My cat's a fighter not a lover

[BeReet]

I have two male cats, Boris and George. They are both neutered and are 11yrs old. Both are gorgeous and totally chilled out softies, apart from one thing about George.

Just after lockdown, another neutered male, Alan, moved in across the road, and George does not like Alan at all. They are constantly stalking each other, yowling at each other, and scrapping. George comes home covered in bite marks and wounds. Alan is the same.

None of the boys would be happy as indoor cats. Are we stuck waiting for him to get too old be arsed with all this or is there anything we can do to make George less of a scrapper?

Also, it's costing a fucking fortune at the vets, any recommendations for antiseptics that are good for bite wounds.

Picture of George, so you can see what a total hard man he is

My cat Binx also has mortal enemies (two currently) who he loves to fight with, even though he does sometimes lose and comes in limping pathetically feeling very sorry for himself and then sleeps on the bed for 24 hours to get over his embarrassment. His brother Simba is as soft as they come, he and Binxy Boy ‘fight’ but it’s all very much handbags at dawn.

Photo attached - I think it’s obvious who is who!

Edit to add - no advice sorry!

Cat proof your garden so your cat can go out and not encounter the other cat?

Byron is a lover at home where he is also bossed about by a tiny female cat.

However Bear next door will forever be his mortal enemy.

After too many scraps and angry neighbours we made Byron a house cat. To everyone's surprise, he has been 99% happy with the arrangement. So he might surprise you yet.

Byron is getting a cat flap this summer but if he returns to his bully boy behaviour, the door will be shut again. He has one chance

our car used to fight badly with a local cat. She came one night with literally bits out of her and zero energy. I sat with her all night. The following morning she had picked up a tiny bit and brought her to the vet, he told us to come back if anything changed but also basically led us to the ‘if she goes at home she goes’ conclusion. After days of her beginning to get better and a few weeks of her getting stronger she was back to normal but we turned her into an indoor cat. I would never ever have seen her as one but now when we let her out she walks to the garden and comes back in. No interest in being out. I’d honestly think about it, to stop him being battered (sorry I’ve no better advice)

@kw1234hhggf both your kitties are lovely 😍

George isn't a big roamer, he likes to sit on the driveway and wait for the kids to get back from school or sunbathe on the decking but he has an absolute bee in his bonnet for Alan and as soon as he sees him outside he's straight over.

I could give more thought to him being an indoor cat, no way would Boris go for it but George is lazy enough.

I had this with my cat Ginger who's been dead for over 20 years! I loved him to bits, but he was a fighter. Usually on the losing side because he would come home with bites out of his ass! He was a spoilt sweetheart at home and never fought with his two feline sisters. His absolute bete noir was Nelson two doors up!

In the end he contracted FIV and he died aged just 10 from kidney failure as a result of the FIV. He was indoors a lot of the time but he loved to get out and would disappear for hours. If I had my time again, I think I would have confined him to indoors.

This is one of the reasons we cat-proof our garden. They get the benefits of outdoors without all the dangers.

He’s an incredibly beautiful hard man.

I love Boris! 😍

Look at Boris manspreading 😂

Do you notice any pattern to the time of day they fight?

Cats I've noticed seem to have times that they patrol their patch. They share territory and to avoid fights, they watch one another come and go do that they don't end up in the same place together at the same time. They scent mark to show cats they've just left etc...

However, if say the other cats owners, feed your cat. Eg: dinner time tip bits. We'll, that can create conflict around the time in each your cat visits that area. Because, they both want fed. And especially if there's only do much food to go around... they can get vicious with eachother.

Maybe the owner of the cat or someone in that area, feels your cat. Or, pays it lots of attention. Making their cat, competition.

Of course, sometimes pets, like people, just take a disliking to specific members of their species.

I'd start letting George out and in your back door, so that he doesn't have to walk through Alan's territory at times he might not want to. Make sure he's always well fed. And focus on play to use up any excess energy.

I was watching my little fluff ball from the window thinking to myself ‘bless him, the little cutie’ when he violently attacked the neighbours cat 😮 for no reason.

Another vote for a cat proofed garden so they can go outside safely

There's no pattern to the time of day as far as I can tell. Alan moved in to Boris and George's patch. Now Boris doesn't care, but George has taken against Alan from the get-go. Alan's owners are definitely not feeding him, I've spoken to them. Boris is No1 top cat in our house, but the two of them are fine together, with no spraying or fighting.

This last fight has resulted in a claw being lodged in George's head, causing an infection and quite a large wound area. He's been inside for a fortnight now and he's seething about it 🤣

For your further enjoyment I attach a couple of pictures of George in his 'Cone of Shame'

I can't see how that works? I've 6ft wooden fences, 2 gates, and trees?

Now that is a fabulous cone of shame!!

We have trees and shrubs and gates and fences and children who are in and out and in and out. I struggle to see how cat proofing would work for us although I am looking at it.

George does not feel that way 🤣 although it is remarkably sturdy and he hasn't managed to rip it off yet

Can you buy povidone iodine in the UK? It can be used (diluted according to directions) on superficial wounds in cats.

Hi that cone of shame looks fab and much more comfortable that the normal kind! Can u share where you purchased?

@Snowwhite83 it's from good old Amazon. I literally typed in cone of shame 🤣🤣

No advice but ❤️ your cat.

He looks so cute in his cone.

Sorry, I missed this before, apologies. I don't know but I'll put it on my list to find out.

We've saline flushed the wound and used an antiseptic powder to dry it out, which seems to have worked a treat. All cat safe of course. It's now clean, dry and scabbed over and George will stay indoors until the scab falls off. He is not best pleased about this.

He is a very cute cat with an adorable personality. Just this one flaw in his obsession with Alan!