Posting days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Wednesday

There are three very positive outcomes to report. For five days now Isis has been eating on her own in the kitchen wearing her plastic cone and with the kitchen door firmly closed.

From a distance I observe through the frosted glass of the kitchen door  that she  has resumed the responsibility of seeing off phantom scavengers. I presume that’s because I am no longer there to deter them. While she is devouring her food, she frequently lifts her head from her bowl and barks up at them. But hey! The post feeding rage spins have not returned. Which is brilliant.

Secondly, over the last fortnight incidences of her biting out her hair have decreased dramatically.

Thirdly, she is much more relaxed in the evening and growling, snarling and self-harming bouts are much less frequent. Solutions to evening stress have not been easy to find as she continues to be very intolerant of lights in the house and finds the flicker of the t.v. particularly irritating.

Although placing a screen between her and the t.v. helped a little, the reflections on the ceiling still disturb her and trigger rage spins. I haven’t watched t.v. for almost a week now and there has been a dramatic change in her evening moods. As long as we are in the dark, she snoozes peacefully on the futon until it’s Dentistix time.

So yes, behaviour modification goes on apace. My behaviour has been modified very significantly.

The Hairy One has only had three of her Clomicalm tablets to date and they will not take any effect for at least two weeks. I am hoping that the medication, in conjunction with the changes we are making will modify her behaviour too!

Isis came from the Aeza* cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.com