Cast of our neighborhood drama
Dirt (you know him as the bad B&W cat) lives about 5 houses away (in a townhouse complex) and is a troublemaker. He picks fights with almost everyone, including me. Shadow seems to be the only cat that Dirt is not interested in fighting.
Molly lives next door and is pretty aloof. She is usually nowhere in sight, but when she is, and if Mack needs to show the world how brave he is, she is the target of his threats.
Shadow is the new male Floridian transplant who moved into Molly's house and has pretty much been turned loose to fend for himself outside. He seems submissive around Ella, Jimmy and Mack but at random, inexplicable moments will suddenly ambush one of them which keeps them, and me, aware of his whereabouts and behavior all times. He is incredibly sweet and non-threatening, except when he isn't, and is (did you follow that). Shadow finds Dirt very offensive and will track and stalk Dirt whenever he sees him. I have broken up several tense moments between these two with my squirt bottle because I don't want Shadow (a lightweight, 9 year old) getting hurt.
Ella never ventures more than 20 feet from the front door and never completely relaxes when outside. She never initiates an interaction with another cat and wont go anywhere near Molly or Dirt. She does, however, let Shadow get, and stay, close but hisses at any perceived threat from him, real or not.
Jimmy has been badly hurt by Dirt and so used to spend almost the entire time he was outside staring at Dirt's favorite bushes just in case Dirt suddenly appeared. He doesn't plan on being surprised by Dirt a second time. He also sprays every bush in the quad just so Dirt will know who is boss (yeah right). Shadow's presence complicates Jimmy's surveillance. He now has Shadow to contend with too. Jimmy and Shadow were doing a fantastic job relaxing in close proximity to each other, curious at first, but ultimately unthreatened and uninterested in each other. And then Shadow attacked Jimmy from behind, completely unprovoked. Now, whenever Jimmy is outside and sees Shadow, which is all the time since Shadow sticks to me like Velcro and I only let my cats out when I'm outside too, he runs away. Jimmy has also decided that spraying the outside world is not enough so he now sprays all over the inside of the house too.
Mack was also ambushed by Dirt once and so hates him and spends lots of time looking for Dirt so he knows which area to avoid. He has also never trusted Shadow, even when Shadow is being completely submissive - which is almost all the time. Mack feels it necessary to hiss at Shadow every time he sees him and in order to show his bad-guy toughness, hisses and growls at Molly if she's around. Mack has also decided he doesn't like the entire house smelling like Jimmy's urine so he also now sprays all over the inside of the house.
Whew. Have I covered everyone? I love cats and I love animal behavior, but this current situation is definitely a case of "too much of a good thing". I'm sure things will calm down eventually, and once it gets cold, my cats won't want to spend as much time outside anyway but until then ...
BTW I think Dirt is a great name for a cat. Wish I had thought of it.
Cast of our neighborhood drama
Dirt (you know him as the bad B&W cat) lives about 5 houses away (in a townhouse complex) and is a troublemaker. He picks fights with almost everyone, including me. Shadow seems to be the only cat that Dirt is not interested in fighting.
Molly lives next door and is pretty aloof. She is usually nowhere in sight, but when she is, and if Mack needs to show the world how brave he is, she is the target of his threats.
Shadow is the new male Floridian transplant who moved into Molly's house and has pretty much been turned loose to fend for himself outside. He seems submissive around Ella, Jimmy and Mack but at random, inexplicable moments will suddenly ambush one of them which keeps them, and me, aware of his whereabouts and behavior all times. He is incredibly sweet and non-threatening, except when he isn't, and is (did you follow that). Shadow finds Dirt very offensive and will track and stalk Dirt whenever he sees him. I have broken up several tense moments between these two with my squirt bottle because I don't want Shadow (a lightweight, 9 year old) getting hurt.
Ella never ventures more than 20 feet from the front door and never completely relaxes when outside. She never initiates an interaction with another cat and wont go anywhere near Molly or Dirt. She does, however, let Shadow get, and stay, close but hisses at any perceived threat from him, real or not.
Jimmy has been badly hurt by Dirt and so used to spend almost the entire time he was outside staring at Dirt's favorite bushes just in case Dirt suddenly appeared. He doesn't plan on being surprised by Dirt a second time. He also sprays every bush in the quad just so Dirt will know who is boss (yeah right). Shadow's presence complicates Jimmy's surveillance. He now has Shadow to contend with too. Jimmy and Shadow were doing a fantastic job relaxing in close proximity to each other, curious at first, but ultimately unthreatened and uninterested in each other. And then Shadow attacked Jimmy from behind, completely unprovoked. Now, whenever Jimmy is outside and sees Shadow, which is all the time since Shadow sticks to me like Velcro and I only let my cats out when I'm outside too, he runs away. Jimmy has also decided that spraying the outside world is not enough so he now sprays all over the inside of the house too.
Mack was also ambushed by Dirt once and so hates him and spends lots of time looking for Dirt so he knows which area to avoid. He has also never trusted Shadow, even when Shadow is being completely submissive - which is almost all the time. Mack feels it necessary to hiss at Shadow every time he sees him and in order to show his bad-guy toughness, hisses and growls at Molly if she's around. Mack has also decided he doesn't like the entire house smelling like Jimmy's urine so he also now sprays all over the inside of the house.
Whew. Have I covered everyone? I love cats and I love animal behavior, but this current situation is definitely a case of "too much of a good thing". I'm sure things will calm down eventually, and once it gets cold, my cats won't want to spend as much time outside anyway but until then ...
BTW I think Dirt is a great name for a cat. Wish I had thought of it.