The week before we put my sweet Taz down, a kitty with identical markings had begun hanging around the house. Literally on the way back from the vet, when we opened the door, the kitty Michael named Ranger ran in the door. Simba and Ranger hated each other at first sight. Simba ran up the stairs and no kidding, stayed up there for a year while Ranger took up residence downstairs. We called the stairs the de-militarized zone. Sometimes they would sit at the top and bottom of the stairs and hiss at each other. Finally after a year, they became best friends. Five years later, they are as close as they can be.