Two days ago, when I came home from work, New Cat Rita was on the sofa (where she always is) and Robin was on the coffee table. They were both just dozing. No hissing, spitting, threats, growls, or problems otherwise. It happened again last night. I was impressed. They’re not great friends and Robin will still go out of his way to avoid walking too close to her (and he does run if she lunges at him despite being at least twice her size and weight).

Last night, right after Kitti took Cardiff out for a walk, Anime the cat came bounding down the stairs. She really doesn’t like Cardiff and would only ever come downstairs when she knew he was either out of the house completely or locked in his crate. The past few days she wasn’t even doing that because she didn’t want to deal with Rita.

All three cats ate in the kitchen at the same time. They don’t eat together exactly — each cat has a different corner in the room — but the fact that they were all in the same room at the same time was a huge step. Especially when they were doing something like eating, which is generally when a cat feels vulnerable.

Anime even hung around downstairs for a little while, instead of tearing off upstairs like she usually does.

Rita is much younger than the other two, and she’s street-smart. Robin and Anime are both in their teens and kind of spoiled. I think the fact that Rita is the most dominant of the three is really helping. Before, Giz and Sa’am were the dominant cats. Robin and Anime were sort of dumped into the “alpha” spots and I don’t think either of them really liked it. Now instead of shoving each other and saying “YOU be in charge!” they can let Rita take the lead.

I don’t expect they’ll ever get to the “massive pile of cats sleeping together” stage (Robin and Anime aren’t the type) but if they can all exist in the same house, that’s enough for me.

As long as they don’t start ganging up on the dog and bullying him.