Aggro…

One evening we heard the familiar yowl of a cat inviting someone for a wrestling match, or a game of chase or a bit of TLC from his favourite human.

We ignored it until it turned nasty and then Hubs whistled loudly.

The fracas stopped and then almost immediately started up again.

We headed out to the back porch to find a black cat on the outside of the screen and our two going ballistic on the inside.

At the sight of us the visitor fled but our cats were locked in a bitter claws and teeth confrontation.

Our intervention only exasperated the whirl of fur as the cats went at each other, hell bent on death.

Hubs grabbed a large wicker tray and shoved it between them and herded Shadow into the living room and I slipped out of the porch as he closed the door leaving Madge to settle down alone.

His tail was thick and his hackles were up as he prowled the porch growling and complaining loudly.

Shads retreated underneath a couch where he hissed and snapped and batted at our ankles as we passed.

After an hour or so things had calmed down, Shads was quiet and alert in his hiding place and Magic was pitifully mewing at the French window wanting to come in.

And I had done my research.

Transferred Aggression is what it’s called.  Some pets, when they see a potential intruder outside that can’t be attacked, will turn to another pet or a human inside and vent their frustration.

Sometimes it takes months to calm down the affected indoor domestic who walks around looking shell-shocked and startling at the slightest noise.

Thankfully it appeared that ours settled pretty quickly and were soon fast asleep tucked against each other on our bed for the night.

The wandering outdoor cat came back again….

and again….

and things got worse in between visits.  Their play fights escalated into real aggression and we had to play referee to break things up instead of amused audience laughing at their wily tactics.

Finally we borrowed a trap.  It was humane, a cage with food as bait not a paw catching clamp.

Hubs would set the trap the evening before with a bowl of cat food and when I went for my early morning walk I’d peek around the corner and report my findings through the back door,

“You’ve got a large raccoon this morning love!”

AggroRacoon

or,

“Looks like a possum!”

and, yep!

Aggro

“Good luck with the skunk today!! Tell me how it goes.”

I suppose word got round because the night time prowlers stopped showing up and we grew wiser to the art of protecting our indoor, docile, sweet-as-can-be feline friends.

I’m not saying we never had an episode again but we won’t let them out on the back porch at night, and we close the curtains in the bedroom when we turn in to stop them from trying to push their heads through the venetians to espy what’s making the motion sensor light come on.

But I do think that Shads had a delayed reaction to the nerves caused by the intrusions because we started seeing great wads of hair on the back of his favourite sofa cushion.

Soon he had a corresponding bald spot on his back and I had visions of having one of those cats that looks fine on one side and totally bald on the other.

After a trip to the vet and a steroid shot –

which resulted in some sort of allergy that caused him to sneeze cute little ‘atishoos’, sometimes several in a               row, sending us to the vet again who put him on a course of anti-biotics saying,

“He may have a sinus infection.”  Whatever!

– he started to improve.

The trauma of the car trip, the shot in his butt, the multiple sneezes, the daily medication forced down his throat, his supposed head-ache,

all helped to take his mind off the aggro.provoking.visitor.

No more fur on the couch and fading bald patches on his back.

AggroBaldPatch

He’s still super nervous, they both are, but at least they’re not slipping daggers into their belts to finish the other one off.

For the most part peace reigns.

It’s tough being a pet owner especially to dumb animals…and I mean that in the kindest possible way!

I’ve now got to figure out who’s pooping on the floor just outside the litter box?

The others know, but in true feline fashion…

Even if they could talk…they wouldn’t tell.

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