They say that first impressions last a lifetime, but after a shaky start, this golden retriever mix and rescue kitten were willing to put their differences aside to develop a budding friendship.
After hearing about a tiny rescue kitten that was found in the street, John Whitaker and his girlfriend Victoria Angel of Arlington, Virginia, had no reservations about offering him a loving home. There was one slight caveat however as the couple were already dog parents to Sadie, the 9-year-old golden retriever and chow mix.
Sadie has never displayed anything other than a loving and gentle temperament, but Whitaker, 29, told Newsweek that it would be her “first time being around a cat” and he didn’t know how she’d react. There was a substantial size difference between them, as the kitten, named Egg, was only a few months old and weighed less than a pound.
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Indeed, their early interactions were cautious and somewhat hostile. Sadie, who “doesn’t understand personal space” tried her best to approach Egg, but the kitten wasn’t having any of it. Sadie knew she could win the kitten over eventually—he just needed 24 hours to get accustomed to his new normal.
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“On the first day, Egg was scared of Sadie as she is about 80 times heavier than him. Sadie wants to be everyone’s best friend so there were plenty of times when Egg would run away, and Sadie would whine because she just wanted to make friends,” Whitaker said. “I was a little worried at first, but I knew that as long as Sadie was gentle with him, they’d get along. The biggest difficulty was making sure Sadie wasn’t too curious and gave him enough space.”
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Their friendship certainly didn’t take long to form, because by the second day together, Whitaker spotted Egg making biscuits on Sadie’s underbelly.
Kneading, commonly known as making biscuits, is an instinctual behavior where cats repeatedly push their paws into a soft surface. It starts in kittenhood when they’re nursing, and they often continue this behavior to relieve stress, to…
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