Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Unusually un-territorial cat

  • 13-01-2011 7:03am
    #1
    pow wow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,288 ✭✭✭


    I've a 15 year old male neutered cat who is usually quite aggressive toward other cats in a territorial sense as in he doesn't run the streets looking for fights but if someone were to stray into his garden...well, the fur would fly along with some hissing and wailing for good measure.

    Lately two small cats have appeared in the garden and they hang around my house a lot. They look like they're under a year old (I'm not ageist but my cat might be :P) and my cat is uncharacteristically 'nice' to them. They communicate with faint squeaks as opposed to the usual screeching he would do with strange cats, and if one is sitting on the doorstep when he goes out he just walks past it instead of grabbing at it.

    I don't feed the small cats but they're here a lot and I'm concerned that maybe my cat is frightened of them (which is why he's so polite!) and that's making him unsettled. He seems a little wary of them and unsettled when he comes back inside but there's no obvious aggression from him or them.


Comments

  • #2
    franksm
    Registered Users Posts: 1,487 ✭✭✭franksm


    wow... surprised you didn't get any replies to this from the knowledgable heads before now.

    I don't know the whys and hows, but my take would be that your cat feels unthreatened and that's why he doesn't go after the two small ones. Fur would fly if he felt threatened and felt strong enough to put up a fight; on the other hand if he was feeling threatened and *not* strong enough to put up a fight, he would be avoiding the front door and those other two. Which is why I think he's "okay" with them as he doesn't seem to be avoiding them.

    Cats do make friends as much as they make enemies, it's a personality thing. Sounds like he's not enemies with these


  • #3
    Sigma Force
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,132 ✭✭✭Sigma Force


    It comes down to cats personalities but also as he's getting older some cats do become more docile in their old age, I'd be keeping him indoors as much as poss anyway if he goes out the back well and good but if you know for sure that he potters around and gets on to the road then he needs to be kept in esp. as he's getting on he won't be as fast as he used to be not to mention the traffic dangers etc.

    He might find he's met his match with the other cats if you feel he's scared of them and it's stressing him them keep him in, if you feel he's tolerating them and starting to play they will start coming around more often even if you don't feed them but just be careful if he does become pally he could follow them off somewhere.


Advertisement