Expanding Territory

Okay, we're really back this time. And I promised photos, so here you go...

Not terribly long ago, The Amazing Husbandini decided to move his home office out of one of the spare bedrooms and down into the basement. Much shuffling of stuff ensued, and we ended up with an empty room upstairs. This room has a very large west-facing window and the doorway faces the hall with a good view of the master bedroom door and the top of the stairs. Little Grey Kitteh loved it and immediately adopted the room as part of "his" territory.

Now, I had plans for this room. All my sewing stuff had been gathering dust (and occasionally, kitty pee) down in the basement since we moved in, and I decided that this newly-vacant space would be perfect for a sewing room. But the more we worked on cleaning and painting and sprucing up what had been a pretty shabby space (seriously, I don't think it had been painted in about 30 years and it had some horrible drywall patching going on), LGK was making himself more and more at home in there. After a few afternoons of sunbeam-basking, it was obvious that whatever we did with the room was going to have to be cat-friendly.

First came the spare Drinkwell fountain. Then came a new kitty tree. Then came the cushy kitty bed. And is there really any point in mentioning the assortment of toys?

Melted Kitteh

LGK, surrounded by tribute (note the empty fishy pudding plates)

There were some additions that weren't so readily taken to:

I'm not sure about this. So I think I'll lurk behind it for a while. And is pink really my best color?

There were some that needed no instruction or getting used to:

"Zzzzzzzz .... huh? Oh, it's you."

And then, there were additions that had nothing whatsoever to do with LGK. Additions that were, in fact, solely for my benefit. But, in the spirit of compromise, LGK jumped right in and let it be known that he was willing to accept anything else that I might put in the room:

Photo taken .08 seconds after I put that freshly-laundered pair of jeans on the sewing table. Anything cushy, sitting in a sunbeam, must belong to a cat.

So, as you can see, LGK has adapted very nicely to being an upstairs-only cat.

Remember Us?

My apologies for the holiday break turning into a mini-sabbatical. We're all still here - the 2 humans and 4 cats, and things have settled into a mostly peaceful arrangement. Give me just a couple more days to catch up on some things and then I'll be back with updates and photos - lots and lots of photos!

Quick Updates, Then Vacation.

Yes, I suppose you could say I've been on vacation from this blog for quite a while now, but now I'm just making it official - No more updates between now and the New Year unless something really spectacular happens.

The screen door has been a great success, even though Little Grey Kitteh did figure out how to jump up on the screen section after about a week. A couple of shots from the squirt bottle seemed to clear that up, though. He's been enjoying having the run of the upstairs - whenever Big Acoustic Kitty is either behind closed doors or downstairs - and has reclaimed the guest room. He's always looked on that room as "his" room (it was the sanctuary room when we first brought LGK and Monster home) and hasn't ever been thrilled at being moved out of it.

LGK also had his yearly checkup a few days ago, and passed with flying colors. Well, there were a couple of comments about kitty pudge, but that was to be expected. The vet also commented on what an expressive face LGK has ... especially his "worried" look. She said if he kept that up, he'd be a kitty botox candidate pretty soon.

Big Yellow Hallway Monster and Electric Mayhem continue to get along pretty well, and they seem to have adjusted to BAK's increased presence downstairs. The sunroom continues to be neutral territory (knock wood) and the Christmas decorations have been met with some minor nibbling, but no peeing.

That about sums things up ... we'll hope things continue on this well.

So from all the kitties here, best wishes for a very Merry Christmas, and we'll be back with you in 2011!

The Door

Oh, the door. The wonderful, wonderful door.

The screen door has been installed at the top of the stairs for almost a full 48 hours now, and the improvement is noticeable. (Okay, so, aesthetically it's not an improvement at all ...) Since it's all screen with only some lightweight bracing at the bottom, we were a little concerned with how we would prevent kittehs from trying to climb the screen. After much discussion, we ended up pulling some 12 mil clear vinyl across the bottom and stapling it in place. So far, that half-assed solution seems to be working. ("Remember, this solution is only temporary - unless it works." --Red Green)

Our other concern was the roughly one-foot high gap between the top of the door/frame and the ceiling. However, so far nobody has seemed interested in scaling the screen door from either side. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

The Amazing Husbandini gets all the credit for managing the project and installing the door. I was next to no help at all. (I did carry the door through Lowe's, out into the parking lot and into the house, however. Just call me Schleppel.**)

Except for a couple of hours when I had to re-locate everyone while I was out of the house this morning, Little Grey Kitteh has been enjoying his increased territory and spending a lot of time sleeping on the foot of our bed. He seems considerably calmer as well. Big Yellow Hallway Monster has been very vocal in his confusion over why he can't let himself upstairs any more, but other than that, things have been going pretty well.

I have photos, but no USB cable for the camera. I think somebody ate it. As soon as I get my hands on another one, I'll share our newest home project.

**That's a Terry Pratchett/Discworld joke. If you're not a fan, you'll have to go look it up.

Ow.

We had another escape today. It was my fault ... Little Grey Kitty had been wandering around upstairs for a little while and hadn't tried to jump the gate, so I took my eyes off of him for about 4.5 seconds.

By the time I got downstairs, LGK and Electric Mayhem were in full fur-puff and exchanging war growls and Big Yellow Hallway Monster was heading in from the sunroom* to see what was going on. Against my better judgement, but with no real alternative, I scooped LGK up and tried to take him upstairs. There was much wiggling and yelling, but no real damage other than a minor scratch across one wrist. (Mine, that is.) The only problem was that BYHM was trying to back up the staircase in front of us, and I could tell he was getting more and more agitated, so I didn't think the odds were good for me getting LGK back into his room without some cat-vs.-cat action. So I reversed course and went to shut LGK in the downstairs bathroom for a minute until I could get the other two under control.

The next couple of minutes are a blur ... I did manage to get LGK into the bathroom, but at some point I also ended up with seven or eight scalpels embedded in my right leg. Okay, so it was four sets of claws and one set of teeth ... trust me, it all feels the same. Electric Mayhem decided that my leg looked like a good target for her frustration, so she really let me have it. Thank goodness for heavy denim, is all I can say. After LGK was in the bathroom and EM had disengaged from my flesh and was snarling at everyone from under the dining room table, then I had to defuse the agitation brewing between BYHM and EM before they decided to get into it. BYHM was ignoring the toy I waved in his face, so I grabbed the broom and shooed him into the basement and slammed the door on him. Then I lured EM (with difficulty) out into the sunroom for some treats and shut her out there. Finally, I managed to get LGK out of the bathroom and back upstairs to his room. (In case you're wondering, Big Acoustic Kitty was safely shut in the master bedroom during this whole adventure.)

Eventually everyone got calmed back down and EM and BYHM and I had an extended feather toy/kitty treat session ... long enough for me to feel like they had worked out their aggression and weren't going to start in on each other. LGK I just left alone for the rest of the day. I didn't hear him howling or jumping at the doorknob, so I think he needed that alone time. I did let BAK come down later in the afternoon, and nobody seemed any more interested in him then usual, so I think we're okay.

Suffice it to say, getting that screen door up is tomorrow's #1 priority.

I'd post a photo of my war wounds, but I don't think anyone's really interested in looking at my pasty white leg. But let me tell you, it's a really good thing that shorts weather is several months off. Not only do I have large, bloody holes in my leg (one might even have been a candidate for a couple of stitches, but I'm too cheap to pay the $150 emergency room co-pay, so screw it) but EM nailed me with enough force that I'm already forming some extremely impressive bruises.

*Oh, yes ... I think I've failed to mention that the sunroom (location of some of the earliest aggression incidents) is back to being a cat-friendly zone. I went with the white-trash option of painting the glass at kitty eye level so that any visiting kitties will go unseen by our bunch. It looks pretty tacky, but as far as the intended results - so far, so good. *Knock wood*

Board

We have a new toy. It doesn't look like much, but it the mostest wonderfullest thing in the entire world!

Long story short, I spent my first full day of Thanksgiving break doing some long-overdue things around the house ... cleaning the kitchen, putting all my canning stuff away for the season, and cleaning the master closet. A previous owner had built his/her own shoe shelves out of some 1" x 8" boards covered with these truly lovely, olive green, cut pile carpet scraps - I'm guessing this was the original carpet in the house. These things were next to useless, so I yanked them out and propped them up at an angle against the bedroom wall while I dealt with the rest of the closet cleaning.

Little Grey Kitty, who had been lounging on the bed watching this whole operation, decided to come and investigate. First, a few sniffs ... then, a tentative stretch and a little clawing ... then some more serious claw sharpening ... then it was Woo-hoo, Katie bar the door!

He ran up the board!
He ran down the board!
He jumped from the board onto the bed!
And back again!
He levitated from the far side of the bed onto the very top of the board!
He climbed up the back side of the board and then swung himself around to the front!
Lather, rinse, repeat!
"Mom, Mom! Look at meeeeee!"

So now, of course, we must find a spot for these two boards and their hideous carpeting somewhere upstairs where the fun can continue. Tomorrow, I will be cleaning out the studio closet so that we can figure out some sort of permanent configuration in what promises to be a rather impressive kitty jungle gym by the time we're finished.

Photos to come.

A New Wrinkle

Remember the baby gate I've mentioned? And how it worked well for keeping Electric Mayhem and Big Acoustic Kitty apart back in the day, but how Big Yellow Hallway Monster hurdles it quite nicely? Well, now Little Grey Kitty can hurdle it quite nicely, too.

For the longest time, LGK would go tearing through the house and just come to a screeching halt when he hit the gate. We think he did try to jump it once, way back when, but he came down wrong and injured one of his legs. Until recently, he hadn't tried it again. But lately he's been getting more and more frustrated with his space limitations and he apparently decided it was worth trying to hurdle the gate one more time. We've had 3 successful escapes in the past two days.

One the one hand ... Oy! This, I do not need. On the other hand, while there has been hissing and growling and much puffing of tails and back fur, there has been no actual contact between cats or bloodshed. Not that we're willing to just let LGK roam around down there and let the chips fall where they may, but at least he's not instantly attacking the first cat he sees.

Did I mention the screen door previously? And how the plan is to use it as a replacement for the baby gate? Originally it was so that BYHM would stop invading the upstairs, but now it will be just as much so that LGK won't invade the downstairs.

Frustrating.

The Problem(s) & The Players

Even though I've mentioned the problems we're having in other posts, I've had it on my to-do list to write up a post specifically about said problems, so here it is. And I may as well combine the problems with some gratuitous kitty photos as well.

#1 - The Big Yellow Hallway Monster - a.k.a. BYHM, Monster, Poldark:


This boy is a problem all by himself. About 4 years old, 16.5+ lbs., neutered male, FIV-positive, the sorta-kinda alpha cat in the house. He is a big, friendly mess of a cat, but he does have some issues with his inter-cat relationships. He is (IMO) a fairly "weak" alpha, and this is (also IMO) part of the problem. He has to make sure - repeatedly - that all the other cats know that he is the one in charge. He guards the food and water, he guards the litter boxes ... it's like he's constantly worried that one of the other cats will usurp him. And, he has hard-core redirected aggression issues. Any sign of a strange cat outside and he will attack any and all of his companion cats. He also seems to have (and I haven't found a good term for it yet) problems with that line between playing and fighting with the other cats. There have been times when I would swear he's just trying to play (and maybe do a little bit of his alpha act at the same time), and if the other cat doesn't behave in the way he seems to think they should, then it turns into an attack situation.

(Edited to add: However, having taken him to the vet last week for very extensive dental work, I will say that some of his attitude problems might have been attributed to multiple toothaches ... he's recovering from having 7 rotten teeth pulled and while he hasn't turned into an angel, there are signs that he's a bit happier kitty in general now.)

Let me make one thing perfectly, abundantly clear: BYHM is a total and complete lovebug - when it comes to people. There has never, ever, ever been any aggression towards me or the Amazing Husbandini, even when BYHM has really been torqued hard about something. His aggression issues are exclusively limited to the other cats in the house. If he were in a single-cat household, he would morph into the world's largest feline couch potato. The problem is ... he's only 25% of our total feline biomass.


#2 - The Electric Mayhem - a.k.a. EM, Princess, Evil, Beelzekitty (you get the idea):


She's Papa's Little Girl. (And she knows it!) She is about 11 years old, spayed female, dilute calico, formerly the alpha-by-default when it was just her and Big Acoustic Kitty, now much, much further down on the status ladder.

One good thing about EM is that she's mellowed quite a bit with age. If she were still in her younger years, this house would be a bloody battle zone. But, she's accepted her fall in status, and she's good at not drawing attention to herself - and as long as she is left alone, she manages pretty well. She and BYHM probably have the best relationship, in that they tend to ignore one another, or, she scuttles off in avoidance whenever BYHM starts getting bossy. And since what he wants is to vanquish all potential opponents, that works out pretty well.

On her own, EM is not much of a problem. She's mellowed enough that I think she and BAK could probably co-exist pretty well if it were just the two of them again.

Over the ten years that we've had EM, Amazing Husbandini and I have repeatedly wondered if part of her problem (aside from being a calico - you know what they say about them) is that she was taken away from her mama and siblings too early. She would have been an absolutely stunning kitten, so it's very possibly that she went off to a new home too soon. She has a lot of socialization problems that could easily be chalked up to not spending enough of her kitten days with a mama to tell her what's what and siblings to teach her how to behave around other cats. She has no idea at all how to play with other cats ... but, after living with Ziggy and now BYHM, it looks for all the world like she's trying to figure it out.


#3 - Little Grey Kitteh - a.k.a. LGK:


Right about 2 years old, 8.5 lbs, neutered male, grey shorthair, adopted just over a year ago along with BYHM. In addition to "redirected aggression", the other feline behavioral term we've learned in all this is "social maturity". While I think LGK has a bit of a redirected aggression issue, I don't think his is as big as BYHM's. However, I do think that we tripped over the social maturity issue with LGK. Social maturity (as I understand it) is a little like a human's teen years. There can be some shuffling around of the feline social ladder and cats who were previously lower in status can suddenly start jostling for a better position. I have no idea exactly what happened or what happened in what order, but I think that LGK started coming into his own, started to assert himself over EM and then either started to assert himself with BYHM or just was in the wrong frame of mind to have BYHM start getting aggressive with him.

LGK has been living in a room by himself for about 3 months now, after things came to head as described in one of the "Background" posts. We come and spend time with him and have been trying to re-introduce him to the other cats (admittedly, it's been kind of haphazard). Some days the relationships seem to be okay (or at least not hostile) and some days they don't. I suspect LGK was just completely overwhelmed by the problems when he was still downstairs, and now that he's got a place of his own, it's going to take a whole lot of very strong persuasion to convince him that other kitties can be okay.


#4 - Big Acoustic Kitty - a.k.a. BAK, Mr. Boo, Cranky Kitty, Super Explorer Cat:


Our cranky old man kitty. Somewhere in the 15 - 18 years old range, neutered male, blind, arthritic, diabetic (in remission until recently, now back in full force - along with all the inappropriate peeing that comes with uncontrolled diabetes), about 9 lbs., orange tuxedo Maine Coon Mix, polydactyl. BAK has been with us for 12 years next month, and he is our senior cat in not only age but in seniority. He's become more and more feeble as time has gone by, and we suspect he will be the next one we have to say goodbye to. However, he has a special place in our hearts (if not in the hearts of the other kitties) and we're pretty focused on making sure he has it as easy as possible in his twilight years.

But don't let any of that fool you ... for all we adore him, he's also a pushy, demanding, pain-in-the-ass of a cat. He also doesn't really approve of us bringing home all these other cats. On good days, he will ignore them, but on bad days he hisses and waves his paw around at them (somewhat ineffectually ... he is blind, after all) and runs away from them (kinda ... arthritis, blind.) So managing his relationships with the other cats can be very problematic, especially since he can't really defend himself if one of the others decides to go after him (usually BYHM or LGK, since EM has mellowed enough that she doesn't do that any more.) For many years, we divided our living space in half - BAK lived upstairs and EM lived downstairs with a tall baby gate playing the role of the Berlin Wall. However, in the new house, not only does BYHM jump the gate with very little effort, but LGK is closeted upstairs and BAK himself has recently decided that he can go downstairs after all. And trust me, when he is standing at the top of the stairs, bitching to be let out in that horrid rusty-gate sounding howl of his, we rush to do his bidding. So he's made his own contributions to the weird territory issues that we have around here.

I think that about sums it up for the "problem overview" and introductions. The only other ones I could include photos of would be me and Amazing Husbandini, but that's not going to happen. :-)

Bear With Me...

...I'm pretty swamped with school work right now, and while I have 2 posts under construction, they have to take the back seat for a couple of days.

All in all, we've had some good, some same-old same-old, and some not so good kitty stuff go on in the last little bit - nothing really earth shattering. More details after I finish some homework.

Non-Pee Related Post

So, after all the pee-related frustrations, I realized that I haven't posted much about how things are going on the re-introduction front. Here goes:

Big Acoustic Kitty is really throwing a wrench into things by insisting on spending so much time downstairs. He wants to eat downstairs most mornings, which means that Little Grey Kitty either eats in the studio by himself or out in the hallway by himself. Which, I'm afraid, has just reinforced his notion that the upstairs belongs to him. He and BYHM are still sniffing noses through the gate, but he's gone backwards in his tolerance of BAK. BAK has come up the stairs a few times and LGK makes it known that he really wants him to go away. No hissing or growling, but some mild lunging and paw waving and generally "not happy" body language.

So, all in all ... we're not making any progress yet. (I went back and put "yet" in. I'm trying to stay hopeful.)

More Frustration.

Today is Bagel Day (aka "payday"), so the Amazing Husbandini and I left the house early to go out for breakfast. After breakfast I lingered at the library and then wandered around Hobby Lobby for a while going, "I know I came in here for something, now what the hell was it?!" (An eraser for my design class, turned out.) Finally I headed home, unloaded all my stuff and went inside to see the kitties and indulge in a chapter or two of one of my new books before I had to get cracking on homework.

I sat down on the couch and got through about half a paragraph before I said to myself, "Self, why is our butt wet?"

Oh, joy ... somebody peed on the couch! (As an aside, I've had many reasons to regret buying this particular couch over the past 3 years, but I now have another one - the oft-touted non-absorbency of microfiber is a load of hooey.)

Who did it? Well, there's no way to know for sure. I strongly suspect Big Acoustic Kitty, since the couch has been his perch of choice since his recent re-discovery of the downstairs. However, it could have been either Big Yellow Hallway Monster or Electric Mayhem. (But my money is on BAK.)

Why did they do it? Again, there's no way to know for sure. In the past, inappropriate peeing of this nature has been due to BAK getting a little too much insulin. However, since he's currently off insulin, that can't be the case. Old age? Possible. BYHM or EM keeping him from the litter box? Possible ... and considering how much of an alpha pain in the ass BYHM has been lately, that's pretty much my guess.

So now what? I can't leave the house unless everyone is separated? Well, I guess so ... or at least I can't leave for more than a quick trip to the store unless BAK is upstairs.

And don't get me started about the couch. I've wiped it down with water and sprayed the beejeezus out of it with Nature's Miracle, but it's one of those poofy, over-stuffed recliner couches - I don't know how well it's going to clean up. Which means we'll be shopping for some new furniture, I guess. You know, we had come to the realization that the furniture in the family room is too big for the room, but this is not the way we wanted to fix the situation.

I'm starting to think seriously about running away from home.

3:20 p.m. addendum: It's now a couple of hours after the fact, and I've thought about it some more. This morning when I came downstairs, I noticed a distinct urine odor at the bottom of the stairs. I grabbed the StinkMaster 5000 and flashed it around, but nothing "came to light", as it were. I finally decided that someone had recently used the litterbox downstairs and that was the smell. However, I didn't sit on or otherwise examine the couch. It's possible that the couch-puddle occurred sometime after we took BAK up to bed last night. (I was sitting in that spot right before we took him up to bed ... and I know I'm not the one who did it.) So I'm not ruling out EM and BYHM after all.

And, I've found some super-cute 1930's-era armchairs on Craigslist that just need a little reupholstering ...

Frustration

Maybe I should not be quite as upset about this as I am, but ... well, I am.

Yesterday (or maybe it was the day before - things have been busy here lately) I discovered that Little Grey Kitteh had peed all over a pile of papers in the studio. This morning, I discovered that the corner behind the door where he likes to hang out also smells of urine. Now granted, both of these spots were discovered well after the event in question ... both spots were long dry and the smell was only evident after I happened to move some things around and got closer to the source. The spot by the door was actually underneath some other stuff, so I know it's been there for a while. And the spot by the door I could sort of understand - all the pee was at the base of this bookcase that had come up from the basement. If some of the basement smells had come with it, that would explain some of the peeing.

I've cleaned up both places really well and will be keeping a better eye on LGK from now on. I just wish I knew what had triggered it. Did Big Yellow Hallway Monster hang out on the other side of the door and make LGK upset? Was LGK not feeling well one day? Was he just annoyed that I'd left him or shut him back up in the room one day? Did it happen during nicer weather when the windows were open and something outside upset him?

And honestly, I can't be 100% sure that LGK was the one who did it. (Though that's my guess.) The bookcase was there before the studio became LGK's home, so it could have been BYHM. The paper I'm pretty sure was LGK's mess, though.

So ... Amitriptylene (usually prescribed by vets for the treatment of "inappropriate urination") for everybody this morning. I'd been slacking off in giving it to LGK, but that was obviously a mistake. Luckily, LGK and BYHM are much better about taking their medicine than Big Acoustic Kitty is about taking his. They don't like it, but there's none of this "run and hide and pee on people and then run around foaming at the mouth and drooling all over everything" like BAK does.

In other news, "outings" upstairs have become a daily event for LGK, but I think we need to really rev up the re-introductions. There have been a number of mutual nose sniffing sessions through the baby gate at the top of the stairs, and overall they've gone pretty well, but I'm a little worried that LGK is starting to view the entire upstairs as his territory. And if BAK starts feeling worse again and not spending so much time downstairs, that could become a real problem. But, since the Amazing Husbandini is down with a nasty cold and I'm starting to feel that cold-heralding tickle at the back of my throat, too ... well, we'll just see what happens, I guess.

10.14.10

*knock wood* Yesterday and today have gone pretty well.

Little Grey Kitteh had not one, but two outings yesterday ... he got harnessed up and let out of the studio to wander around the upstairs a bit. The first time went unnoticed by the other three kitties, but the second, pre-bedtime outing did get the attention of Big Yellow Hallway Monster and Electric Mayhem. But, while LGK and EM didn't get nose-to-nose through the baby gate, they didn't show any hostility, either. And BYHM and LGK did get nose-to-nose through the gate, but also showed no hostility. So, good news there.

However, right after LGK wandered off from the mutual-nose sniffing session, he did start to act a little weirded out and went right back into the studio when I called him. Short and positive sessions ... that's what we're after.

BYHM had his first dose of non-ear-goo Amitriptylene this morning ... he wasn't happy. But at least he doesn't drool it all over the house like Big Acoustic Kitty does with his steroid meds.

Site Update

All the background posts (#1-4) are finished, but Blogger was giving me grief about editing #4, so it's not hanging out with its buddies.

10.13.10

Rolled out of bed late this morning, so the kitties were all sure we'd been eaten by wolves and they'd never be fed again. BYHM went straight into the bathroom and "let" me shut the door on him, then fussed the whole time. Which is fine. Big Acoustic Kitty then decided that if wanted breakfast, he was apparently going to have to get it himself, so he came downstairs and dined in the family room. Finally I managed to bring a plate up to Little Grey Kitty and he's eating it while I type.

So ... been falling down on the job the past couple of days. Nobody's really been wearing their harnesses or meeting the prisoner. Although LGK did get a little bit of an outing last night while everyone else was downstairs. He really wants out of the studio, but the second he's past the door, you can tell he's somewhat on guard. And he can't be out too long, or he overloads a bit. Slow and steady increasing of territory is the way to go, I guess.

We're considering actually putting some kind of a screen door at the top of the stairs so that he doesn't have to worry about BYHM jumping over the baby gate and getting to him. (Because it's not obvious enough that we're crazy cat people.)

That's it for now. Starting tomorrow, I think the daily posts might come in the evenings, or even go up a day late, so that I have something more to discuss than just breakfast. Fishy pudding can only be so interesting.

10.12.10

No breakfast upset this morning ... because I didn't even try.

After getting to sleep around midnight and waking up around 3:00 a.m., I think I've earned a one-day pass on trying to harness the cats for a breakfast introduction. However, Big Yellow Hallway Monster does now smell like pickles.

"Smelling like pickles" is a 3-word phrase with a lot of history around here. Back in the day, it became painfully obvious that Electric Mayhem and Big Acoustic Kitty were never going to get along. In an effort to curb some of EM's psycho behavior, we had to resort to a spray bottle full of water. It helped, but not much. So then we added a little bit of white vinegar to the water. Not enough to hurt her if she got it in her eyes, but just enough that the smell would put her off. After one particular dousing, she dried herself off and came sneaking back to cuddle up to her papa ... who sniffed her and said, "she smells like pickles."

Have you seen the t-shirts for dog lovers that read, "It's all fun and games until someone ends up in a cone"? We keep saying we're going to make one up for ourselves that reads, "It's all fun and games until someone smells like pickles." Nobody would get it but us, but that's okay.

BYHM, pissy-pants alpha that he is, has developed a bad habit of whacking at EM while they're waiting for me to finish fixing their breakfasts. He's always a little possessive of the food dish area, but breakfast time is the worst. I've taken to shutting him in the downstairs bathroom so EM can whine about starvation in peace. He's actually gotten pretty good about going into the bathroom and then staying there to eat his food. But, this morning I was out of it and he wasn't behaving, so when he went to smack his sister, I squirted him with the water bottle. Not a happy kitty, that one. But, breakfast did get much less punchy.

I know the negative reinforcement techniques should be used sparingly, but while BYHM is responsive to some positive reinforcement techniques in other areas, he's not giving up his need to run the other cats off from the food dishes. So ... pickle water it is.

Background, Pt. 4

So what did I do that was so bad, you ask? Well, it's like this... Quite a while ago (before we moved last summer, I believe) we bought a harness and a leash for Electric Mayhem. Back when my in-laws still lived within easy driving distance, we used to haul her along with us for weekend visits and I believe that we bought the new rig for her planning to use it when we made the new, much longer drive to visit them in New Mexico.

On a nice, sunny day in early August, I was working out in the yard with the Amazing Husbandini and the three downstairs kitties were crowded up against the screen door between the kitchen and the patio, sniffing the summer breeze and meowing at me to come back inside. Big Yellow Hallway Monster and Little Grey Kitty were hogging the floor (though getting along quite well), and Electric Mayhem was up on the table. Somehow, for some reason, I got the brilliant idea to hook EM up in her harness and leash and bring her outside with us.

In retrospect, considering the reaction we'd had to an interloper kitty a month prior ... stupid.

EM actually enjoyed her outing pretty well. But right about the time she started to get overstimulated, I got nailed on the thumb by a wasp. I let out a very impressive scream (I'm a little surprised nobody called the cops) and that just upset her more. (And probably the boys inside, though we weren't paying attention to them right at the moment.) So we gathered her up and brought her back inside. Things were fine until we got her unharnessed and put her down on the floor. Then suddenly, we had another scary 3-way cat fight on our hands. And this time, they weren't breaking it up on their own, and when we finally got them separated, LGK was staying puffed up and snarly and was ready and willing to tear into anyone who came near him ... humans included, we thought.

Luckily, at this point in our experiences with the new boys, we had already figured out that LGK would often want to go upstairs to retire by himself in either the studio or the guest room. We joked that he just needed some "alone time". So I did manage to get his attention and shepherd him upstairs (luckily avoiding Big Acoustic Kitty on the way) where he settled down in the guest room and I could shut the door. At first we decided to just let him cool off for a little bit, but when he was still agitated that evening, we just put some food and water and a litterbox in the room with him and left him overnight.

This was the point when we finally looked at one another and said, "This can't go on." We made straight for Cat vs. Cat and the sections on aggression and peeing. By this time, we were already tearing our hair out over the spraying activity in the basement and the dining room, and hearing somebody say, "who peed on the rug in here?!" from some corner of the downstairs had gotten to be fairly common. We had each seen BYHM and LGK spray once, but most of the time we just came across the evidence and the specific culprit was unknown.

Our first decision was to make a vet appointment for LGK to rule out any medical problems. We decided he could live in the guest room for a couple of days until the appointment came around. Turned out, he had himself a urinary tract infection. Considering the stress in the house, I'm not surprised. We brought him home with a week's worth of antibiotics and a tube full of trans-dermal ear goo (Amitriptyline, actually, but "ear goo" is easier to type) and instructions to keep an eye on him. Happily, he took the medicine (reluctantly, but still) and there have been no outside-the-box incidents since he's been incarcerated. (However, he's been locked up in a room upstairs all by himself for over two months. That's not really the life we want with him.)

We figured he would be fine up there for a few days or even a week or so until we could read up on the whole reintroduction process. That's when the next problem started to reveal itself ... you can find all kinds of information on introducing new cats to each other. The problem is that too many of these resources also say, basically, "reintroduction is just the introduction process repeated." Well, yes and no, we've found.

There was also another aspect to our problem ... we soon found ourselves thinking that we had locked up the wrong cat. With LGK out of the picture, we started to be able to see some other behavior problems that were still going on. A week or two after LGK went into lockdown, there was yet another neighborhood cat that came by. I think he was originally just heading across the yard, but when he saw me standing at the door, he came over to say hi - and found himself nose-to-nose (again, through the glass) with BYHM. Neighbor kitty backed up and hied himself off, and the next thing I knew, BYHM had launched himself at EM (who had just happened to be wandering through the kitchen) and started attacking her. It broke up pretty quickly, but only because she rolled over on her back and peed all over herself. That seemed to appease the alpha in him and he went stalking off.

After that incident, we decided that BYHM needed a trip to the vet as well. And it turned out that while he didn't have an infection, he did have crystals in his urine. So he came home with prescription cat food and his own tube of ear goo.

This pretty much brings us up to date. LGK did move out of the guest room and into the studio in early September because we needed the guest room for, you know, guests. And since more guests will be coming at some point, we decided to leave him where he was. But other than that, nothing much has changed.

Up next: The Problem and The Plan (and The Players, since I just realized I don't have any gratuitous kitty photos posted yet.)

10.11.10

The breakfast pissyness continues.

This morning proceeded much like yesterday morning, until the Big Yellow Hallway Monster decided that he was tired of all this nonsense and he just wanted his breakfast and he was not going to play our silly games any more. He then managed to slip out of his harness and refused to come anywhere near the door to the studio.

So Little Grey Kitty (fully harnessed) ate his breakfast with the door open and no other kitty in sight. BYHM did stay upstairs to eat, but he did it down the hall and around the corner.

After all that, the new plan is to spend a few more days getting BYHM used to his harness before we try it again. He did so well the first couple of times he wore it that we thought he'd be okay, but I guess we rushed it.

Other than that, all is well so far today. LGK is napping in the sun behind me as I type, and the rest of the house is quiet.

10.10.10

I pissed everybody off over breakfast today.

The normal routine involves me going downstairs, shutting Big Yellow Hallway Monster in the bathroom so he doesn't try and play whack-a-mole with Electric Mayhem while he waits, then feeding EM and then bringing BYHM's plate of diet fishy pudding into the bathroom for him. Then it's fix plates for Big Acoustic Kitty and Little Grey Kitty and take them upstairs so that they can have their breakfasts on either side of the (open) studio door. BAK and LGK have been doing pretty well with their breakfast time, with only a few incidents here and there. (And those, I'm sorry to admit, have been because one or the other or both of the humans weren't paying enough attention.)

This morning, the plan was to harness up both BYHM and LGK and let them see each other over breakfast. However, that involved NOT feeding BYHM downstairs. That wasn't well-received. I had to take three plates of fishy pudding, the harness and the leash and one very upset kitty upstairs. Then we had to feed BAK without letting BYHM muscle in on the action. Then, we had to safely stow the food while we hooked him into his bright blue S&M outfit. Then, we had to keep him in the hallway while I went into the studio and harnessed up LGK (who had been howling and throwing himself at the door ever since he heard the baby gate open when I went downstairs). Only after all that could we open the door and put everybody's food down so they could eat.

However, things went pretty well after that. BYHM, as expected, tucked in to his breakfast with not more than a brief glance at LGK. LGK was a little freaked out when he saw BYHM and his tail was at about half-puff all through breakfast. But, he finished his food with only a few breaks to look up and check out his new companion. And nobody charged at anyone.

So ... good news on that front. BYHM then went in to see BAK (who had been shut in the master bedroom for all of this, eating his breakfast in peace) and there was no residual aggression or frustration to be seen. Another positive.

Unharnessed, BYHM went back downstairs and got an ear full of Amitriptyline, and to this point in the morning, all is well. (knock wood)

A Quick Aside

Profuse advance apologies for the state of my blog posts over the next little bit. I have "Background 2" underway, but because part of the intent here is to provide a day-by-day account of our reintroduction efforts, the posts are going to be all over the map until I manage to get the daily records up to date as well as getting all the background and introduction posts finished. I'll be backdating posts and moving everything around for probably a couple of weeks. So if you get confused as to the order of all the posts, either sit tight and wait for me to get my chronology straight or just send me a "'the hell?" messages and I'll try to help.