Serendipity

Pissy Cat is doing really well now. We had a couple more incidents the first week, then he was a really good cat and managed a whole week without peeing indoors. Unfortunately he had a relapse when the cat flap was accidentally left shut last week after we caught Fatso for his vet's appointment, but we can't really blame him for that. It probably helps quite a lot that he now has a bed behind the bathroom door, which he can retire to when it all gets too much. One night I found him sleeping next to the loo - which is not ideal when you need it in the middle of the night - so I persuaded him to move. John then made him up a bed behind the door from old towels. And now he has some territory of his own, in the form of the bathroom, which Madam never goes into. Since then he's been fine and reverted to his usual "Pest" moniker :-).

Mindyou he had a lucky escape from "training" yesterday (Sunday). We went to the pet superstore for less than an hour, and when we got back laden with kitten feeding accoutrements we found the whole house stank of extremely strong tom pee, even stronger than he usually manages. But we couldn't find any wet in his usual marking places, and fortunately for him I'd noticed him asleep upstairs before we went out, where he still was when we got back.

So we think this time it was the strange tabby who has also been hanging around, and who keeps provoking hissing matches and occasional cat-paw fights with Fatso through the cat flap. Fatso seems to think it his duty to sit just inside and guard it, and he's normally quite safe since it's usually set to exit only. But since Mitsi went missing we've left it on "in-and-out" so that she could get in if she turned up. I've found that tabby item in our hallway at least once before, so I suspect it could well have come inside and decided to mark a new bit of territory. Anyway we let the Pest off this time, and it seems to have been the right thing to do as it's not happened again.