<< Usually she tries knocking at the door right away but she
didn't even peep. I let her out a few minutes later and she was perfectly
behaved the rest of the night. >>

I just had an incident here, too.  After the last week of letting Marbles spend
an hour out with the other 2, carefully watching him, it seemed as though he
had learned not to chase or stalk.  The other 2 still hide when he's out but
watch him closely.  He had been going up to them and just looking at them and
walking away whereas before he would get all fluffed up and start to advance on
them.  I had been rewarding everyone after the nightly visits and feeling that
some slight progress had been made.

Wrong!  Today he was out, acting nicely, had looked at both of them and then
gone about his business so I went back in the office, leaving them unattended
for just a few minutes.  Bam!  Crash!!!!!!  Shriek!!!! Hissssssss!  The
pounding footsteps of small, running beasts in my direction.  It was Abbey,
shrieking, being hotly pursued by Marbles.  She dashed under this rack of
clothes I have in the hall and he starts to head in after her.  Now he's all
fluffed up again.  I grabbed him and tossed him in the bathroom for a timeout.
Poor Abbey dashed out from under the clothes and went back to her original
hiding place where she remains.

I know what precipitated the incident.  The ironing board was up in the family
room, as it usually is, since I can never seem to iron more than one article of
clothing at a time.  The cats love to lay on it anyway.  It was knocked down
with all the clothes that had been hanging on the side of it strewn all over
the floor.  I assume Marbles was up there and knocked it down, as sometimes
happens.  It fell against a table in the corner which is what Abbey had been
hiding under, watching him.  I imagine she thought Marbles did it on purpose
and she dashed out in fear.  Marbles cannot resist a running cat and he was
probably freaked out from the clatter, too, so he did what seems to come
naturally to him...and went after her.  So now we've had yet another setback
and will have to start from ground zero once again.  She's horrified, Scottie
came out to watch the festivities and also got all fluffed up and is currently
back in hiding.  Marbles is now back in his room after the timeout.   He is
being very quiet which is unusual for him.  I know, absolutely, that he
understands he is not to chase the other cats but I suppose he just couldn't
resist this time.  Sigh...

I guess I can't leave them unattended for even a second even if all seems okay.
Now I leave on vacation in 4 days for a week leaving Tony alone with the
monsters.  I'm sure he will leve them out unattended more than I do...although
not whiel he's at work or asleep, I don't think, but I can't really control
what he does so it's kind of out of my hands.  I could come home to a worse
situation, a better situation, or the same situation.

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human."  (Loren Eisely)