Just Asking For Trouble...

This is a “Tail of Two Cats’ - Mickey who goes looking for trouble, and Misty who runs from it.
Both of them end up with abscesses, which means blood poisoning setting in, a fever and a trip to the vet’s. So what I want to talk about is how to prevent the problem for both of them!

Mickey is a very territorial boy, and although he has been desexed, his problem is that he just can’t resist getting into everyone’s business and checking out neighbour’s yards. Some of the yards are feline-free, but others have feline residents who object to Mickey’s excursions. They defend their territory with tooth and claw, so Mickey gets his abscesses on his head and front legs--because he is going ‘head first into trouble’. The defending cat will also frequently sport a deep puncture wound, it depends on who has the strongest opinion about their territorial rights at the time.

Misty, on the other hand, gets her abscesses on her back feet and tail base, because she has been trying to run away from her ‘local Mickey’. It does not seem to matter how fast she runs, she is always a half a second too slow, and in go the teeth and up comes an abscess. Her problem is that there is nowhere she can go to get away from the other cats, anywhere she can go, they can go too.

Too Many Cats

Many of the Modern Cat’s problem stem from overcrowding - as far your cat is concerned, there should not be another feline within a mile of your house, literally. If there is enough food, then a small group of related females can be stable, but it is rare to have males coexisting peacefully.
In Urban Society, this is rarely the case now, so there is much more territorial pressure on cats. Some of them do not adapt very well, hence the ‘bully boy Mickeys’ and the ‘scaredy cat Mistys’, plus the cats who ‘have their say’ by spraying urine and marking their boundaries that way.

The compromise comes in the form of some physical restrictions, such as Cat Modular Parks and Magnetic Cat Flaps.

The Cat Park:

is similar to the modern zoo concept, where you ‘contain the problem’ (people) rather than the exhibits (animals). In the feline situation, you contain the cat, by giving it a safe outdoors area by building a Park around trees, bushes etc. with runways between sections and also into the house. That way, your cat can pretend it is a wild and fearsome creature, but is safe from marauding cats,big dogs and fast cars.

Humans are now significantly more restricted in their activities (when did you last see children walking to school or playing in the road?), and so we are having to confine our pets more to keep them safe and happy.

The Magnetic Cat Flap:

allows your cat to get away from other marauding creatures because the magnetic ‘key’ on their collar opens the cat flap, and unless the ‘chaser cat’ also has the same ‘key’, the flap slams in his face and keeps him out. The Mistys of the world learn very quickly that they can get away, and so set off for a safe haven before the aggression sets in. The Magnetic Cat Flap is also useful if a neighbouring cat is coming in and ‘marking his territory’ on your lounge (aka spraying his urine everywhere). The flap won’t let him in.

Cats in America and Europe have been much more confined than Australian cats for the last 50 years in the big cities, so these problems are not ‘new’, only ‘new to us’. Many cats live safe and emotionally secure lives by not being allowed to roam at will, and as the trend is for higher density living for people and pets continues, then more thought is going to have to be given to the emotional consequences of confinement.

The Cat Modular Parks, Magnetic Cat Flaps, even the harnesses and leads for taking cats for walks in the park, are all responses to the changing world in which we find ourselves, and into which we also place our cats .

Confinement is not wrong, it is only harder.