In the wake of a poorly managed re-introduction after the recent Christmas separation; we have been managing a full blown crisis of constant cub battling.  We’re talking about the kind of screeching you hear from feral cats trying to maul each other in alleyways, hanks of fur flying around, attempted eye gouging and scabby faces… it’s been a nightmare.  One of the reasons we haven’t blogged about it is because it was just too awful to write about!  At this time however, we are tentatively through the worst of it.  I’m delighted to share that two of the easiest innovations have been an increasing their territory and giving Miles bell collar.  The least popular was a brief stint with Prozac… which stressed out cats force fed pills nightly not fun.  So, Miles wears a collar now.  Furnished with not one but TWO bells and a metal tag it telegraphs his every move unless he’s moving very slowly (which he does sometimes; it’s very entertaining) in an effort to be stealthy.  Such ambushes however, typically don’t pack the same wallop!  Here are a couple of pics of some of the new improvements allowing us to live together in relative peace:

Desperate times call for desperate measures!  I picked up this tip from listening to Temple Grandin talk about dogs and cats’ intense fear of slipping.  She recommends using a bathmat to increase their confidence on slippery surfaces.  Although the fridge top is accessible to our cats it’s never been a popular hang out so I added a clean bathmat to make it a more attractive roost.  Here Miles was stalking Timber from across the room. Timber was on top of the bookshelves which are now accessible due to the strategic placement of the cat tree.

OK, enough of this.  Time to go wake Timber up!! [*jingle-jingle*= Watch out!!]

Tags: Bengal cat, cat behavior, tortie cat

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