Since turning a year old, Gideon has become significantly less needy and time consuming...or perhaps this is because of the addition of a playful, active doberman to the household. Between Bogey the dobie and Ahri our pyr mix, he cares to spend any play time/energy he has wrestling and playing chase with them over chasing any toys. I do try to make a point to play with him several times a week, but it is rare that any toy has the same influence over him as the dogs, who never grow bored of interacting with him either. I often wonder what Jackson Galaxy would say about that, but I suppose so long as he seems happy and healthy and isn't driving us crazy with crazy behavior, everyone seems to do well with this arrangement.
That said, I think there is a lot of benefit to the Siberian breed in general to not be alone, and think Gideon would be significantly less chill and more mischievous were he spending all his time alone all day with only us for company in the evenings. I'm a firm believer in having more than one kitten early on, or, apparently, cat-friendly dogs work well too. I think Gideon sees himself as one of the group with the dogs; he participates in their day as much as possible, and oversees everything we do. He firmly believes it's his job to supervise each dog (or dogs) whenever they go outside, and while he has ceased meowing at them for the most part, he plops himself in the dog bowl by he window and watches, not moving until they all are safely back inside. He even gently paws at them as they come back in, as if petting them for their good deed of coming when I call them. So long as there is a dog outside, he stays by the window, and will not leave for any toy or even his favorite canned food!
About the only con we've had with the cat vs. dog interactions is that our newest dog, Bogey, is obsessed with Gideon's corn-based cat litter. Not the "treats" inside the litter mind you, but the litter itself. We've already had three occurrences where he's managed to get into Gideon's upstairs box, to the point where we are considering removing it entirely. I dislike this of course, since we are technically supposed to have two boxes in a two story house, but admittedly, with it gone, he's not seemed to miss it during periods when we've had guests stay and need the room to be temporarily cat-free. It's also nice to have more than one box should we ever get sick or busy and know he has a clean backup, but I guess time will tell if this is going to be necessary or not. Cat boxes are difficult to "hide" and our spare box is certainly not dog-proof, despite being the attractive "Poopoopeedo" model designed by a French decor company straight out of Paris.
Besides this one hiccup, our Giddy Kitty completes our family. My husband adores him and gives him kisses and cuddles every day, which Gideon seems to enjoy, or at least tolerate well, never giving much (if any) struggle, and always coming back for more. He loves to be around people, so much so that we have to board him at the premier cat boarding facility near our house where our dogs go every time we go out of town, where he happily gets to play and snuggle with staff members several times a day and watch as all the outdoor world goes by with a huge wall-sized window. We've continued to keep up with Gideon's 100% wet, high protein, low carb diet, though he is still picky in that he won't eat the same flavor twice in a row, and does grow tired of them over periods of time. I have to re-evaluate our monthly Amazon order each month to insert new flavors from the same affordable brands to keep his interest. We recently discovered Friskies Poultry Platter, which comes in 5.5 oz cans for $10 (24 of them!), which, while slightly higher carb than other foods, not enough to discount the value that it has for us as an affordable option that is non-fish based. Even though the foods I feed him (Fancy Feast, Sheba, Fiskies, etc.) are not of "highest quality", I am hopeful that he will at least be better off by eating a sole diet of only wet food.
That is, with he exception of his one kibble he gets tossed from the dog's food every time I prepare it. He waits patiently next to me every time I scoop up kibble into the big metal bowls for our three large dogs, all getting at least 2 cups each. He LOVES dog kibble. Perhaps I can attribute it to his dog-like personality, or wishing he was one ;). Hopefully just these one or two daily pieces don't have any long-term effects!
