Cat drama

We bought a new cat toy today, and it seems to have entirely upset the balance of power among the felines in our household.

The toy was a soft pillow filled with catnip. One of our cats, Lexi (the black boy kitty) is a catnip fiend, and he had his nose in the shopping bag before we'd even finished unpacking. So I pulled it out for him and he spent a couple of hours playing with it -- pouncing on it, biting it, kicking it. We also let him play around in the bag. He had a grand old time. "Success!" we thought.

And then our other cat, Tori (the silver tabby girl kitty), flipped out. She'd been in hiding ever since we got home, which is unusual but not completely out of character, and when she finally emerged, she was Not Happy. Not with the toy, although she eyed it with more than a little suspicion, but with Lexi. Hissing, growling, whapping at him, stalking around him with murder in her eyes. They fight sometimes -- mostly when he's trying to mount her; they've both been fixed since kittenhood, but the instinct seems to remain -- but she's never that vicious to him unless he went after her first. My best theory is that he smells too much like catnip, so she doesn't recognize him; it's also possible that he was bugging her while we were out shopping and she's still upset about that, but I've never known her to carry a grudge like that.

I assume, like most cat dramas, that it will eventually work itself out, but it's disconcerting to see her so freaked out for no apparent reason. Also, she hasn't eaten yet tonight, and there's enough dominance games over food that I worry that this will have long term effects on that. Right now we have Lexi locked in the upstairs bathroom (which is hardly fair to him, but it's the easiest way to keep them separated) in hopes that she'll feel comfortable enough to eat a bit before bedtime. Wish us all luck.

Cat war

The situation has not improved; it is, in fact, notably worse. If the cats are both out, Tori hisses and growls at Lexi, making noises I did not know a cat could make, and rather than leaving well enough alone, Lexi keeps trying to make overtures toward her. Whichever cat I put in the bathroom freaks out -- we tried to leave Lexi in there overnight, and then learned at 3:30am that he knows how to open the door. After enough caterwauling, we herded Tori into the bathroom and had some relative peace. This morning we attempted to reunite them, an effort which went poorly, so now Lexi is back in there (with something heavy blocking the door, which should keep him from being able to push it open). I barely slept and really don't know what to do now.

Everything on the Internet said to keep them separated, switching rooms regularly so they can still smell each other, and then slowly reintroduce them, a process which can take days. But I'm going out of town on Thursday; we don't have days. Any advice is welcome. :\

Update: On advice from my friend A, I let Lexi out while watching both kitties like a hawk, and after some hissing and posturing, everyone settled down and we seem to have relative peace. I'm still wary, but the situation is stable anyway. Let's hope they work this out on their own now, another night like last one is not really on my wishlist.

Cat detente

Not peace, exactly, but a truce of sorts seems to have been negotiated. Both cats have the run of the house now, and that seems to be working better than confining either of them did, even this morning when Tori was still very much on edge. She still hisses and snarls at Lexi whenever she decides he's invading her space, but the rest of the time they are calm, and he's not striking back at all. After a couple of thwacks when he wouldn't back off, he's learned to keep his distance when she's growling, to the point that I was comfortable leaving them alone for a few hours to go to chorus.

So things are better. I hope they continue to improve -- we could live with the current situation, I think, but everyone would be happier if the cats were friends again. Hopefully all it needs is time.