Today's Sign of the Apocalypse

My cats were born in my apartment so they've always known Emily the way they've always known me. Elvis tends to think he's a dog and that he's progressed in the pack to a station above Emily. For her part Emily, as a relatively curious and rambunctious dog, was taught to be very respectful of the kittens. As they grew her respect did not diminish so she continues to treat them as if they were teensy and fragile instead of the holy peeing terrors they've become.

Neither cat tolerates excitement well. Any quick movement or sound shoots them off like a feline canon ball. Anna is especially sensitive to this sort of thing and as a result doesn't usually snuggle right up to the dog. If it gets cold all three animals will come up and share the bed with me or they'll each stake out a spot on the couch but usually with a respectable distance between them.

In the past few days I've noticed that sometimes when Emily is sitting as she's pictured above Anna will come over and lay down perpendicular to her, right across her front paws. They lounge like that until Emily shifts then Anna will gently stand, maybe rub her head and body back and forth beneath Emily's chin before settling down again. This evening they were doing it again. Emily seemed just spent, so tired in fact that she was resting her head on Anna's back.

They know.

I wonder if this has been going on a long time just not while I was home. Maybe Emily has had bad times or episodes, maybe even seizures and the cats have been here comforting her. Maybe they have known about her troubles for months before I even noticed. At least they have each other I suppose but it is just heartbreaking to watch and not to know as much as they seem to.