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.
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