When I started taking the cat outside, I worried about conflict with other cats. Being on a leash probably wouldn’t stop him from fighting another cat, I knew, and it would make the fight more dangerous. But the worst that’s happened was that he once ran off in the dark into the neighbors’ yard after their cat, yanking the leash right out of my hand. Even then, he was back in our yard while I was still looking for him over in the neighbors’. He’s not stupid.
He’s territorial, and the neighbors’ cats react to it in different ways. One of them used to come all the way up to the back door to taunt him. Ours went crazy trying to claw his way out.
Another one is too old and placid to take any notice of our cat. He comes into our yard and relaxes in the sun, ignoring our cat’s “threatening” actions. Our guy always gives up. Sometimes he’ll walk over politely, and they’ll sniff each other; I’ve never seen him try to fight the old cat.
Then there’s the cat that gets a little confused because my son feeds her while her people are away. She’ll sometimes wander over to our yard even when they’re home. Just today, she came up to the back door, lay down on the doorstep, and hissed through the door at our cat.
I harnessed him up and took him out through the front door, then to the backyard. The neighbors’ cat stared for several minutes, obviously wondering how he’d gotten there without coming through the only door in sight. Then she came down to confront him – but after a little more hissing, she decided to go home.
Our cat marched up and took his rightful place on the back steps. He may not be king of the jungle, but he’s still owner of the backyard.
