If you are starting over, yes. As
Kwik
has said, give everybody a few days to breathe, and then begin with scent swapping.
Okay but scent swapping usually comes before room swapping while they remain in their own safe space - you want them to be familiar with the other cats scent in things like beds,towels,blankets,dens,Cubby's before actually swapping rooms- they should feel safe and secure where they are at with new scents introduced into that space firstI just wrote up very detailed space swapping instructions for myself. Because it is so hot in Arizona and the little cat room is not as cool as the rest of the house, Newman and Tommy will have the master bedroom, cat room, and catio during the day and Robbie, Sasha, and Malia will have it at night. After I've done that for however long I need to, I will use the harness and leash to try letting Newman out where Robbie is but I'm really in no hurry to do that and I'm not looking forward to it. This space swapping plan might end up being the permanent solution.
Understood BUT you are starting over so just pretend that you've never done anything- thats a fresh start at ground zeroThere has been a lot of scent swapping all along as I have continuously swapped bedding but I will do more and I will use the sock petting too.
Well if you do have a solid door you can always bring it down to about 6 ft,,leaving 2 feet open up top so the A/C can cool it down - plus a ceiling fan would help bring that cool air in from the rest of the house-It is an enclosed former patio and does not have a duct to take A/C there but is open to the rest of the house and currently has a screen door to separate the cats and allow cool air to get to it. Some heat comes in from the doggie door also.
That's sounds like a plan,you have to let them restart or there's no sense in starting over- clean slate and believe me by slowing it all down this time around it will make a big differenceI had the screen door installed where there was no door before, separating the bedroom from the closet and a small 5x7 room. Some cool air still gets in there through the screen door so it's still much cooler than the catio but not as cool as the bedroom because of the doggie door in there that lets some heat in. It's already summer here but I have a temperature gauge in there so I can make sure it's cool enough. The cats tolerate more heat than I can tolerate. I did think of a ceiling fan and I might do that too. Currently there are two recessed lights in that room so it wouldn't be hard to add a ceiling fan. I will scent swap for 30 days before moving to space swapping if I can keep their current space cool enough for that long!
My pleasure- always here for youThank you so much as always for your positive attitude and guidance!!! I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have your help!
I'm in AZ too! It's definitely warm, but given what you've said, they should be fine for awhile. You're right they tolerate (even love) more heat than we do. When we first took in our former feral, Chopper, back in 2013, he had to stay in our garage for some time until we figured out something for him indoors (at the time, we had two chow mixes that would have wanted to eat him!). The garage would get hot (no A/C), but he did well in it until we could get him moved indoors, around the end of May, when we set up the spare bedroom as his cat room, with a very tall baby gate to keep the dogs out.I had the screen door installed where there was no door before, separating the bedroom from the closet and a small 5x7 room. Some cool air still gets in there through the screen door so it's still much cooler than the catio but not as cool as the bedroom because of the doggie door in there that lets some heat in. It's already summer here but I have a temperature gauge in there so I can make sure it's cool enough. The cats tolerate more heat than I can tolerate. I did think of a ceiling fan and I might do that too. Currently there are two recessed lights in that room so it wouldn't be hard to add a ceiling fan. I will scent swap for 30 days before moving to space swapping if I can keep their current space cool enough for that long!