A little background first....my feral colony started with 4 kittens last year who showed up and started living in a drainage pipe in our yard. (I have no previous experience in cats, feral or domesticated, so I've been learning as I've gone along.) There was an adult I rarely saw until the kittens were grown, but who I thought was the mother with almost identical markings as one of the kittens except the "mother" was grey and white and the kitten was black and white. The kittens were 2 tuxedo females, a grey and white partial tabby female, and a full black female (that I thought was a male). I began feeding them and when winter came I made cozy shelters for them. I intended to TNR them, but I have some physical problems and wasn't able to do it before the two tuxedos had litters. There was one kitten in each litter, born about a month apart. One kitten was an all grey male (Raggylug) who came to eat with his mother (Little Mama) and "grandmother" (Big Mama) and played in the yard. A month later the other tuxedo brought her tiny grey and white baby to eat, but I only saw them together once. About a month later the baby (Tiny) began coming on her own to eat, seeming very fearful. The other kitten would try to play with her, but she would only eat and run away. All of the cats seemed to get along fairly well, although as the new kittens grew, they began spending their time primarily with their "grandmother". Tiny's mother disappeared just before Tiny began coming to eat alone and Raggylug's mother (Little Mama) stopped spending time with them, but still came to eat on her own. The grey & white tabby (Tattie) also disappeared for about a year, but recently began coming to eat. The full black (Inky) originally came with her siblings, but eventually began coming alone, but seemed fine if the others were around. I was finally able to TNR the six in November and December this year. That's when I discovered that the "mother" (Big Mama) who had been so nurturing to her babies and the grandbabies was a male (now Big Daddy). All of the others were females except for the full grey kitten (Raggylug) who is male.
Not long after the the TNR, Big Daddy began stalking Inky whenever she would come to eat and chasing her which usually ended in brief cat fight sounds although I never saw them fight. Then a couple of weeks later, I saw Inky chasing Tiny and attacking her. They're all afraid of me so when I showed up, they both ran. I have a spy cam set up so I can keep an eye on things at the "food court" and yesterday I saw Inky chasing Tiny. I ran out and heard fighting sounds and saw Inky had Tiny cornered and Tiny had pee'd all over the place in fear (she did the same thing the time before, but also pooped, poor baby). They both ran when they saw me and I followed, but didn't see where either went. This evening Tiny was eating and suddenly ran off and right behind her was Inky on the chase. I ran outside and went in the direction they'd gone and once again Tiny was cornered and they were making fighting noises. Inky saw me and ran and then Tiny saw me and ran the other direction.
I don't know why Inky has started doing this. I have an especially soft spot in my heart for Tiny because she lost her mother when she was still very little and because she is very small. She's 6 to 7 months old and about half the size of Raggylug who is 7 to 8 months old. She's less than half the size of Inky and I'm so worried that Inky will hurt her. Is this territorial behavior or is Inky picking on Tiny because Big Daddy picks on her? Tiny adores Big Daddy and he is very nurturing with her, so I thought perhaps he was being hostile towards Inky because he'd seen her being aggressive towards Tiny before I knew about it. What can I do about this? Is it possible that Inky might kill Tiny? I keep thinking maybe Inky isn't the same black cat I trapped and fixed. Occasionally, I've seen another black cat eating there at the same time, but since the TNR, I've only seen one. Since Inky has no markings, I really can't tell the difference between her and any other black cat her size. The vet was supposed to notch the left ears, but only one of the cats came home with a notched ear, so that doesn't help either. Should I try to trap Inky again and take her to the vet to verify she is a she and is fixed? If she is, that doesn't solve my problem of her attacking Tiny. If she turns out to be a different cat who is possibly male, that might explain all of this. I'm sorry for being so wordy, but I wanted to give as much info as possible so you would understand the dynamics of the situation. Any advice would be helpful. My biggest fear is that Inky will seriously hurt or kill Tiny, so how do I keep that from happening? Thanks for the help, in advance!
Not long after the the TNR, Big Daddy began stalking Inky whenever she would come to eat and chasing her which usually ended in brief cat fight sounds although I never saw them fight. Then a couple of weeks later, I saw Inky chasing Tiny and attacking her. They're all afraid of me so when I showed up, they both ran. I have a spy cam set up so I can keep an eye on things at the "food court" and yesterday I saw Inky chasing Tiny. I ran out and heard fighting sounds and saw Inky had Tiny cornered and Tiny had pee'd all over the place in fear (she did the same thing the time before, but also pooped, poor baby). They both ran when they saw me and I followed, but didn't see where either went. This evening Tiny was eating and suddenly ran off and right behind her was Inky on the chase. I ran outside and went in the direction they'd gone and once again Tiny was cornered and they were making fighting noises. Inky saw me and ran and then Tiny saw me and ran the other direction.
I don't know why Inky has started doing this. I have an especially soft spot in my heart for Tiny because she lost her mother when she was still very little and because she is very small. She's 6 to 7 months old and about half the size of Raggylug who is 7 to 8 months old. She's less than half the size of Inky and I'm so worried that Inky will hurt her. Is this territorial behavior or is Inky picking on Tiny because Big Daddy picks on her? Tiny adores Big Daddy and he is very nurturing with her, so I thought perhaps he was being hostile towards Inky because he'd seen her being aggressive towards Tiny before I knew about it. What can I do about this? Is it possible that Inky might kill Tiny? I keep thinking maybe Inky isn't the same black cat I trapped and fixed. Occasionally, I've seen another black cat eating there at the same time, but since the TNR, I've only seen one. Since Inky has no markings, I really can't tell the difference between her and any other black cat her size. The vet was supposed to notch the left ears, but only one of the cats came home with a notched ear, so that doesn't help either. Should I try to trap Inky again and take her to the vet to verify she is a she and is fixed? If she is, that doesn't solve my problem of her attacking Tiny. If she turns out to be a different cat who is possibly male, that might explain all of this. I'm sorry for being so wordy, but I wanted to give as much info as possible so you would understand the dynamics of the situation. Any advice would be helpful. My biggest fear is that Inky will seriously hurt or kill Tiny, so how do I keep that from happening? Thanks for the help, in advance!
