Today Eli was laying next to me on the floor when Lily started looking in
the cat flap (to make sure Eli not around) so she could come in and have a
bite to eat. Eli *always* attacks her. So I hid Eli from her long enough to
get them both inside at once, so I could have a talk with them about their
fighting.

I locked the cat flap right after Lily came in but in that couple of seconds
they already started to fight. I whapped Eli and he scampered into the
bathroom cupboard. Meanwhile Lily ran under the bed to hide. I locked Eli in
the bathroom and dragged Lily, growling the whole time, out from under the
bed and carried her into the bathroom, where we all had a long talk.

I started off by apologizing to Eli for all the times I had punished him for
attacking Lily, and explained to Lily that it "takes two" and that When she
*expects* to be attacked, and goes on the defensive, runs away, etc. it is
an invitation that Eli cannot resist. I told her that just like Abelard
learned to act bored when Eli started challenging him, she too would have to
change her attitude, lose the fear, and calm down so we can have a peaceful
home again.

At first Lily would not take her face out of the crook of my arm and look at
Eli, or if I made her look at him, she'd pin her ears and start growling. I
just kept talking to the both of them and petting them, and calming Lily
down. Eli was very cool about the whole thing, he never growled, hissed or
acted the least bit threatening.

Although I had a lot of work waiting for me, I promised myself I would stay
there in the bathroom with these cats for however long it took for them to
make peace. And it did not take a long time. Within half an hour, Lily was
laying next to her dear Uncle Eli, with both of them purring. I stayed with
them for another five minutes or so and then let them go.

So far there have been no further fights, but if it does happen again we
will go through another round of peace talk in the bathroom, each and every
time until these two cats can co-exist without upsetting everyone else.