Back to lockup....

Sassy continues to be a brat.  She keeps chasing Sadie back to her window keeping her from eating or the litter box.  We don't think it's an evil thing, Sassy isn't showing aggression, there's no hissing or growling, just a run at Sadie.  It would be so great if we could get into the minds of cats and find out just what is going on.  While the gate to the living room was down, Sadie spent 97% of her time laying in the window, only getting down when Sassy was out of sight.  With the gate up, Sadie is down and playing with toys, jumping in my lap when I spend time in the living room and seems to be much happier.  We're getting closer to vacation every day and I hate to leave Sadie locked up when we go but the prospect of her not being able to get to her litter box (and she's such a good girl) is alarming.  I'm also afraid the longer we leave the situation as is, the more ingrained it will be and we will be unable to undo the status quo. 

I spent several hours in the living room this morning playing with Sadie.  She loves balls and the long green fuzzy thing on a stick.  Then, I opened the gate and let Sassy in and they played with the mouse on the string but didn't get closer than three feet to each other.  When I left to run to the kitchen they had a confrontation -  noise only but Sadie did not back down.  And Sassy did not get her to jump up to the window, Sadie just moved to another part of the living room.  After several more of those hissy fits, I went back to the living room and sat down.  Sassy seems calmer when I'm with them.

In order to let Sadie explore the rest of the house, we locked Sassy in the living room and let Sadie roam.  She seems more amenable to that than she has previously.  She actually went into the dining room with Sassy loose so maybe she's getting more confident.  But for the most part she seems content to be in my craft room with me.  Since she's not familiar with the family room and the laundry room litter box, I will have to put her back in the living room and chase Sassy out before it's time for a potty break.