Spoonerisms: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Dipity hanging out

Yesterday, I did the trading places thing for the first time in awhile, closing Spoon in the bedroom so Dipity could explore the rest of the apartment. Explore she did, getting into lots of nooks and crannies before settling on the 2-½' carpet-covered cat furniture under the window. I let the experiment go on for about an hour, but Spoon was making pitiful noises. I was hesitant about letting him in, because even if he didn't approach her directly, he would still be between her and the bedroom if she wanted to flee. But I let him out and got the water bottle ready just in case, and while she seemed a little tense, she didn't make a break for it. I did have to rein Spoon back a couple times, especially when, after awhile, she decided she did want to go back to the room.

I think Spoon does think of the bedroom as her territory, which is why he's very cautious in there. He's a little bolder in the rest of the apartment because that's his territory. And Dipity feels the same way. The real problem occurs when she runs, because Spoon is compelled to chase her. But I kept my hand on his ruff when Dipity sped up, and we didn't have an incident.

That evening, I decided to try to lure her out of the bedroom when I took her food dish into the kitchen to refill it. I set it down a few feet outside the bedroom door while she was watching, and she did come out to eat. When she was done, she poked around a little bit. I let down my guard and next thing I knew, she was running past Spoon for the bedroom and he was running after her, and swatting at her backside before I could grab him. He seemed a little contrite afterwards, but the damage was done.

This morning she wouldn't go near the open bedroom door, and I couldn't even get her closer than 3-4' feet from Spoon with the treats. I had just fed her an hour earlier, though, so I will try again this afternoon when she gets hungry again.

sigh

I may have to get an escape-proof halter for Spoon for outside-the-bedroom encounters.

And then she made a major stink in the litter box at 4:45AM. I sprayed a crapload of air freshener, but even then it just smelled like flowers and crap for several minutes. (Cats really hate the air freshener, too, I think largely because it sounds like a hissing cat.)