It’s funny how much you miss cats purring in the morning until you don’t have both of them in the room with you.
Brie Brie, my Maine Coon cross kitty, was downstairs staring out the sliding glass doors when the neighbor’s cat walked up and sat about a foot from the door. Brie Brie didn’t know what to do. She would hunker down and watch the cat and then walk over to me for reassurance, then walk back to the cat and hunker down again. This process repeated until the cat finally walked away.
I thought everything was okay until Phaedra came downstairs. BrieBrie took out her frustration of not being able to get to that other cat by attacking Phaedra. She chased her upstairs and around the bedrooms. I finally got them separated, calmed down, and tried letting them be together again. Phaedra stayed under the bed and growled at BrieBrie all night.
The safest thing was to do separate them, give them some time apart, and then re-introduce them as if they were new kitties. Unlike dogs, cats don’t work things out. Their relationship just degrades. I wasn’t going to take that chance for the long-term happiness of the household.
It took several months of having them separate and then periodically able to see each other through a child gate. If they came up to each other and didn’t hiss or spit, then they got pettings and treats. 
After child-gate therapy, they were allowed to be together during play time and then they were separated again. They are now to a point where I can have them out together at night. I have a pretty decoration to put on the sliding doors so if the neighbor’s cat comes up again, the kitties wont’ be able to see out.
I woke up with my kitties on the bed sleeping with me. What a beautiful thing. I’m not going to take that for granted any more.
