A few days ago in desperation I found another website which offered advice on cats living together and not getting along. It had some useful solutions we hadn't tried before. We had already gone through Plenty. We have toys all over the house, two feeding stations, three litter boxes. So, that one's covered. We didn't have so much Altitude. So, day before yesterday I ordered a cat tower from Amazon due to be delivered today so Sadie can get up high, she's a canopy girl and Sassy is a bushes girl - usually low to the floor. In the Love section they mentioned a water bottle so I cleaned a spray bottle really well, filled it up with water, and set it beside the chair I use in the living room. This was two days ago. Since then, when Sassy runs at Sadie, I squirt her with the spray bottle. When she just lays quietly or jumps up in the window with Sadie but not bothering her, I don't spray her. Another hint they had was removing Sassy to a carrier for 15 minutes which is something we'll do if the spray bottle doesn't work. We tried distracting Sassy but we're read yelling is not good, tossing a toy, using a laser, some kind of distraction is the right way, but Sassy will not be distracted. The spray bottle really works well.
It's 8:35 am, both cats have eaten, hubs closed off Sadie long enough for her to eat in peace and use the litter box and then he opened the gate. I spent an hour this morning with the squirt bottle and the laser which both of them chased. Twice Sassy made a run at Sadie and twice she got squirted and took off. Sadie was in the window, Sassy went down to the family room (level two) and I went to my craft room on level four to watch yesterday's episode of Judge Judy (please don't judge me, I'm waiting for relatives to appear on it). Sadie came up and wound around my legs for a while and let me rub her head. When she disappeared, I went to look for her, not on level four (bedroom door is closed, she wasn't in the bathroom either. Not in her window, the kitchen or dining room (level three), not in the family room (level 2) but Sassy was on Carl's chair and when I went to the top of the stairs leading to the basement (level one), Sadie was in the area between the two rooms right at the bottom of the stairs. As far as I know she has never voluntarily gone to level two or level one, although we did lock Sassy up once and take Sadie down to the family room to show her the laundry room litter box which she used and as soon as I opened the laundry room door, she scooted back to her window. It's heartwarming to see her take some ownership of the house and to see Sassy laying quietly and watching Sadie come into 'her territory'. I'm not throwing any parties yet. We've reach a truce several times only to have it escalate back into this perpetual chasing Sadie back to the window. Thirteen more days before we leave and we'd love to leave them out in the open when we go.
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