Help! My cat is a big ginger wuss!

When I took on two kittens 18 months ago, my neighbour popped round to have a look at them. He duly reported to his wife that the one of the kittens had a sweet face and the other “looked like a thug” It wasn't hard to work out which was which;  Milly - a tiny tortoiseshell with big gentle eyes -  looked as though butter wouldn't melt and Jason her ginger big brother, with a face that was always thrusting itself at you and a devilish glint in his eyes. Jason looked like a bruiser in the making and I assumed that when he was old enough to go outside, he would be the scourge of the neighbourhood cats.

Are you looking at me?

After a challenging 5 months indoors (which is another story!) and an appointment with the vets, our cats were ready to go out. They were both almost fully grown and Jason was a fantastic example of a young male cat in top physical condition.

He had honed his fighting skills by protracted wrestling matches with his little sister (several of which I had to break up) and sharpened his claws to perfection on my soft furnishings. He was a big cat - much bigger than Milly - and when he pounced, you could literally see the muscles rippling under his glossy coat. The cats in my neighbourhood are mostly quite elderly and I genuinely felt sorry for them. Look out cats, here comes the new kid on the block!

But as you’ll guess from the title - Jason didn't become ‘Top Cat’ of the neighbourhood and I suppose the clues were there early on.  When I first opened the door to let them out, he hung back and let his sister go first. When they made a friend - a young black cat called Romeo, who had only just started going out himself, my neighbours reported that Romeo was ‘lording it over’ both our cats, whatever that means! As I work during the day, I rely a lot on reports from my retired neighbours, who although aren't strictly speaking cat people, appear fascinated by the antics of my lively young cats.

I then started to notice that when other cats appeared in our garden, Jason would watch them from the window with his tail thrashing but would wait until they had safely crossed over to next door before making an appearance outside to strut about as if he was warning them off.

We noticed an increase in the friction when one particular cat appeared. Named Caspar, he was an elderly stiff-legged creature who had ruled the roost in our close for a long time. For almost a year, Jason and he contented themselves with a bit of mild posturing and growling. Jason, usually from safely behind a window. But then a few weeks ago, old Caspar kicked it up a notch.

We started to hear reports (from our neighbours of course) of Caspar chasing Jason up our garden path and into the house. Then one evening we heard the cat flap taking a hammering so my husband went to investigate and reported Jason just inside it with Caspar on the outside baring his teeth. My husband  used the word ‘fangs’ and reported Caspar as wearing the most vicious and angry expression that a cat possibly can. Strong words indeed from an unashamed cat-man!

Then a few days later when I was on my own, I heard some lively yowling from outside and came down to find Jason sitting in the kitchen with his tail fluffed up to twice its size. He was pacing up and down and had a worried look in his eye. As his tail shrank back to normal size, his pacing slowed down and he slunk about with his normally perky tail decidedly in the down position. It was one of the most pathetic sights I have ever seen and my heart went out to him.



Going Somewhere?

When I made a fuss of him, he ignored me and that was when I knew things were bad, as this is one cat that loves a fuss. My cat was being bullied, and to add insult to injury it was by the local pensioner! You could say to a young man about an adversary, “Oh yeah, you could take him for sure!” Well how do you tell that to your cat? He’s big, strong, young and fast but somehow I don’t think he knows it.

While I was somewhat surprised by the turn of events, apart from being worried about him, I have to say I love him more for it. He is a big softy who loves a cuddle, and children can do anything with him. He’s come a long way from that bolshy little ginger ‘thug’ and I wouldn't change my beautiful big ginger wuss for anything!