Week 12: An Update
08/05/2010 06:04 PM
Mercedes and Orlando now spend the entire day with access to the same space, which means anywhere in the house they want to go. For Orlando, that means the entire house. For Mercedes, it generally means just the upstairs. She rarely dares to initiate a trip down the steps because Orlando invariably sees this as an invasion of his territory. He responds by aggressively chasing her back up the steps where a fierce battle ensues with Mercedes growling and yowling in distress.
We separate them with squirts from a water bottle, always aimed at Orlando the aggressor. He flees for a moment or two, returns and resumes peaceful behavior. Mercedes, meantime, lives unhappily with his constant intimidating presence.
When possible we try to arrange times of separation. Mercedes is an indoor/outdoor cat. Now that warm weather has come, she is eager to go outside and we allow it as much as possible. Orlando has become fond of the sunporch and we let him go out there, shutting the door behind him, giving Mercedes a breather when she’s in the house.
Mercedes’ peaceful home has been invaded by a very unwelcome yellow presence. She surely realizes that Orlando is no longer a visitor but a resident. A despised resident.
So conflict interrupts times of relative peace. Conflict is more the exception than the rule, but we think this is the way things are going to be for the rest of their days. We want to be more intentional about giving them separate spaces for as many hours per day as possible, but we gave up on installing barriers within the house or locking one of them in a room.
It does not appear that two grown cats can learn to appreciate each other. The feline instincts to territorialism are just too strong. When Orlando walks past Mercedes without incident, it is almost invariable because she stands her ground, not growling or moving. But just let her move and the chase is on. But she has a right to free movement within her own house. But Orlando will not extend to her the very thing he takes for granted.
We continue to learn just how self-absorbed cats can be.
We separate them with squirts from a water bottle, always aimed at Orlando the aggressor. He flees for a moment or two, returns and resumes peaceful behavior. Mercedes, meantime, lives unhappily with his constant intimidating presence.
When possible we try to arrange times of separation. Mercedes is an indoor/outdoor cat. Now that warm weather has come, she is eager to go outside and we allow it as much as possible. Orlando has become fond of the sunporch and we let him go out there, shutting the door behind him, giving Mercedes a breather when she’s in the house.
Mercedes’ peaceful home has been invaded by a very unwelcome yellow presence. She surely realizes that Orlando is no longer a visitor but a resident. A despised resident.
So conflict interrupts times of relative peace. Conflict is more the exception than the rule, but we think this is the way things are going to be for the rest of their days. We want to be more intentional about giving them separate spaces for as many hours per day as possible, but we gave up on installing barriers within the house or locking one of them in a room.
It does not appear that two grown cats can learn to appreciate each other. The feline instincts to territorialism are just too strong. When Orlando walks past Mercedes without incident, it is almost invariable because she stands her ground, not growling or moving. But just let her move and the chase is on. But she has a right to free movement within her own house. But Orlando will not extend to her the very thing he takes for granted.
We continue to learn just how self-absorbed cats can be.
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Week 7: An Update
07/29/2010 10:27 AM
Here we are at week 7 and there’s relative peace. But the peace is relative — relative to whatever mood Orlando is in and the willingness of Mercedes to bear with his excesses.
First, a quick review since the last post. The upstairs cat/downstairs cat arrangement worked quite well. For a while. The cats lived largely separate existences. To be sure, Mercedes appreciated this more than Orlando. She enjoyed the fact that he could not get in her face whenever he wanted. He lived somewhat grudgingly with having to stay downstairs most of the time, except at night, when he slept on our bed.
But the arrangement broke down less than a week ago when Orlando finally figured out that he was strong enough to climb over the gate that previously had kept the two apart. Once he figured that out there was no keeping them apart. He scaled the gate at will, both going and coming. So we have removed it and returned to the old arrangement of putting him in a bedroom and closing the door. This we do, however, only when we are not here and don’t want Orlando to take advantage of our absence by harassing Mercedes at will.
So now, for the most part, they have no barriers between them. He still chases her off the chair she often makes her bed. She still spends more time than we’d like hunkered down under a hutch where he can’t quite get at her. But she does venture out into the open when he is not in sight, and he, perhaps more than before, just walks past her without provocation.
Can’t say that we are much closer to the kind of peaceful coexistence we’d like to see. But we haven’t had any obvious setbacks. Enjoy the photos that follow:
First, a quick review since the last post. The upstairs cat/downstairs cat arrangement worked quite well. For a while. The cats lived largely separate existences. To be sure, Mercedes appreciated this more than Orlando. She enjoyed the fact that he could not get in her face whenever he wanted. He lived somewhat grudgingly with having to stay downstairs most of the time, except at night, when he slept on our bed.
But the arrangement broke down less than a week ago when Orlando finally figured out that he was strong enough to climb over the gate that previously had kept the two apart. Once he figured that out there was no keeping them apart. He scaled the gate at will, both going and coming. So we have removed it and returned to the old arrangement of putting him in a bedroom and closing the door. This we do, however, only when we are not here and don’t want Orlando to take advantage of our absence by harassing Mercedes at will.
So now, for the most part, they have no barriers between them. He still chases her off the chair she often makes her bed. She still spends more time than we’d like hunkered down under a hutch where he can’t quite get at her. But she does venture out into the open when he is not in sight, and he, perhaps more than before, just walks past her without provocation.
Can’t say that we are much closer to the kind of peaceful coexistence we’d like to see. But we haven’t had any obvious setbacks. Enjoy the photos that follow:
Mercedes prepares to defend her turf
Not quite playing together, but close
Orlando showing off
Upstairs cat; downstairs cat
07/22/2010 09:32 AM
When Mercedes and Orlando are in the same room at the same time it is only a matter of time before he will invade her space. Most of the time a hiss and growl from Mercedes will convince him to walk away. But some of the time, he ignores the warning and moves in to completely disturb her peace. And then they disturb our peace.
We aren’t talking about mortal combat. We’re talking about him flushing her into the opening and giving chase, and her finally turning to stand her ground, hair on end, yowling and hissing and, lately, moaning in utter distress. When this happens several times in a day, Mercedes is, by evening, a complete emotional wreck. She won’t even let us touch her. She seems to go through a period of post-traumatic stress disorder, and we’re afraid it will become a permanent condition.
So we have separated them, for the most part. For now, Mercedes is the upstairs cat; Orlando is the downstairs cat.
We aren’t talking about mortal combat. We’re talking about him flushing her into the opening and giving chase, and her finally turning to stand her ground, hair on end, yowling and hissing and, lately, moaning in utter distress. When this happens several times in a day, Mercedes is, by evening, a complete emotional wreck. She won’t even let us touch her. She seems to go through a period of post-traumatic stress disorder, and we’re afraid it will become a permanent condition.
So we have separated them, for the most part. For now, Mercedes is the upstairs cat; Orlando is the downstairs cat.
Mercedes the upstairs cat
Orlando the downstairs cat
A toddler’s gate at the top of the stairs separates them. Except for occasional times when we take the gate down, they have no more contact than they mutually agree on — peering at each other from a safe distance. And when together, we try to keep it from getting so bad that Mercedes moans in distress.
Checking out the competition
We’d hoped for better. It may still come. But for now, Mercedes has a right to some peace. And Orlando has lots of love to give, and we are happy to receive it. Downstairs.
Moving right along, seeking some space
07/15/2010 05:30 PM
Mercedes and Orlando are settling in to a pattern of occasional unpleasant interaction followed by seeking distance from each other.
The other night they got into their worst tangle, by far. It was like Orlando had finally had enough of her rejection and he just lit into her. It wasn’t a bloody fight, by any means, but still, we had to separate them. We grabbed Orlando and took him to the bedroom, where he slunk under the bed, as if to say he knew he’d done wrong. An hour later, when we went to get him out of the room, he had to be coaxed out from under the bed, meowing in response, as if to say he was sorry.
Mercedes, for her part, seemed to quickly get over it. She did not hunker down under a table or back herself into a corner. She was soon out and about in the house. When we brought them back together later, she did not immediately run for safety. She hissed and dared him to try it again. He didn’t.
So, we’ve decided to give them a bit more separation during the day when we are there. (They are always separated at night and when we aren’t present). So we bought a child gate and created a barrier between the upstairs and the downstairs. We keep Orlando downstairs and Mercedes upstairs most of the day. We do let the mingle for half an hour at a time and, so far, they’ve avoided any tangles.
We still see no reason, however, to believe they’ll ever be friends.
The other night they got into their worst tangle, by far. It was like Orlando had finally had enough of her rejection and he just lit into her. It wasn’t a bloody fight, by any means, but still, we had to separate them. We grabbed Orlando and took him to the bedroom, where he slunk under the bed, as if to say he knew he’d done wrong. An hour later, when we went to get him out of the room, he had to be coaxed out from under the bed, meowing in response, as if to say he was sorry.
Mercedes, for her part, seemed to quickly get over it. She did not hunker down under a table or back herself into a corner. She was soon out and about in the house. When we brought them back together later, she did not immediately run for safety. She hissed and dared him to try it again. He didn’t.
So, we’ve decided to give them a bit more separation during the day when we are there. (They are always separated at night and when we aren’t present). So we bought a child gate and created a barrier between the upstairs and the downstairs. We keep Orlando downstairs and Mercedes upstairs most of the day. We do let the mingle for half an hour at a time and, so far, they’ve avoided any tangles.
We still see no reason, however, to believe they’ll ever be friends.
At the 3 Week Mark
07/08/2010 08:40 AM Filed in: Cats
We have all established a certain routine. On our part, we allow Orlando and Mercedes to be “out and about” in the house for most of the daylight hours…when we are here. We put Orlando in the bedroom when he becomes too aggressive in trying to entice Mercedes to play with him. He also spends each night in the bedroom to insure that we all get to sleep without feline interruption.
Mercedes’ routine is pretty much defined by spending hours each day by the coal stove downstairs, where she can insure that Orlando doesn’t come at her from the back or sides. She abhors it when he finds her undefended and can get her to run. She acts like a hapless calf in a rodeo, kept from escaping by a skilled horse and rider. Orlando has forced her into a cowering position in the middle of the room several times by his superior speed and size. He doesn’t want to fight her or hurt her. He is simply playing. She, of course, is not.
But speaking of play, we gave Orlando as brown paper grocery bag the other day and he amused himself for at least an hour.
Mercedes’ routine is pretty much defined by spending hours each day by the coal stove downstairs, where she can insure that Orlando doesn’t come at her from the back or sides. She abhors it when he finds her undefended and can get her to run. She acts like a hapless calf in a rodeo, kept from escaping by a skilled horse and rider. Orlando has forced her into a cowering position in the middle of the room several times by his superior speed and size. He doesn’t want to fight her or hurt her. He is simply playing. She, of course, is not.
But speaking of play, we gave Orlando as brown paper grocery bag the other day and he amused himself for at least an hour.
Orlando the grocery store item
We set out a second bag for Mercedes, but she only sniffed at it. She much preferred to sit on a lap and watch Orlando. Maybe some day she will join in the fun.
Mercedes the spectator
It seems that when Orlando gets bored, he goes after Mercedes. For a short while the other day, we had them both in the same room and got them both to play with a string. They watched each other with interest.
Mercedes continues to hiss and growl, sometimes loudly, when Orlando gets too near. She has raised the volume because he is less deterred than he used to be. He will get nose-to-nose with her, and that is much too close for her sensibilities.
But Mercedes does not seem traumatized. When we put him away, she quickly reappears in the open to eat or whatever. She seems to sense when he is in the bedroom and not a threat. We don’t want her to have to put up with him 24 hours a day yet. Not sure we’ll ever actually get to that. But they are both handling the time together for now. Mercedes would consider it a victory if he would simply ignore her. Victory for him is to make her his friend. He has already succeeded in this with us, his new owners.