Integration Update

Ollie is up for the night, so it's my turn at the blog. Besides, I'm a bit better at describing what's going on than he is, so here we are. :)

Things are progressing as far as Ollie and Howdy are concerned. They can both be up on the bed within a foot or so of each other, and generally Howdy is fine with that. Occasionally she complains, but Randall and I are both making sure that if she sees us petting Ollie that she gets her turn.

Howdy still gets bitchy and stakes her claim to territory, and she'll come after Ollie if she thinks she can get away with it. However, while there's the usual hissing, spitting and batting going on, none of it seems particularly serious. Since that's the case, unless the situation warrants, Randall and I are trying to let them work out their differences.

Ollie is still a gentleman, and you can tell he really wants to avoid a confrontation, but Howdy has backed him up against the wall a couple of times, and he's let her know that's not where he wants to be. He doesn't go to extremes, but he makes it clear. This is good, IMO, because Howdy can be a pushy and aggressive cat when she wants to be. Having some boundaries set by Ollie isn't going to hurt matters.

Tonight while we were having dinner, I went ahead and left the two of them out together in the guestroom. We didn't hear a word, but when Randall went to open the door, he said Howdy decided to make her Top Cat position clear. Like he told her, no one is questioning that, so she might as well stop being a bitch about it. LOL

I had hoped things would have progressed beyond this, but considering Howdy's personality, I probably shouldn't be surprised. However, if things continue to go as they have been, I may try letting them sleep in the same room sometime this weekend. If it looks like they're taking a step or two back, I'll postpone that. I don't absolutely have to have them sleeping in the same room until mid-July when we have company coming in, but I would like to move this along some if I can.

I'm pretty sure I'll be giving up the keyboard to Ollie tomorrow or the next day, and I might be able to get some new photos of him. We'll just have to see.