They let the new kitty sleep with them every night and the old kitty didn't get to any more. New kitty is safe in bed with them. Hmm, Leo has slept in our bed nearly every night since he learned to come upstairs and jump on the bed..
Jackson talked about making sure the older kitty got her food first because she's the queen. Hmm, we put Leo's down first to keep him from diving into Star's because food time is the only time he doesn't care if he gets close to her. And we want to make sure he gets his medicined food, not her non medicated food!
So there were two things that we could work on right away! We rigged up a way to block off the upstairs, put food and water up there, and now they take turns. One night Star is up with us, with full access to the bed and the center of the human smell. And the next night, it's Leo's turn. And repeat.
It's working well so far, though they are a little confused. The one left down stairs meows at the gate (really a long table covering the top of the stairs), which I think is funny because it's about the ONLY time you ever hear Leo meow! He has such a cute, sweet, little kitteny meow for such a huge mancat!
We're also making sure Star's food gets set down first, whether she dives right into it or not. Leo is held back and not allowed to take her bowl. Then he gets his bowl. He's learning that we're not starving him and his is coming within seconds of Star's. He's such a goof ball!
Have we seen any changes? Hmm, hard to say. Obviously they don't fight all night or hide from each other all night. Star still wants to smack on Leo, but since they are not really out when one of us isn't up, she's not having much success in her attacks. Feeding time is calm and even if Star decides not to eat what we give her, she knows we think she's the queen.
What they don't show you on the show, but they talk about on his website, is that they also use Spirit Essences. They're not cheap, but we're thinking about getting some to see if they help.
Oh, we've also been playing with them with the same Da Bird at the same time. On opposite sides of the room, lol! And that's going ok. Star will run around and attack it, but if she's in the room, Leo will only play from the top of the Royal Footstool.
Anyway, we love that show and we're hoping that the ideas we've gotten from it will help our babies!
A view of dinnertime. Those are the dinner/wet food bowls sharing the chair with Leo.
I WANT MY FOODS!!!
Pwease...?
Mommy?
Daddy?
...dang it.. I don't know which one to suck up to...
16 comments:
Give the kitties a couple of weeks to see how things are working out - usually these sort of things take some time. It sounds like so far so good, though!
yep - we love that show. gives mom some ideas...and she says it makes her certain that we aren't as "hellish" as she would like to think.... MOL
Great post, Andrea -- it's got it all. Info plus laffs. You're my kinda gal. And I second the comment about time. Cat time. You know. They have to sleep on things. All kinds of things. All over the house. For a long time. Then -- maybe -- they will get with the program. Maybe. Or -- the program but with their own variations. After all. They are -- CATS. We know this!
Whenever you start a new routine it will take awhile to see results. WE hope this works for you.
purrs
>^,,^<
♥Abby♥Boo♥Ping♥Jinx♥Grace♥
I think this has EVERY chance of working. Star...Leo..please...get with the program!!!
We can watch that show much, we go bonkers when the cats on TV start screaming and using bad language! Hey, go to catwisdom101.com and track down the article on essence oils, it is a worthy read. You guys can do it!!!
We like to watch that show also - it has good information. Sometimes I think that cat just don't like each other. After almost two years, Sassy and Callie no longer try to kill each other, but they will never be "friends" I don't think.
Paws crossed for Little Bourbon. Hopefully the recheck will bring good news.
It all makes a great deal of sense, I hope you see some improvement soon :-)
We alternate nights with Julie and Mica Moo. Carl eats in the kitchen, Julie on the stairs, Oui Oui in the dining room and Mica Moo in the bedroom. So no one fights or steals another's food (Oui Oui is REALLY slow and takes breaks to watch kitty TV etc). We've tried all kinds of pheromones, Rescue Remedy etc and spent a lot of money and none of them worked.
Our mom has been using the Spirit Essence on us. At first she didn't think it made any difference, but that's because she wasn't using them regularly and consistently. She's now making a point of using them all the time, and she thinks it's working...it's subtle, but she does notice a difference.
Hmm. I can have my Human as much as I want whenever I want her. The problem is: I don't much want her. Ha ha ha!!!
I hope this works. It does take a while for changes in routine to work. I guess we are lucky... we don't much sleep in the bed, so there's no disputing that. It makes mom sad that we won't sleep with her like the previous generation of cats did. Kids these days!
The thing that we did learn from My Cat From Hell that really does make a difference is making high places to sit in a room so that we can share a space without having to pass too close to each other if we don't want to.
Leo just give little sighs and your big cat eyes and your dinner will be there in a flash.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
We love watching My Cat From Hell. We just wish there were more episodes. :)
It does sound like you're on the right path, just probably need to give it time to work.
Leo, that first photo of you gave us quite the scare. Those fearsome teeth AND the laser eyes. *shudder*
PS/ We have the exact same bowls!
Oh Leo, we understand. Picking which to suck up to can be a very hard decision. Generally, we find Mumsy the softer spot. Unless she been yelling over something she thinks one of us did. One tip, make sure your candidates are not in the same room. Then if your efforts fail with one, you can go and try the other.
Has a happy!
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