Hi everyone,
my story is quite complicated, but I hope some of you here might have some similar experiences and can help me. I’d be very helpful if you could give me some suggestions.
We moved to this new place where we live now and as soon as we did so, a neighbour cat became our friend. Her name is Sklipek and she used to stay with us every evening, I used to feed her and pet her, even allow her in the house. We had a special bond and I valued it even greater because she chose to hang around us in the first place.
At the same time, a grey stray was venturing though our yards and we’ve noticed she was eating Sklipek’s food and was even sleeping on the neighbour’s porch with her. The neighbour couldn’t stand the stray and wanted to chase her off, but she kept coming back. She was shying away from people and seemed to like the company of the other cat better. After a while, another neighbour found 3 kittens in her shed and she set a trap to catch the mother of the kittens (no surprise, the grey cat was their mother. A day later I found the 4th kitten under some ferns in my yard and I took it to the SPCA to be reunited with his mother and brothers. When I visited the kitten I found, she seemed very friendly and immediately rubbed against me, so I thought she’d make a good pet. Because the kittens had better chances to be adopted, I thought even more so on adopting her. I took into consideration the fact that she was a young cat (about 1 year old) and aware of Sklipek with whom she shared the territory, so I thought this would go on if I adopted her. After she got spaded I visited her couple of times and she was the shyest cat there, always hiding under blankets, but she would come out if I interacted with her. So I took her in and named her Modra which she seems to like; she immediately comes to me when I call her.
Surprisingly she went over the first shock of being in a new house extremely quickly. The next day she was already outside, playing and again to my surprise, she returned to the house and came to me to be stroked and sleep on the sofa as if she had this since forever. Sklipek was very curious about her; I could see she wanted to stay with her; she was always around her, although very confident and maybe a bit bossy. Modra was very reserved and kept her distance. All went relatively well until Sklipek ate from Modra’s dish. I saw an immediate change in Modra. I took Sklipek away from her food and fed her separately. Sklipek started to rub against me and Modra became even more distressed. Then they started yowling and grinning and now each time Sklipek visits, Modra attacks her. Was heart braking to see Sklipek yowling as if someone died, she looked so upset with me for accepting this newcomer into my yard and house. At the same time, Modra seems to see Sklipek’s yard as her own as well and she even chases Sklipek there, not to mention she is eating her food, if she has regular cat food in the dish. Sklipek still visits during night and does the same with Modra’s food. It’s a true drama. Last night they chased each other again. By the looks of it I think Modra’s winning. I haven’t seen Sklipek at all since last night, but Modra was coming inside this morning. Modra has 2 faces anyway, during day she is a placid, content, sleepy cat and at night she turns into a “pantherâ€, climbing all trees and fences, running around like stung by a bee and she wouldn’t even approach my husband and I. When she doesn’t like something she growls like a dog, which is another interesting and somehow funny thing about her.
My fear is she would bully Sklipek all the time and she would never allow her to visit our yard or maybe she’d chase her even in Skilpek’s own yard (my neighbour wouldn’t be very pleased with this. Although Sklipek is not my cat, I am fond of her and I feel very sad to see her chased off. On the other hand I understand Modra’s need to establish her own territory.
My question is what suddenly changed in Modra’s brain that she turned from a quiet, shy cat into a top, self confident predator and is there anything I can do to somehow get her to tolerate Skilpek’s visits? Should I even intervene in their business?
my story is quite complicated, but I hope some of you here might have some similar experiences and can help me. I’d be very helpful if you could give me some suggestions.
We moved to this new place where we live now and as soon as we did so, a neighbour cat became our friend. Her name is Sklipek and she used to stay with us every evening, I used to feed her and pet her, even allow her in the house. We had a special bond and I valued it even greater because she chose to hang around us in the first place.
At the same time, a grey stray was venturing though our yards and we’ve noticed she was eating Sklipek’s food and was even sleeping on the neighbour’s porch with her. The neighbour couldn’t stand the stray and wanted to chase her off, but she kept coming back. She was shying away from people and seemed to like the company of the other cat better. After a while, another neighbour found 3 kittens in her shed and she set a trap to catch the mother of the kittens (no surprise, the grey cat was their mother. A day later I found the 4th kitten under some ferns in my yard and I took it to the SPCA to be reunited with his mother and brothers. When I visited the kitten I found, she seemed very friendly and immediately rubbed against me, so I thought she’d make a good pet. Because the kittens had better chances to be adopted, I thought even more so on adopting her. I took into consideration the fact that she was a young cat (about 1 year old) and aware of Sklipek with whom she shared the territory, so I thought this would go on if I adopted her. After she got spaded I visited her couple of times and she was the shyest cat there, always hiding under blankets, but she would come out if I interacted with her. So I took her in and named her Modra which she seems to like; she immediately comes to me when I call her.
Surprisingly she went over the first shock of being in a new house extremely quickly. The next day she was already outside, playing and again to my surprise, she returned to the house and came to me to be stroked and sleep on the sofa as if she had this since forever. Sklipek was very curious about her; I could see she wanted to stay with her; she was always around her, although very confident and maybe a bit bossy. Modra was very reserved and kept her distance. All went relatively well until Sklipek ate from Modra’s dish. I saw an immediate change in Modra. I took Sklipek away from her food and fed her separately. Sklipek started to rub against me and Modra became even more distressed. Then they started yowling and grinning and now each time Sklipek visits, Modra attacks her. Was heart braking to see Sklipek yowling as if someone died, she looked so upset with me for accepting this newcomer into my yard and house. At the same time, Modra seems to see Sklipek’s yard as her own as well and she even chases Sklipek there, not to mention she is eating her food, if she has regular cat food in the dish. Sklipek still visits during night and does the same with Modra’s food. It’s a true drama. Last night they chased each other again. By the looks of it I think Modra’s winning. I haven’t seen Sklipek at all since last night, but Modra was coming inside this morning. Modra has 2 faces anyway, during day she is a placid, content, sleepy cat and at night she turns into a “pantherâ€, climbing all trees and fences, running around like stung by a bee and she wouldn’t even approach my husband and I. When she doesn’t like something she growls like a dog, which is another interesting and somehow funny thing about her.
My fear is she would bully Sklipek all the time and she would never allow her to visit our yard or maybe she’d chase her even in Skilpek’s own yard (my neighbour wouldn’t be very pleased with this. Although Sklipek is not my cat, I am fond of her and I feel very sad to see her chased off. On the other hand I understand Modra’s need to establish her own territory.
My question is what suddenly changed in Modra’s brain that she turned from a quiet, shy cat into a top, self confident predator and is there anything I can do to somehow get her to tolerate Skilpek’s visits? Should I even intervene in their business?
