Is it normal for cats to poop themselves when they fight?

[Kinsters]

We moved house and there's a neighbourhood cat that comes into our garden (not sure if it's a stray, looks a bit too nice). My cats fight with it and both of them have been in fights and seemed to poo themselves, not every time but once each - is this normal? I've never heard of cats doing this.

I’ve seen this - out of great fear. The one that did it was terrified

Sh!tting oneself in violent confrontations is pretty normal. That's where the saying comes from.

For a cat to lose control of its bowels or bladder during a fight, or anticipation of an attack, indicates ABSOLUTE terror. I'd suggest keeping yours indoors while you identify the aggressor's owner. Presumably the previous people in your house didn't have cats and this one has claimed it as his (or her) territory. Could try a water pistol?

I've seen it most where a visiting cat has been brought into a strange house with a resident cat. That mess is obvious then though, whereas outside it often isn't.

We have this. There is a cat who absolutely terrifies and bullies our 9mth old kitten. Just had to give her a bath this morning as it was all over here and she has long hair. She absolutely adores going outside but this other cat is vile to her.

Idk if my cat shat herself or the poop was already there from my dogs but the poop was where the fight was...next to my bed...so idk but the female cat who i believe pooped is acting a little funny now. Tail between legs. I cleaned her up bc she had a little on her.

My neighbours hated cats and set up a bracket system around the fence with wire mesh that was tilted inward (like a smaller version of a lion enclosure). It effectively kept all of the cats out of their garden and I would imagine would be good at keeping your cats in which might help.

I was picked up my old cat because she was about to run away and she pooed all over my hand. I figured this was a defense mechanism and was careful when grabbing her when she was running after that.

I now have a 5 month old kitten. She didn't come home a few nights ago and when we went out to find her, there was a big male cat causing her to freak out. He was probably trying to mate and clearly she wasn't interested. We grabbed her and she was calm but her poo was EVERYWHERE. All over her fur and it got all over us and caused us to vomit from the smell. Whether this was purely out of fear or maybe cats just use it as a last resort when they can't fight back. I never saw any of our male cats do it but this makes 2 of the female cats when they were in a lot of distress.

I once had to bathe CatOfAle because he got cornered in someone's yard and shat himself in terror. It was all down his trouser fur.

Years ago, as a student household, we had a female rescue cat, someone rescued a male cat, he turned out to be intact… and got a bit over affectionate with her… she did a 360 turn, covering him in shit. She was clean as anything.

We moved her into my bedroom, until I moved out.

Penelope did when Paddington tried to jump in her. It was one of the reasons I had to rehome her.

Mine did this in a bad fight when we moved house. The vet said it was normal. She was badly hurt and was kept in for a long time afterwards. Now only goes out when the other cat is kept in (negotiated with thug cat’s lovely owner!).

your poor cat must have been terrified. Have you had him checked by the vet? Cat bites can easily become infected and it’s very nasty and very very painful