My aunt, uncle, and cousin came down from Vermont for Thanksgiving, along with their small mixed-breed dog, Spike. Overall, he is a sweet, mellow, and very well behaved little gentlemen, but to be fair to the cats, we kept him gated off in the reading room and hallway. Miko does not like dogs at all, so she avoided that area of the house completely. Scully investigated a little, but so much as a glance from Spike sent her slinking away.

Stephanie, on the other hand, was quite bold. This is nothing new for Steph – she insists on showing affection to an old, cantankerous ex-feral who would much prefer to be left alone. Left to her own devices, Stephanie would quickly prove the old adage: “curiosity killed the cat”.

This morning, Spike was hanging down the hall with the boys in Stephen’s room. Stephanie, as she had done before while the dog was outside for walks, jumped over the 2 1/2 foot high pen and started sniffing around. She sniffed right up to Stephen’s bedroom door. And I don’t know who got spooked first, but there was a sudden scrambling of eight legs as Stephanie tore down the hallway with Spike right on her heels, followed by a  *crash* as she ran headfirst into the exercise pen.

Scared witless, she continued to ram the pen, puffed up to nearly twice her size and hissing breathlessly. Spike had lost whatever interested he had, and I think he was just as scared of the crazed cat as she was of him.

All of this happened in the span of about ten seconds. Mom swooped in to pick up the dog, and I grabbed the terrified cat. She clung to me for a good five minutes, then ran into my room and hid behind her sister. She’ll probably be sore for a day or so. And I don’t imagine she’ll be going near a dog anytime soon.