You’d think that it wouldn’t take long for a puppy and kitten who grew up in the same house together to eventually get along. But that wasn’t the case for Coco and Mittens.
It took these two 13 years before they decided to be friends.
“Coco is the typical loyal Lab, very sweet, very gentle,” their human dad Tom told The Dodo. “Mittens is a fussy cat, thinks she owns the place, loves to make a racket and boss you around, but then loves to cuddle and be super sweet when she feels like it.”
Both Coco and Mittens have always been big on cuddling, just not with each other. Their human parents figured that they would eventually cozy up to each other.
But they pretty much gave up on that dream after about a decade.
Coco and Mittens seemed set on upholding the age-old stereotype about cats and dogs hating each other. They just ignored each other for the most part for 13 years. Until one fine day…
Tom walked into the room where Coco and Mittens were and saw something that he never thought that he would ever see.
He saw the two of them cuddled up together on Coco’s bed.
After more than a decade these two finally decided that in addition to being sisters, they also wanted to be friends who love each other.
Now, these two are always snuggling up together. And when they aren’t cuddling, they are still close by to one another.
You’ll often find them sharing Coco’s bed to take a nice nap.
“I don’t know how much time Coco has left, she’s slowing down drastically and showing serious signs of aging. Maybe Mittens can sense that or something,” Tom said. “They cuddle for a few hours at a clip. It’s fairly common now, once or twice a day usually.”
So, it seems that Mittens isn’t as cold and self-centered as he thought.
Coco and Mittens ended up finding out that they share lots of things in common.
In addition to naps, they also enjoy begging dad for treats. Though stereotypes tell us otherwise, dog and cat friends can be pretty common.
“Dogs and cats can form fast friendships. It is life experiences with members of the other species, and not an inborn animosity, that determines how cats and dogs feel about each other,” Karen Pryor Clicker Training writes.
“The initial meeting sets the stage for future considerations in the dog/cat relationship. Both species communicate with body language and, because they ‘speak’ differently, misinterpretations may start the relationship on the right or wrong paw, depending on who says what to whom!”
I wonder what Coco said to Mittens or what Mittens said to Coco that set them off on the wrong paw at the beginning of their relationship.
It must have been pretty bad to ignore each other for 13 years.
And I wonder what was said to make it right again!
Either way, we’re glad that they are friends now and that they are going to be spending their final years as besties.
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