Cat was in his first fight :-(

[InvincibleInvisibility]

We moved overseas 2 months ago with our 1 year old ragdoll. He is supposedly an indoor cat but now loves being outside all day. We only leave him out when we re at home and he happily wanders in and out of the house all the time (hot climate, we have loads of French doors open). Our garden is fairly closed - he would have to treck through a load of bushes to get out and he shows no inclination to do so.

Today we heard an awful commotion- more loud growling than hissing or wailing. Turned out another cat was attacking ours who seemed to have no clue how to defend himself (he was on his back).

I shouted and the other cat ran off and mine came to me, very shaken and agitated (still growling) but not hurt. We brought him in and shut up the house and he has had lots of love and attention. He calmed down and has been deeply asleep for a few hours.

I don't know why I'm posting really but I just hope that other cat doesn't come back (we ve never seen it before). I also am shaken at how badly my cat was defending himself.

Kitty had been lying here for a good hour before the fight

Oh, your poor kitty Keep him in for a few days, and if he has any wounds get him to the vet for an antibiotic injection.

No visible wounds and he doesn't flinch at all when being stroked. I am wondering if he'll want to go out again. Im pretty certain he'll want us with him. The first few days I always went out with him. Now I've stopped he will come in and miaow indignantly if we've not been out to see him for a while

Perhaps chaperone him for a few days, but if he's avoided being wounded his defence strategy is probably better than you think!

plant some mint along the edges of your yard, cats hate the smell. I hear hedgeballs work too

My totally dozy Persian got into a fight with a visiting cat. She was asleep in her teepee one minute, then shot out into the garden. (I had no idea she could move so fast). The result was a nasty abscess and a punctured eyeball. A week at the vet and an £800 bill. Everyone who knows her was as astounded as I was that she'd got into a punch up.

You may want to look into securing part or all of your garden with cat proofing (circumstances allowing). That way your gorgeous boy can get to go out without others coming in.

If that's not possible, maybe a catio?

Unfortunately we re renting so can't do much to the garden and the edge of the garden is what they call a ravine. Basically a very deep ditch full of plants and a stream. We were warned not to let the children in it. Cat has attempted twice to go down but decided it was too steep and since then has stayed in the garden no problem.

This photo shows the bottom end of the garden.

@Toddlerteaplease thats sounds nasty!!!! Poor cat.

My cat when I was a child avoided all confrontations like the plague. She only got attacked once in 15 years and got away with "just" a nasty bite on her tail.

Oh bless, sounds like she isn’t injured which must be a huge relief😻😻 Hope she isn’t put off going outside😥

I have a ragdoll, she’s all bluster. She will chase other cats out of the garden but if they don’t go, she’s out of options and she just sits and stares🤣🤣

Thankfully we don’t seem to have any fighters around here at the moment because she really likes her time in the garden. Her territory is tiny but she loves it.

My cat used to sometimes get beaten up. I would know because he wouldn’t appear for breakfast and would be hunkered down somewhere out of sight.

it was mostly after our dog died. I think the dog kept other cats from using our garden as territory.

it might be that part or all of your garden is within a neighbourhood or stray cats existing territory. They will think your cat is invading their territory even though it is your garden.

You need to signal to the other cat things have changed. Suggestions: use a water pistol and squirt near to the cat when you see it. Perhaps walk your perimeter morning and evening so your scent gets laid. Lion poo is said to deter cats, so maybe you can look online for a substitute? Perfume, air freshener?

@DontKeepTheFaith your ragdoll sounds lovely.

Well, he didn't miaow at us in the night which is a good sign (we keep our doors shut). We've just been for a quick tour of the garden. He kept quite close to me until we reached the place he was attacked and then he spent ages sniffing it and didn't mind that I moved on.

He has come back in and gone back out so fingers crossed he's ok.

Think i ll give him a good brush outside today to get his fur and scent everywhere 🤣

Thanks for ideas of marking our territory. We ve been in this house for 4 weeks and its the first time Ive seen another cat (it has a collar).

However there are 3 large dogs with collars who wander around freely (seems to be an accepted thing here) and our gates were broken for 2 weeks and they frequently came in (and pooed on the grass - argh!).

Fortunately we are at home a lot (well i am) so can be very present in the garden.

Look up stand alone cat fencing that goes in grass and can be removed/ not permanent. I would recommend Purrfect Fencing.

Or, a catio?

I thought ragdolls were meant to be indoor cats only, as they have no fighting instincts. A friend had two and never let them out for that reason.

This. That's why ragdolls are meant to be indoor cats. They have no sense of fear or danger and can't defend themselves. You need to either keep him in or get something like a catio.

We got a ragdoll because he's meant to be an indoor cat (we were in a flat).

However he permanently tried to escape out the front door and now we've moved overseas to a hot country where doors are always left open, its not possible to keep him in.

Will look at creating a safe space for him. And will definitely never leave him out when we re not around. We never leave him more than 30 minutes anyway without checking on him / him coming to check on us!