March 31

I laid down on the floor again, on my back, like cats who are saying “I’m not a threat and I trust you”. Not long after that, Cali came out.

At mealtime, she came out before I even put the food out. She walked around a bit, sniffed stuff, and went back in her cave.

I came in later and she was on the ottoman. She got right up and used the litter box while I was there.

And again later before bed, she came right out and played with a toy even flopping over on her back! She used the scratcher, sniffed a bit and back up on the ottoman. All while Henry was eating treats off my legs. I place a treat on my outstretched leg to get him used to walking on me.

April 1

We had two great gate interactions. Just sniffing. Some paws through the bottom crack, but no getting the other one.

Henry doing his best model pose. And Henry in the window.

April 2

Overnight I let Cali and Henry into my bedroom. Henry was VERY vocal and seems like Jack Skellington discovering Christmas town all night “what’s this? What’s THIS?”. She came out from under the bed a couple times overnight, which is better than the last time they were in my bedroom. Overnight Gwen tried to break down the door like we are on fire and she’s a firefighter. It wasn’t the best sleep I’ve ever had.

In the morning, I struggled to get her to come out from under the bed for her Churu. However, in the evening, she came into the bathroom during our dinner routine, which made it much easier to give her the Churu! I think she’s realizing that I’m okay and that it’s hard to eat Churu under the bed.

I was also able to get them back to the bathroom so we can continue gate introductions. While we were in there, she got a bit silly and jumped in the tub.

April 3

Overnight they were very active, of course Henry more than Cali, but she was still pretty active.

When I came in for morning routine, she walked over to check out the food dish while I brushed my teeth (unfortunately for her, the food dish was still empty).

During one of my visits, Cali in the tub again.

Later, I let them out into the bedroom, so I could bring Gwen into the bathroom. Gwen immediately set to sniffing EVERYTHING. After I was able to close the door while they were both in the bathroom, so we could return to gate introductions.

Left: Gwen exploring the bathroom. Right: double decker cat condo occupied

April 4

Did a gate interaction with a crack showing on the side. We had sniffing and paws and no hissing!

I also added cardboard to the top of Calis cat cave. The bottom has a board that keeps it open but the top was just fabric. Henry likes to lay there but the whole thing sags and annoys Cali. I cut some cardboard to fit and put it under the cushion. Hopefully that will help.

She used the litter boxes and ate again in front of me. After that I tossed her some chicken pieces, which she came out of her box for and then when I tossed her another one (without thinking how close my hand was) she didn’t hiss.

She also has the cutest, tiniest, quietest squeak. I had heard it before and wasn’t sure if it was her or Henry (who is very vocal). But she did it while I was in the room, so it was definitely her. SO CUTE.

And another gate interaction with a gap. And there were some skippy-baps (like half-heartedly trying to hit each other), but no hissing. Gwen keeps trying to see Henry. I think that’s a good sign.

No photos. I guess I was living in the moment, or she was out quite a bit and I didn’t want to spook her. Or both.

April 5

Morning routine! I came in as usual and started clean up. A cat came out of the condo. I assumed it was Henry because it would never be Cali. I wasn’t paying attention, just cleaning up. I went to pick up a couple litter pellets by said cat and said cat moved back a couple of inches. I picked up the pellets and looked up and IT WAS CALI!!! Not Henry. And she didn’t hiss or run away. She sat there waiting for me to sit down and give her the Churu. After her Churu, she went in the cave, but came back out after Henry ate to use the litter box. Now I’m wondering if she just likes to use it right after I’ve cleaned it.

Cali is a bit of a messy eater, and Churu sometimes hits the floor. But no worries, Henry comes along after and cleans it up.

After Churu she jumped in the tub (empty of course) and played. She got the zoomies. She jumped out and scratched and right back in the tub. She seems to be having fun! They got in a tussle so I let them into the bedroom for more space.

They happened to be back in the bathroom, so we did another gate interaction. This time with mesh instead of towel. It went well. Lots of sniffing, rewards for sniffing, a little skippy-bap but ears and tails are happy and no hissing. Rewards were given for returning to sniffing.

Late evening routine and Cali and Henry were out in my room. Henry came as always once he heard the cans open. Surprisingly Cali came in shortly after. She ate her churu and dipped right back out.

No photos again because I’m apparently the worst.

April 6

Woke up early to cat sounds. They happened to be in the bathroom together, so I shut the door and gave them early breakfast. Cali was out of her cave, and stayed out to get her Churu.

Later we had a great gate interaction. They had their snacks. The mesh was up. Lots of sniffing, but mostly just seeing the other and not really doing anything. Gwen stuck her paw through a couple of times and Henry just watched.

I’ll have a couple more of these, and then start to remove the mesh and see how that goes.

Another good gate interaction with less treats in the afternoon.

Then after the gym, I went in and didn’t keep Gwen out of my bedroom, which meant a gate interaction, but with me on the inside of the bathroom and no treats. It went really well, essentially with both of them by the gate, but not really caring. The only nerve-wracking bit was when I was leaving, the mesh got stuck in the door, so I couldn’t close it all the way and Gwen took her moment to start to go in the bathroom. I grabbed her, but my heart was racing.

Left: Henry relaxing. Center: Henry eating treats off my legs (and often out of my hand) and Henry playing with his food. He likes to drop his green spring into his food dish! And also paw up some food to eat. Right: Cali relaxing.

April 7

And here we are at the end of Week 6.

We had another good long gate interaction this morning. Gwen wandered off and came back. Henry wandered off and came back. It completely seemed like he was telling Cali there was another cat.

Cali seems to almost be hitting the 3 week milestone markers with behavior, like acting out against Henry. Not badly, but she just seems relaxed enough to be a bit “naughty”. She seems to understand the routine. She relaxes and sleeps pretty deeply without jumping at every little noise. I occasionally get a nice slow blink out of her. Of course, she’s still skittish and spends a lot of time in her condo. If she hears a noise outside, she’ll go back in her condo. But I do feel like we’re progressing, even if it’s slowly.

I feel like interactions with Gwen and Henry are going well. My next step is to remove the mesh and make sure they don’t claw each other with their skippity-baps. Then I’ll try opening the gate I guess. That feels like such a scary step, but I know they can do it. (Can I? haha). That will be supervised visits, hopefully leading to unsupervised visits. Which would lead to free reign of the upstairs for all three cats. And then free reign of the first and second floors. The basement scares me for them, but I think that’s probably still a ways away and I won’t think about that for now (too much).