From how two fluffy cuties went from not knowing each other, to be inseparable brothers, masters of mischief and their cuteness squared.
This is Thor and Loki, they are convinced that they are both Cat-Dogs/Dog-Cats.
Loki was raised by a cat! So he has many behaviours that are more kitten than Pupper. Loki is the master of mischief, whether he is just living up to his name or the name was apt, no-one knows....
This is Thor. We adopted a tiny, underweight, flead little girl. He was not a girl! Weighing in at 670grams, he was too light for treatment, so we gently combed him each day till we got his weight up!
At first Loki was not entirely sure if he wanted there to be another creature that lived in the house. He loved the bunnies and chickens... But he was an only child. We hoped they would get along, provide company for each other and we hope Thor peeing in the garden would help us with the occasional rat sneaking in from next door. He mostly looked wide-eyed whilst the teeny creature hissed at him. Loki of course... Ran away.
We slowly introduced them. After we could treat the fleas properly to reduce Loki's chance of getting them. We treated him too, but it's very tricky to find a defleaing treatment for dogs that isn't toxic to cats! Discovered most cat flea collars are actually toxic to cats too! But we got everyone treated and let them set the pace for introduction, not wanting to force either.
Loki kept giving us a "Seriously human? You brought this tiny creature into MY house?!"
Thor was definitely the bravest of the 2.
Thor started hunting Loki out... Loki once met a bunch of puppies. His face looked exactly like this. "Help human! It is chewing my neck!"
"OK... Maybe it isn't that bad.... Still unimpressed."
"I accept him... This means I can steal his toys right?"
"Maybe he isn't SO bad.... He is a warm little thing..."
The first time we saw them napping together, it took all of our will power not to squee out of our brains. This was almost exactly 1 month after Thor came into our lives.
Getting pictures of them wrastling is crazy hard. They're mostly blurs! But when you do, I think it's worth it. It amazed us how they manage to play and match each other so well. This was around 19th December.
If kitten catten wasn't asleep on me, there was a high chance he would be asleep on Loki. And when he fell asleep, Loki acted pretty much like a human with a cat sleeping on him: wouldn't move, even if he really wanted to!
They are both so shiny! But it warms my heart to see them together.
Thor was growing now and fast and becoming loooooong cat!
Loki was definitely becoming possessive, and Thor possessive of him. Not in a bad way, but if Thor was in the Bathroom, Loki would go and hunt him out. If Loki was on a walk, Thor went into a strop, dramatically Yowling. Sounded more like howling which was amusing as Loki also Howls.
"This is my brother now."
Loki is a collie, a bit smaller than some, but when he curls up he looks so small. Especially when Thor stretches out.
It's hard to dislodge that from a sofa, so people occasionally sat on the floor xD
At Loki's birthday party (We have one for him every year on Valentines day.) With impending homelessness, it was only small things this year, but Loki still enjoyed himself. It may seem silly to have a dog's birthday party when on the 27th of that same month we were expected to leave with nowhere to go... But it cheered us. They both kept us going, even when things were grim.
At nearly 6 months old, the vet said Thor was old enough for the snip. With great trepidation, he was bundled up in the morning and sent to the vets. Everything went perfectly, but we were nervous none the less. Loki was unhappy. He didn't know why his brother was gone. He sulked, searched the house and looked forlornly out of the window.
When he came back that same day, he had lots of snuggles from the humans, Loki almost vibrated with glee. He even did the tap dance he reserved for his favourite humans on Thor's return!!
When they both calmed, they claimed onto the sofa together. Curled up and stayed like that for hours. If Loki's tail had been longer, they likely would've have been even more entwined. (Side note, Loki has a naturally short Bob tail, we didn't do anything to it.)
They are probably fed up of my following them around with a camera. But I can't help it. Plus, they're easier to photograph when asleep. Both of them are pretty quick and I delete hundreds of blurry pictures, put them together and that worsens! A tactic I like to use to get good phots of pets, is to record them for a few minutes, then go through it slowly, screen shotting bits I like. My phone has a very good camera and it works well, not as well from others videos, but I still get what I can!
Head smooshing :) :)
This was a screen shot from someone else's video. It's not the best of quality, but I still think it's a good one. At the very end of this, I'll link a video compilation where this came from!
Now we have finally moved into our new bungalow. Which is amazing as 2 of us are disabled, life without stairs is bliss. Thor also likes it, as we had a baby chicken upstairs in the old house, so he wasn't allowed upstairs. But now he's litter trained, we didn't see a reason not to let him see the bed. Loki sleeps there, so it only seems fair. He trolled around the room, rolled and luxuriated on the blanket and I got many nose boops and head nuzzles. Ever since he entered our house, I've never gone to bed without Booping his nose, so now he races ahead to be in the bed before I get there, then he lies on his back like Loki, waiting for Boop nuzzles.
I love that when I get ready to brush my teeth, he races ahead to be in the bed waiting for me. Usually he and Loki go at the same time (If he's not popping outside!)
I wish Thor was facing the camera here, but I just love his little paw and Loki's snout!
Paw Boop!
Just a few individual pictures to give you a few Loki & Thor Factoids - When you scratch Loki about his tail, he does his butt dance and gaaarumphs. He occasionally pokes his butt at me in an attempt to get me to do it. His eyes are the colour of mahogany. His Instagram handle is "LokiTheSmiler". He smiles a lot.
As well as being gloriously moustachioed, he has an upside down heart on his face. Before we settled on Thor for his name, it was Aquilus, as the markings reminded me of the assassin's creed logo, and Aquilus was a more Roman sounding and my partner is a Roman history buff. His Instagram handle is "Thor The Tribble" as he trills like a tribble when he is happy.
This is why he is Loki the Smiler! I didn't know Loki as a pupper, well, I did but pictures. His owners lived in Wales, I am in Nottingham. Loki was 18 months old when I first met him and we instantly became friends. He also, and without any training, learnt to detect my seizures. He guards me if I fall and protects me when I'm sick he cares for me. He occasionally lies on my legs when he decides I shouldn't be walking around!
As well as going through several names before we settled (Sidhe when we thought he was a girl, Aquilus, then Thor) He does have quite a few nickname. Kitten Catten and Toast are my favourites. Toast because he always smells like toast! I have no idea why! Originally he was going to be an outdoor cat, but I wasn't sure about it knowing how many animals they kill... But we live near a main road now.. And he likes hugging dogs, so we have decided to go for indoors now!
Loki, in 'his' bed ;) Loki likes to converse with humans, but he doesn't do it in barks. He loves you to 'Oomph' back and forth. He is also very good at howling. Barking is reserved for the evil of all evils (in Loki's mind)..... Bikes. Or people in high vis jackets. We have no idea about the latter... But collies tend to dislike bikes. He can smell people who don't like him, he's also an extremely good judge of character. The few people he didn't like, later turned out to be not very nice people!
Thor has many dog traits, being raised by a dog who was raised by a cat. He mimics Loki's roll onto his his back perfectly! He watches vans exactly like Loki too. He doesn't look out the window with detachment like other cats I've know, but in the same way Loki does, in that he is guarding the house. Also when they're together, if they hear a noise, they're like meerkats: heads move in sync to and from noises. As you can see from this picture, his face is just as expressive as Loki's!
For people who have furry friends who sleep on your bed, (lucky Loki remains on the bottom half only) but, if you have fuzziness on your bed, you know there are hairs and only that first day on a change is bliss..... Unless you have satin sheets! Originally I got them as I was told satin pillow cases were good for your hair (the curls!) We quickly discovered hair just doesn't stick to it! A little shake and it's like new sheet day, every day! When he isn't sleeping on the bed, he likes to nest under it... Bashing our carefully stacked boxes into his specific formation for his nest. We don't mind, it's nice that he nests near us. One night I was stuck awake, reading. Everyone was asleep, and suddenly from under the bed he howled. Only once, but he was a very beautiful howl
For a kitty, who we haven't put serious effort into training for voice commands, he is extremely receptive. He learns quickly and if you say stop he immediately does and backs off from what he was doing, like climbing nets to get to a dream catcher. When things are settled we are hoping we can expand on this. As things went crazy after he'd been with us only 2 weeks haha. If you hold a hand out, he will run to Boop his nose with your finger. His over all favourite food (that he gets rarely in very small amounts) is mashed potatoes. He loves potatoes. I'm lactose intolerant so it's not even the butter! He also likes chilli (tiny amounts). I make all his cat food carefully designed so he gets what he needs without crude Ash and with high quality meat. So a tiny chunk of a skinny chip every other month, he's fine. I've done tests too, offered him mash and meat at the same time... He always goes potato!
