Bullied Cat

rediguana

My spayed, female cat is frequently attacked by another cat directly outside my apartment. Why is this? Surely tomcats don't (a) try to mate with her as she's never in heat, or (b) attack her for the fun of it? As for other female cats, would they be so aggressively territorial as to maul my oppressed feline?

Should I bother trying to protect her or is it all just the fun and games of being an urban cat?

Arcadian

Cats are territorial animals, neutered or not, male or female.

Can you not keep her inside when you're not home and simply let her out when you can supervise?

Letting her get into fights is exposing her to the very real danger of contracting Fiv, Felv, Fcv etc especially if she's being scratched or bitten.

rediguana

Arcadian wrote:

Cats are territorial animals, neutered or not, male or female.

Can you not keep her inside when you're not home and simply let her out when you can supervise?

Letting her get into fights is exposing her to the very real danger of contracting Fiv, Felv, Fcv etc especially if she's being scratched or bitten.

Thanks.

She's generally inside when I'm not here. She's my first cat, I thought maybe the fighting was some kind of mating ritual. I never realised she could contract illnesses through scratches etc.

I guess I'll support her more when the other devil comes prowling.

FranknFurter

Arcadian wrote:

Cats are territorial animals, neutered or not, male or female.

Can you not keep her inside when you're not home and simply let her out when you can supervise?

Letting her get into fights is exposing her to the very real danger of contracting Fiv, Felv, Fcv etc especially if she's being scratched or bitten.

I agree.
Unless you have a secure cat-proof garden, these days indoor cats are the only option to make sure you have a safe and healthy kitty.

www.kittenadoption.ie has all the info you need regarding the risks of having an outdoor cat. To be honest, keeping a cat indoors is the only way, and they get used to it very quickly.

1 in 4 cats just don't come home, alive.
Don't let yours be that 1.

B

eth0_

FranknFurter wrote:

To be honest, keeping a cat indoors is the only way, and they get used to it very quickly.

I really want to adopt a cat but I have to say I find it hard to justify keeping a cat in an apartment seems like a prison sentence to me. Cats are hunters, curious animals who need more space than an apartment.

I had a cat for 21 years who went outdoors whenever she wanted - although didn't stray too far from home - came home every evening to sleep in my room, and she never had any injuries other than the odd scratch and was in perfect health until she died of oral cancer.

A person in my apartment complex has two house cats, and I see them sitting in the windowsil looking rather p*ssed off, every day.

Also, there is an FIV vaccine available nowadays. I'm sure this is available here?

Arcadian

There is no FIV vaccine available here.

Sigma Force

There are plenty of things you can do to keep a cat amused, most dogs would love to be free roaming as well but most of us would not let our dogs roam around freely..and why?? Exactly the same risks apply to dogs as cats, the risk of fighting or injury or death from another animal, getting seriously injured of killed by a car (no matter how quiet your area seems to be), stolen esp. around Halloween times, risk of picking up disease or infections from other animals.

Any confined animal is going to get peed off if that bothers a person they shouldn't bother getting a pet, no matter how large you make an enclosure they would love to be out to walk freely, that goes for dogs, cats, rabbits, birds etc but we don't go letting them out and about on their own.

Zone in to cats hunting instincts and provide them with toys and things like cat grass, large scratching posts with platforms etc.

Cats sleep for a lot of the day wouldn't a person prefer them to be asleep safe in their bed than under the bonnet of someones car (happens all the time and the cat ends up getting mangled..not a nice way to go! They sometimes don't die straight away either.

Have a read of this site, it might enlighten any non believers.
http://www.kittenadoption.ie/index.htm

To the origional poster..keep you cat inside problem solved.

Some solutions if a person has a balcony log on to zooplus.ie and scroll to the cat section.

rediguana

I never realised it was the done thing to keep cats indoors. I didn't actually buy my cat, it was a stray (though I've had her for over a year now). I moved apartment back in August and she really didn't appreciate being confined for the initial period.

When she's outside, she doesn't roam too far. She tends to sit on a wall, in sight of the apartment. Or else she hides in the bushes. She's afraid of people and noise. To the best of my knowledge, she just skulks about in the undergrowth, killing birds and mice, or else perches on that wall.

I haven't been able to interest her in toys or fake scratching posts. They may as well be invisible toys. And she likes being outside. So it's hard to imagine keeping her a prisoner.

She stays in overnight and she spends 90% of the day indoors too. I hope that the extra risk to her safety involved in venturing outdoors occasionally is compensated for by her pleasure in roaming wild for an hour a day.

As for that other cat, I guess I'll just scare it away or throw water at it every time I see it.