JOIN USBoss cat meets his match
Our resident tomcat, Garfield, has very strong territorial instincts. He cannot tolerate the presence of any strange cat, stray or pet, in our garden. Should any cat enter the backyard or garden, it is driven off with great ferocity.
The fights, mostly vocal, often disturb our sleep at night. Then for the next few days, Garfield patrols the property (coming home only to eat) to make sure the intruder does not return.
The other day, a beautiful ginger male appeared. I was thrilled thinking that it was our missing Scampi coming home at last. But on closer inspection, the cat turned out to have different markings and was definitely smaller than our Scampi. Garfield warned him off with loud hisses and low drawn out growls but the cat did not turn a hair and did not move.
He stayed put, watching Garfield with mild interest. Any other cat would have been scared of our big tom and his threatening gestures and run away and Garfield would have gleefully chased him off the property. But this cat was obviously a Gandhian and believed in non-violence and non-co-operation. He neither fought with the other cat nor did he give him the pleasure of pursuit by running away.
He continued to watch Garfield impassively probably making him feel like an ass for making so much noise. Garfield did not know what to do. He desperately began to spray his urine everywhere to establish the garden as his territory. The other cat watched and then, to Garfield’s dismay, proceeded to do the same thing himself!
After hanging around for a few hours, the new cat went off.
He comes every day and sits quietly, ignoring Garfield’s hissy fits, either washing or watching butterflies or fireflies, depending upon whether he visits in the morning or evening.
Garfield no longer tries to drive him away. He probably got the other cat’s message that the garden is big enough for both of them. My son has concluded that the real story is that the new cat is gay and has fallen in love with Garfield. When Garfield tries to charge him, he replies with soft purrs and kisses!