Saturday 31 March 2012

Ginger Gentleman is continuing

The ginger gentleman is an un-neutered tom cat. This means he has a large territory and a belligerent attitude to other cats, although he does give very nice cuddles. He has been seen at some distance, and is frequently in our little road. Our street is a very desirable location for a cat. There is not too much traffic, plenty of sun if you pick the right spots, some quiet kipping places and some really good hunting. We often see Oscar or Roxy trotting past with something grey, furry and limp in their mouths, and one of them left a dead magpie on their owners' step. There are a lot of small birds like finches and sparrows about, and I expect that they also get chased, if not caught. So the ginger gentleman is muscling in.

He has already tried to go for evil cat, and she is just too old and frail to cope. Last night we realised that her tummy was so shrunken that the flap of loose skin she had after neutering was no longer swinging like it used to but sucked up to her rib cage. The days when she could have given the ginger gentleman a nasty surprise are gone. And ginger gentleman is having so many running battles with Oscar that Nice Mr Next Door has been picking huge chunks of ginger fur out of Oscar's black claws.

So I was not entirely surprised to hear the sounds of battle yesterday. But I am trying to chase ginger gentleman out of the garden in case evil cat is taken by surprise, and I don't want our garden to be disputed territory with all the spraying. So I opened the the kitchen door to the sound of battle and found that the ginger gentleman had a young tabby from next door cornered in the cupboard under our steps. The young tabby is called Alfie, he is about a teenager, very small (so far!) and slim, but with a tom cat attitude. He has only just started going out. However he seems to be getting stuck in on the side of Oscar and Roxy.

The ginger gentleman appears to be outnumbered. However I am not sure that he can work that out - he doesn't seem bright, even for a cat!

1 comment:

Kitty Greene said...

oh dear - feline war !
hope ginger gentleman surrenders and retreats before any real damage is done.
Glad to hear Evil Cat is holding her own, how old is she exactly ?
One of my cats (18 years old) had an operation this week to remove 8 teeth ! I had no idea he was in any pain or discomfort until the last couple of days when he refused his food - the vet says this is very often the case with cats, you never know they are in pain - how brave they are !
Anyway he is running around the house now like a kitten again (the cat that is not the vet)- I was so worried about the anaesthetic at his age, I'm so glad it's done.