More Changes with Garfield and Chester

This is Janna - time for an update on the litter boxes and the boys!

The boys now have 3 litter boxes, down from the 4 we had while Garfield was creatively pooping.

The first and biggest step was removing the water from the bath tub and lining it with sticky paws double-sided tape for cats. I don't recall how much time passed - maybe 3 weeks - when my husband had enough and decided to remove litter box number 4 from our half bath. Garfield had one slip-up and my spouse did exactly what I thought he shouldn't have done - he picked up Garfield, looked him in the eye, and he explained to him authoritatively that he shouldn't do that. Incredibly, that worked! Garfield is also peeing more and more in the center of the boxes, rather than at the edges (with makes clean-up tricky.)

From when we first adopted Garfield and let him explore the house with Chester in another room

Was this this when Garfield made a date with the bathtub?

Chester and Garfield's behaviors are changing

Around September, Garfield started resting next to Chester (while C was sleeping), so that they were rump-to-rump. Increasingly, Garfield is sitting next to or near Chester more and for longer amounts of time. Paradoxically, sometimes Garfield will instead shoo Chester away and sit there for a bit; other times G will not stay there.  Garfield has also been sleeping in "Chester's" chair or sink when Chester is clearly not interested in resting in either of those places.

Which tail belongs to which cat?

Chester's Chair

Chester's sink

Beginning this month, Chester started to play with Da Bird in the way Garfield does and Garfield isn't interfering or chasing Chester away! The most intriguing event for me occurred maybe yesterday or the day before when the boys were rough-housing (running after each other and doing their classic/modern wrestling moves) - complete with Chester making garbled-sounding meows - and my husband brought Chester on the bed. Chester ran off and wanted to be back with Garfield!

As for me, I feel like a weight of dread and anxiety that I had been experiencing a few months ago regarding the boys' interactions has been lifted. I still have moments of fear such as when I hear Chester "squoke" (our term for what a meow resembling the sound a squeak toy makes; usually made by either of the boys when he doesn't want to be picked up) when he's tussling with Garfield, because I'm afraid that Garfield is hurting him. But then I'll inadvertently reach for a cat toy to move it out of the way and Chester comes running (from what I interpret as his "hiding place" from Garfield but I think it's more like a time-out spot) to play.