Glass gate to Spicey's domain

Not seeing any particular reason not to let Spicey be seen by Dot and
Buster anymore, I set up this glass barrier to the upstairs.

http://home.comcast.net/~takayuki9z/...%20barrier.jpg

Spicey has full run and confidence in her upstairs domain. To Dot and
Buster, the staircase is an area that's usually closed to them. They've
been up there plenty of times before though. Now that I'd opened the doors,
they were eager to go back upstairs to explore and play.

*Boing*! Oops, I'd miscalculated.

Both cats ended up jumping headfirst into the glass pane, which they'd
never seen before. Let me explain this setup - it's very simple.

First, there's a thick glass windowpane situated at the top of the stairs.
It's anchored in place at the top. Second, there's an unfolded cardboard
box situated right under it to deny the incumbent cats too close a view.

But what actually happened? My poor kitties, seeing this unfamiliar piece
of cardboard, but confident in the footing just above, jumped straight into
the windowpane! Poor kitties! You can see Dot looking very bewildered here.
She jumped into it twice! Buster just ran away from the mysterious force
field after his first collision. I'm sorry babies!

I don't think the cats will see each other for a while. This area is
uninteresting, and out-of-the-way for both Spicey, and for Dot and Buster.

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...

Not seeing any particular reason not to let Spicey be seen by Dot and
Buster anymore, I set up this glass barrier to the upstairs.

http://home.comcast.net/~takayuki9z/...%20barrier.jpg

Spicey has full run and confidence in her upstairs domain. To Dot and
Buster, the staircase is an area that's usually closed to them. They've
been up there plenty of times before though. Now that I'd opened the doors,
they were eager to go back upstairs to explore and play.

*Boing*! Oops, I'd miscalculated.

Both cats ended up jumping headfirst into the glass pane, which they'd
never seen before. Let me explain this setup - it's very simple.

First, there's a thick glass windowpane situated at the top of the stairs.
It's anchored in place at the top. Second, there's an unfolded cardboard
box situated right under it to deny the incumbent cats too close a view.

But what actually happened? My poor kitties, seeing this unfamiliar piece
of cardboard, but confident in the footing just above, jumped straight into
the windowpane! Poor kitties! You can see Dot looking very bewildered here.
She jumped into it twice! Buster just ran away from the mysterious force
field after his first collision. I'm sorry babies!

I don't think the cats will see each other for a while. This area is
uninteresting, and out-of-the-way for both Spicey, and for Dot and Buster.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I adopted Duffy, I wanted some way that Holly and Duffy could see (and
even smell) each other without actually coming into contact with each other.
Up until then, Holly had always become very aggressive toward any other cat
that was in my vicinity. We even called her "the black tornado." A
handyman who does all sorts of work for me located a very cheap door at the
lumberyard (*very* cheap because it had some damage--but that was alright
because it was only going to be used temporarily). He cut a large square
hole in it (about 2 feet square), mounted a wire "mesh" panel, and covered
the edges of the mesh so it would not be rough and could not injure my cats.
He took down the door to the guest room where I had Duffy, mounted the
hardware from that door on the new (temporary) door, and hung the door. I
also asked him to cut enough wood from the bottom so the cats could reach
through and so I could slide a plate of food under it. This way, the cats
should see each other, and I would occasionally place a treat on a platter
that I would slide *half way* under the door so the cats could eat
face-to-face without actually touching each other. This worked beautifully.
There was some hissing in the beginning, but they gradually came to accept
each other. Today, they are good friends, but I took a full six weeks
before I left the two cats alone without the protective door. After that,
the temporary door was removed (stored in the attic in case I need it
again), hardware replaced on the permanent door, and the guest room door was
replaced. Incidentally, this was the type of wire mesh that has small
squares and is very rigid and sturdy--not the flexible type that Spicey
might be able to destroy.

I also used some plug-in Feliway diffusers. Feliway is used for behavior
modification and can be very useful in reducing stress. It is available in
plug-in diffusers (with refills available) and as a spray. This is
something you might want to consider. I suggest using the plug-ins so it
can be working all the time and place them in locations where the cats are
likely to be--perhaps one in Spicey's room and one in a hallway outside the
room.

MaryL

"MaryL" wrote in message ...



"Takayuki" wrote in message
...

Not seeing any particular reason not to let Spicey be seen by Dot and
Buster anymore, I set up this glass barrier to the upstairs.

http://home.comcast.net/~takayuki9z/...%20barrier.jpg

Spicey has full run and confidence in her upstairs domain. To Dot and
Buster, the staircase is an area that's usually closed to them. They've
been up there plenty of times before though. Now that I'd opened the doors,
they were eager to go back upstairs to explore and play.

*Boing*! Oops, I'd miscalculated.

Both cats ended up jumping headfirst into the glass pane, which they'd
never seen before. Let me explain this setup - it's very simple.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I adopted Duffy, I wanted some way that Holly and Duffy could see (and
even smell) each other without actually coming into contact with each other.
Up until then, Holly had always become very aggressive toward any other cat
that was in my vicinity. We even called her "the black tornado." A
handyman who does all sorts of work for me located a very cheap door at the
lumberyard (*very* cheap because it had some damage--but that was alright
because it was only going to be used temporarily). He cut a large square
hole in it (about 2 feet square), mounted a wire "mesh" panel, and covered
the edges of the mesh so it would not be rough and could not injure my cats.
He took down the door to the guest room where I had Duffy, mounted the
hardware from that door on the new (temporary) door, and hung the door. I
also asked him to cut enough wood from the bottom so the cats could reach
through and so I could slide a plate of food under it. This way, the cats
should see each other, and I would occasionally place a treat on a platter
that I would slide *half way* under the door so the cats could eat
face-to-face without actually touching each other. This worked beautifully.
There was some hissing in the beginning, but they gradually came to accept
each other. Today, they are good friends, but I took a full six weeks
before I left the two cats alone without the protective door.

MaryL

~~~~~~~~~~
Tak,

I just posted a short album with three pictures so you can see the wire mesh
door panel I was trying to describe. You can see the pictures he
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/24201216
Click each of the pictures in the left-hand panel to see the enlargement.

MaryL

When I brought Tiger back home from the shelter, I put him in the bunk
room with the door closed. After a few days I installed a baby gate in
place of the door. Tiger wanted out so much that he climbed the gate so
I had to build a shelf to keep him in. After a few weeks I removed the
gate.

---MIKE---

In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44� 15' N - Elevation 1580')

On Sun, 7 Oct 2012 06:43:00 -0500, "MaryL"
wrote:

"MaryL" wrote in message ...
Tak,

I just posted a short album with three pictures so you can see the wire mesh
door panel I was trying to describe. You can see the pictures he
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/24201216
Click each of the pictures in the left-hand panel to see the enlargement.

MaryL

This is familar - they're sooo cute in your pictures!

I did a similar thing with Dot and Buster. This was also based on your
postings about Duffy and Holly:
http://home.comcast.net/~Takayuki9z/...partition.html

So the reason I'm not currently using the screen door like I did last time.
I eventually intend to, but I'm planning for this integration to be a
longer term process than what I did with Dot and Buster. Completely
different floors, kept at a distance, and not allowed to interact at all at
first. Screens are planned for a future phase.

I have some Feliway diffusers, but when I used them with Dot and Buster, it
made me skeptical of them. I haven't seen any double-blind tests on
Feliway, and the diffuser actually seemed to make Dot even more nervous,
almost as though they made her think that she was confronting several cats
instead of just one.

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...

On Sun, 7 Oct 2012 06:43:00 -0500, "MaryL"
wrote:

"MaryL" wrote in message ...
Tak,

I just posted a short album with three pictures so you can see the wire
mesh
door panel I was trying to describe. You can see the pictures he
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/24201216
Click each of the pictures in the left-hand panel to see the enlargement.

MaryL

This is familar - they're sooo cute in your pictures!

I did a similar thing with Dot and Buster. This was also based on your
postings about Duffy and Holly:
http://home.comcast.net/~Takayuki9z/...partition.html

So the reason I'm not currently using the screen door like I did last time.
I eventually intend to, but I'm planning for this integration to be a
longer term process than what I did with Dot and Buster. Completely
different floors, kept at a distance, and not allowed to interact at all at
first. Screens are planned for a future phase.

I have some Feliway diffusers, but when I used them with Dot and Buster, it
made me skeptical of them. I haven't seen any double-blind tests on
Feliway, and the diffuser actually seemed to make Dot even more nervous,
almost as though they made her think that she was confronting several cats
instead of just one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great! I did not remember that you did a similar thing with Dot and Buster
and based it on my postings about Holly and Duffy. That makes me feel good!
Like you, I got my idea from Megan. She suggested a screen door (just as
you used), but my handyman found a standard--but damaged--interior door and
we used that. Megan really walked me through the introduction/integration
process, and she was invaluable. I don't think I could have done it without
her help because Holly was so aggressive (in fact, violent) toward all other
cats up to that time. Megan literally spent hours working with me--at
long-distance, across several state lines--and the slow, careful
introduction brought remarkable results. I'm glad you mentioned her name
because she knows more about cat behavior than anyone else I know. Holly
and Duffy now get along beautifully. Holly is still clearly a one-person
cat, but she will actually stand in the doorway to the kitchen and look for
Duffy when I call them to eat.

MaryL

Takayuki wrote:

On Sun, 7 Oct 2012 06:43:00 -0500, "MaryL"
wrote:

"MaryL" wrote in message ...
Tak,

I just posted a short album with three pictures so you can see the wire mesh
door panel I was trying to describe. You can see the pictures he
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/24201216
Click each of the pictures in the left-hand panel to see the enlargement.

MaryL

This is familar - they're sooo cute in your pictures!

I did a similar thing with Dot and Buster. This was also based on your
postings about Duffy and Holly:
http://home.comcast.net/~Takayuki9z/...partition.html

So the reason I'm not currently using the screen door like I did last time.
I eventually intend to, but I'm planning for this integration to be a
longer term process than what I did with Dot and Buster. Completely
different floors, kept at a distance, and not allowed to interact at all at
first. Screens are planned for a future phase.

I have some Feliway diffusers, but when I used them with Dot and Buster, it
made me skeptical of them. I haven't seen any double-blind tests on
Feliway, and the diffuser actually seemed to make Dot even more nervous,
almost as though they made her think that she was confronting several cats
instead of just one.

I've heard this from other people, too. Some cats, instead of being calmed
by the pheremone, instead get upset that there's another cat in the house,
one they can't find. An invisible threat. I guess it's not for all cats.

--
Joyce

When you finish, you have a complete (you hope) set of characters. So you call
it a "character set". And because you're in a funny mood, instead of calling
the numeric identifiers "numeric identifiers", you call them "code points".

-- Steve Ferg, "Unicode Beginners Introduction for Dummies Made Simple"

On Sun, 7 Oct 2012 22:49:13 +0000 (UTC), Bastette
wrote:

Takayuki wrote:

I have some Feliway diffusers, but when I used them with Dot and Buster, it
made me skeptical of them. I haven't seen any double-blind tests on
Feliway, and the diffuser actually seemed to make Dot even more nervous,
almost as though they made her think that she was confronting several cats
instead of just one.

I've heard this from other people, too. Some cats, instead of being calmed
by the pheremone, instead get upset that there's another cat in the house,
one they can't find. An invisible threat. I guess it's not for all cats.

Phew, I thought it was just me.

Takayuki wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:

On Sun, 7 Oct 2012 22:49:13 +0000 (UTC), Bastette
wrote:

Takayuki wrote:

I have some Feliway diffusers, but when I used them with Dot and
Buster, it made me skeptical of them. I haven't seen any
double-blind tests on Feliway, and the diffuser actually seemed
to make Dot even more nervous, almost as though they made her
think that she was confronting several cats instead of just one.

I've heard this from other people, too. Some cats, instead of being
calmed by the pheremone, instead get upset that there's another cat
in the house, one they can't find. An invisible threat. I guess
it's not for all cats.

Phew, I thought it was just me.

Nope. In the early days someone loaned me a unit and Daisy-chan went
totally APE then ripped a hole in the lining under our bed, crawled in
and refused to come out for 4 days except in the depth of the night to
eat.

I thought it was just me too. Daisy-chan is a very strong 'only cat'
and i suspect that other than when she wanted to mate, she never let
another cat be safe within 200 yards of her. She probably kicked the
Thom out right after too (le sigh).

Most irritating habit people have around her? At the vets some %@^@$^
with a cat carrier wants to put it by Daisy-chan's thinking it a safe
spot only to find a spitting hissor horror erupt attacking the cage
side the other cat is at.

It's gotten to the point now where I just tell the vet 'I have
Daisy-chan and the end seats are full' and they take her in back if
there isn't a room open right away.

Dont worry Tak, this is an EXTREME case and there is no indication at
all that Spicey won't in time after many years of being an 'only cat',
be a responsible kitty with proper introduction even if she's aloof.
That she's not used to other kittys, doesn't mean she may not in time
enjoy having them. Just not something you push too fast with one of
this background.

The bit on the rubbing towels and such? Believe it or not, now is a
good time to start.



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