears, and the tops of their heads. In quiet moments Leander will be laying on the couch and he'll flop down beside her and she'll patiently clean his face, while he lays, blissed out, his eyes closed.

Other times they don't seem to get along especially well. For no apparent reason she'll just swipe at him. They'll wrestle and fight, and get to really growling at one another, and I of course, can't help but wonder if they are hurting one another. And other times, he doesn't want anything to do with her.

I've considered giving Verbal back to the adoption agency -- mostly because of his tendency to get into shit he shouldn't. My hope is that he'll grow out of it, but even if he doesn't, it's gradually become a moot point. I don't think Leander would stand for it.

A couple of weeks ago, Verbal stayed the weekend with his foster mom (from whom I adopted him). By the time I got him home, Leander was quite restless and spent his first day back very vocally letting me and him know that this should not happen again. When they are apart, she misses him. They are bonded.

So he'll stay and they'll continue to adapt, grow closer, and send even more fur flying when they fight. But the wrestling is here to stay -- they just wouldn't be themselves if they didn't have one another to spar with, cuddle with and clean those hard to reach places.