Living a Seinfeld Episode

Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode where Kramer put a screen door on his
apartment and then lawn chairs, a barbecue, and other stuff out in the hall so
he could be living the suburban life?

That's what we're doing. We now have a very classy, flimsy screen door where
there used to be a door leading to an office and a bedroom beyond that. All we
need to do is bring some lawn chairs in from outside and the grill and we'll
have our own little patch of suburbia in our hallway. It's "latched" with a
bungee cord and a hook to another door in the hallway when we're not in those
rooms and we pull a little rolling cabinet in front of it when we are in those
rooms. Not quite the nice set-up Mary had for Duffy and Holly. Initially,
Marbles managed to squeeze under the opening about 15 seconds after it was hung
so Tony had to re-hang it lower. Now there is about a 1 inch opening at the
bottom which Marbles still is trying to get under.

So far Scottie and Abbey are under the bed and haven't even ventured out to see
it. I wanted to have them all swap places today but I'll have to use the
vaccum to scare Scottie and Abbey out while having Marbles confined in the
bathroom and I haven't felt like doing that yet. More trauma for them.

Ugh, I hope this works. I was emailing the woman from the rescue group about
our integration today and she offered to take Marbles back. I hope it won't
come to that.

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human." (Loren Eisely)

In the fine newsgroup "rec.pets.cats.health+behav",
itter (MacCandace) artfully composed this
message within
on 17 Jul 2004:


Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode where Kramer put a screen
door on his apartment and then lawn chairs, a barbecue, and
other stuff out in the hall so he could be living the suburban
life?

That's what we're doing. We now have a very classy, flimsy
screen door where there used to be a door leading to an office
and a bedroom beyond that.

I saw that one. I hope things are a bit better today. Did you swap
places yet? Good luck and let us know how this works out!

--
Cheryl

In the fine newsgroup "rec.pets.cats.health+behav",
itter (MacCandace) artfully composed this
message within
on 17 Jul 2004:


Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode where Kramer put a screen
door on his apartment and then lawn chairs, a barbecue, and
other stuff out in the hall so he could be living the suburban
life?

That's what we're doing. We now have a very classy, flimsy
screen door where there used to be a door leading to an office
and a bedroom beyond that.

I saw that one. I hope things are a bit better today. Did you swap
places yet? Good luck and let us know how this works out!

--
Cheryl

I saw that one. I hope things are a bit better today. Did you swap
places yet? Good luck and let us know how this works out!

--
Cheryl

Yeah, we swapped 'em last night. Marbles is now confined to the back and being
very vocal about it. Scottie and Abbey are happier but mostly staying in the
family room which is the farthest room away and are never venturing back to
look at the screen door. I hope after all this that they will come to the door
at some point. There have been no meetings at the screen that I have
witnessed.

Marbles was actually pretty good during the night and did allow us to sleep for
the most part so I hope he continues with that. Otherwise we might have to
swap them back so we can sleep.

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human." (Loren Eisely)

I saw that one. I hope things are a bit better today. Did you swap
places yet? Good luck and let us know how this works out!

--
Cheryl

Yeah, we swapped 'em last night. Marbles is now confined to the back and being
very vocal about it. Scottie and Abbey are happier but mostly staying in the
family room which is the farthest room away and are never venturing back to
look at the screen door. I hope after all this that they will come to the door
at some point. There have been no meetings at the screen that I have
witnessed.

Marbles was actually pretty good during the night and did allow us to sleep for
the most part so I hope he continues with that. Otherwise we might have to
swap them back so we can sleep.

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human." (Loren Eisely)

In the fine newsgroup "rec.pets.cats.health+behav",
itter (MacCandace) artfully composed this
message within
on 18 Jul 2004:

Yeah, we swapped 'em last night. Marbles is now confined to the
back and being very vocal about it. Scottie and Abbey are
happier but mostly staying in the family room which is the
farthest room away and are never venturing back to look at the
screen door. I hope after all this that they will come to the
door at some point. There have been no meetings at the screen
that I have witnessed.

Marbles was actually pretty good during the night and did allow
us to sleep for the most part so I hope he continues with that.
Otherwise we might have to swap them back so we can sleep.


I wonder if a cage would help? Just for short periods of time each
day with everyone together, but not able to fight? Marbles is used
to a cage anyway, and if you decide it won't work out, that is what
he'll go back to so it couldn't hurt. You've been in touch with the
rescue group, right? I wonder if they'd loan you one just to help
out this introduction to make it work?

--
Cheryl

In the fine newsgroup "rec.pets.cats.health+behav",
itter (MacCandace) artfully composed this
message within
on 18 Jul 2004:

Yeah, we swapped 'em last night. Marbles is now confined to the
back and being very vocal about it. Scottie and Abbey are
happier but mostly staying in the family room which is the
farthest room away and are never venturing back to look at the
screen door. I hope after all this that they will come to the
door at some point. There have been no meetings at the screen
that I have witnessed.

Marbles was actually pretty good during the night and did allow
us to sleep for the most part so I hope he continues with that.
Otherwise we might have to swap them back so we can sleep.


I wonder if a cage would help? Just for short periods of time each
day with everyone together, but not able to fight? Marbles is used
to a cage anyway, and if you decide it won't work out, that is what
he'll go back to so it couldn't hurt. You've been in touch with the
rescue group, right? I wonder if they'd loan you one just to help
out this introduction to make it work?

--
Cheryl

You've been in touch with the
rescue group, right? I wonder if they'd loan you one just to help
out this introduction to make it work?

I have a big dog carrier that I have outside for the feral kitties to eat and
rest in. We took the door off but I could put it back on and bring it in. I'm
thinking, at Megan's suggestion, to let everyone get used to the door business
(both Abbey and Scottie have now looked in that direction several times
although have not ventured close--that I know of) for a few days and then, next
weekend, putting Marbles in a harness that I have, and taking him out to meet
the others. That way he will be unable to chase them or get too close and we
can see how that goes.

But the carrier may be a good idea, too. The only thing is, when I brought him
home, he howled all the way in the carrier and was still howling when I brought
him in. I know that may have been from the car ride but I think if I put him
in the big carrier, he would still howl and Scottie and Abbey are never eager
to be around when he's howling, I've noticed. Once he quiets down, that is
when they show some interest in the door.

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human." (Loren Eisely)

You've been in touch with the
rescue group, right? I wonder if they'd loan you one just to help
out this introduction to make it work?

I have a big dog carrier that I have outside for the feral kitties to eat and
rest in. We took the door off but I could put it back on and bring it in. I'm
thinking, at Megan's suggestion, to let everyone get used to the door business
(both Abbey and Scottie have now looked in that direction several times
although have not ventured close--that I know of) for a few days and then, next
weekend, putting Marbles in a harness that I have, and taking him out to meet
the others. That way he will be unable to chase them or get too close and we
can see how that goes.

But the carrier may be a good idea, too. The only thing is, when I brought him
home, he howled all the way in the carrier and was still howling when I brought
him in. I know that may have been from the car ride but I think if I put him
in the big carrier, he would still howl and Scottie and Abbey are never eager
to be around when he's howling, I've noticed. Once he quiets down, that is
when they show some interest in the door.

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human." (Loren Eisely)