Saké and Marty

I love how much Saké is stretching to get a good look at Marty:

Marty

It's rare that I see Marty near the rats, but every time I do, I cringe.

And the award for least trustworthy cat goes to...

He was removed immediately after this picture.

A Near Miss

A couple of months ago I posted about Saké and Marty (bentorats.blogspot.com/2011/03/sake-and-marty.html). Marty is not a cat I want around the rats, and the girls seemed to agree for quite a while. Gradually though, they relaxed when he's around and happily, he ignores them most of the time.

Additionally, last month I shared the story of Annie, our Weeping Angel, who is so silent that I managed to kick all of our other pets out of the bedroom before letting the girls out to play while neglecting to notice that Annie was even in the room (bentorats.blogspot.com/2011/05/dont-blink.html).

As a result of that near fiasco, I am exceptionally paranoid now when I get the girls out. I double check under the bed, around corners, etc., to make sure that there are no cats or dogs waiting to have a close experience with Saké and Sushi.

But then this weekend, after 30 minutes of the girls running around and playing, I suddenly noticed Marty standing in the middle of the room. Marty is generally quite sleepy, and I'm not sure he even noticed his proximity to two small rats. I grabbed him quickly and put him in the hallway, and the girls probably never even knew he was there. For me though, this was unbelievable. How could I do that TWICE?

If anyone doesn't need easy access to rats...

Saké and Marty

I have mentioned before how I enjoy watching the interaction between Saké and Penelope. Since the beginning, they have been curious with each other and Saké doesn't hesitate to grab Penn through the bars, etc. Because Penn's fat paws do not fit between the bars of the cage (and because the rats' room is shut when we're not around), I don't worry about her and Saké too much.

On the other hand, there is Marty. Marty doesn't pay much attention to the rats but he's also a cat and has pretty slender paws. I don't like to see him near the rats and until recently, it seemed like they agreed. If Marty is near their cage, Saké used to act a bit agitated and would stay to the back of their cage. I haven't witnessed Marty doing anything but watching them but still, he's a cat.

Then last night, I noticed this:

Marty checking out the rats.

Before I grabbed the camera, I went to grab Marty, but then I noticed that Saké was not acting upset or agitated by his presence in any way. In fact, she came right to the front to check him out.

Getting a closer look...

Let's come in for a better view.

Nose to nose.

But then:

Just what does he think he's doing?

I still don't trust him.