In the immortal words of Dr. Peter Venkman – “This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions… Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!”

To recap, my cat Powder has been on the dresser since 12/1/09 about 0.2 miliseconds after meeting Freckles for the first time. She comes down to eat and to use the litterbox if the dog is downstairs and/or asleep. But if the dog is awake she is on the dresser.

Saturday she ventured downstairs. The SO picked her up. Then she saw the dog. She panicked and tore up the SO. I haven’t been able to trim her nails since she exiled herself.

Yesterday I went upstairs without the dog. Powder was on the floor so I grabbed her and went in the bathroom to do her nails. The front went fine. By the time I got to the back the dog was outside the door. The cat started acting stupid. I got mad.

I put her in the bathtub. Then I let the dog in and locked the door. I told them that I had a new magazine and I was going to sit on the floor and read it while they worked it out. I realized that I might be setting up a situation entitled “How I Got This Scar.”

The cat Looked at the dog. I don’t know what it was about that Look but it reduced Freckles to a crying, quivering mass on the floor. Repeatedly.

Eventually they moved on to Freckles looking over the edge of the tub and Powder would smack her senseless. Repeatedly. When that calmed down I sat on the tub and petted them both. They worked up to sitting by the door together and staring at Riley’s paw reaching under the door. He was wondering why everyone was in the bathroom and he wasn’t invited.

I opened the door and let Powder out. I kept Freckles in for a minute so she didn’t ruin all the goodwill by trying to chase the cat.

Now the cat is still on the dresser. But hopefully she learned that the dog is not a formidable enemy so she will start to come around again

If this works I’m going to apply for a job as Middle East Envoy. That will be easy in comparison.