The grand experiment

 So … Duchess and Shadow have moved from their respective homes, and will now live here together.

You may recall that the two cats have met on three previous occasions.  The first time was in October, when Shadow was a tiny kitten.  I took Shadow to Drew’s house.  Shadow was oblivious to the existence of another cat, but Duchess was upset with the intruder.

They next met in December, when both cats went to the v-e-t …

And most recently in March, when Duchess resisted Shadow’s attempt to get to know her.

So we were concerned about having these kitties live in the same house.

We decided that Duchess’s food and litter box would be downstairs, and Shadow’s things would be upstairs, so that each cat would have an area of her own … as much as possible in a small house.

We brought Duchess here on Saturday.  Initially she caterwauled to be let out of the pet carrier, but when she saw she was in a strange place she decided to stay in the carrier for awhile.  Eventually she came out, but hid under the couch. The furniture was right but the room was wrong!   But her humans were here …she wrapped herself around our ankles, again and again.  But then she did a bit of exploring.  Even wandered upstairs briefly.  Eventually she decided she’s ok with the new place.

I fetched Shadow from a friend’s house Sunday.  At first we thought we’d actually confine her to the upstairs bedroom, but she let us know that our plan was totally unacceptable.  She also had to explore the whole house.  She does tend to spend more time upstairs, but she likes the living room too.

Each cat is very much aware that she is not the only cat in the house.  Shadow wants to be Duchess’s friend, but Duchess really isn’t interested.  She tends to hide from Shadow.  

At least no one is hissing or growling, so we’re good.