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Showing posts from June, 2021

Hypothesizing Reciprocal Altruism Therapy For Cats

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by Steven Gussman  THE PROBLEM           My sister, Katie Gussman, and her boyfriend, J. C. Lopez have two pet cats, Twitchy and Chewy. 1   These cats grew up together in their home(s) from a relatively young age (though old enough to be spayed and put up for adoption, at a few months), and generally got along.  Presently, they must be kept on completely separate floors of their home so that Chewy does not violently attack Twitchy (ironically, Katie identifies Twitchy as having been the benevolent dominant before this began).  Even from separate floors, Chewy will howl at and track Twitchy.  Between the two of them, several hypotheses have been proffered about what caused this. J.C. thinks it has something to do with an event that occurred just weeks before the problem began: Katie brought the cats to our parents' home, which houses two cats, Catnis and Datchi (a generally non-violent, rescued stray).  Upon introduction, Chewy and Datchi immediately began a violent bout (in whi