Close Encounters

By the morning of Tuesday August 17, Augie had officially regained his outdoor privileges which had been taken away just over two years before.  Two years ago it seemed like something outside might be killing him, but now it seemed that his continued health required him to go outside at least twice daily or otherwise he might die from simply not wanting to urinate inside anymore.  This was a radical and high priority lifestyle change, and one he had never stopped begging for.

He seemed to be doing OK outside for 5 hours on Monday night, 10pm to 3:30am (coming back inside a few times in between to lick some wet food).  It was a big risk, I feared it might be his dying wish rather than his road to recovery.  What if he wasn't as strong as he thought he was and got stuck someplace, or had some kind of organ failure?  But he came back from his first night out in years seeming more comfortable with himself and his life than ever before, as well as seeming healthier than in a long time, if ever.  He actually polished off the 1/4 can of cat food I gave him, which he hadn't done in a while.  I was glad I hadn't waited until Tuesday morning--my first plan--to let him out the first time.  I think he made serious progress letting out his bladder on Monday night and by Tuesday it might have been too late.  And it turned out there were other complications on Tuesday morning which might have turned things for the worse, if he had not been already relieved and on the mend.

So now, one way or another, there was going to be an encounter between Augie and Creamy--the new outdoors-only "feral" cat.  It might as well start while I was watching.

The plan was to feed both cats first--Augie inside and Creamy outside, then let Augie out for the beginning of his second day of outdoor freedom.

But Creamy didn't come to breakfast early on Tuesday morning.  I got up early from my disjointed Monday night sleep (from calling Augie back in at 3:30am) around 8 am, and Augie was already scratching to go out. and after eating my breakfast, at 9 am I decided to let Augie out first.

After a while, Creamy did come by, so I called for Augie to come back in, and I got him to come back inside for a single "treat" of canned food (1/12 can he mostly just pushed around with his tongue until later--as usual and expected--I give him many treats a day and he often doesn't fully eat them until later if ever) and Creamy his morning share (about half a can) of canned and dry food.  I had to block Augie with the recycling can to keep him from going out while I was feeding Creamy outside, but it wasn't too hard to keep him from going out (as usual).  Finally when Creamy had quit eating the dry food (about half of the second serving) I let Augie out.

Then they had their first set of serious negotiations, where there was some threat of serious fighting and injury.  Previously they had only had much less threatening interactions, though often including howling and hissing, through the screen door.

This time they were a few feet apart on the patio with nothing blocking them from starting a serious fight.  But they didn't fight with claws and teeth, only with long and emotion laden vocalizations like Meeeeeeeaaaaah.  Often called howling that's what in this case I call negotiation, because clearly it's vocal argument either leading to a fight over or settling issues such as who owns what and when.  If one cat is sufficiently intimidated during these negotiations, it will run off first.  Or perhaps the fight will be moved to another theater, over another set of territorial claims, and so on.  In my experience, and contrary to myth, cats do more negotiation than actual fighting.  Fighting is what happens when a negotiated settlement cannot be reached.

They moved around until they were along opposite sides of the patio, with long silences punctuated by intense vocal negotiations for almost an hour.  I was seated at the patio table, and whenever tensions flared, I tried to softly talk them down, saying that they were both being fed by me with no limitations, and they had no good reason not to be friends and allies.  After one stretch of this calming rhetoric, Creamy looked at me like a worshipful fan.  That gave me a wonderful feeling, and a few dreamy moments of bliss.

But those moments didn't last long.  Sometime after I looked away Creamy dashed out into the back yard under one of the two plastic chaise lounge chairs under the oak tree.  Augie then slid himself into a new position several feet away from the chair, where negotiations continued and seemed to be getting more intense.

This time I intervened, by getting up and removing a large plastic bag which had blown in to a position nearby in the past few days.  The crinkling sound of plastic is one of those which hurts Augie's sensitive ears.  I didn't crinkle the plastic unnecessarily.  I just barely needed to touch it before he got up and raced toward the now open screen door, which I closed, ending the session.

The second day, Wednesday morning, went a bit differently.  I had been lulled into the sense that Augie wasn't much interested in rushing the screen door.  I fed both Augie and Creamy their respective wet food portions,  And I served up the second mostly untouched serving of dry food from Tuesday to Creamy and he ate it all.  As I was bringing him another fresh serving of dry food, Augie rushed out.  Once again I started trying to talk them down.  Creamy was able to crunch a few new kibbles.  But then Augie dashed out to back under the chaise lounge next to the one where Creamy had been the day before.  Creamy took that as a provocation and immediately dashed out to a position in the sunlight several feet from the chaise lounge.   And then a new set of negotiations proceeded for about 40 minutes, with me under the patio table speaking soft pacifying words and occasionally snapping pictures or too-short videos.

I thought I was hearing an exchange basically like this:

Creamy: I'm younger and tougher and fearless.  I can make you hurt.  You won't stop me.  That's why I own this backyard now.

Augie: I've seen seven generations of outdoor cats like you come and go.  I can show you the ropes of the establishment here, in exchange for a cooperative use and security arrangement in this backyard and my other territories.  I may be a bit out of touch and shape now, but I've been the top cat for a long time, and for good reasons.  I'm big and strong and smart.  It will be good to have me as your ally rather than your enemy.  You can still come here for breakfast.  I like that anyway, as it gives me an opportunity to get out.

Eventually, it seemed like a settlement had been reached.  There was a long silence and after a while they were both intently watching a pair of butterflies mating further back in the backyard.  Creamy got up to start chasing them.  Augie came back in.

During his last 10 hours in-cage, Creamy had messed up his nose probably by rubbing on the cage.  It looked black.  I was very worried and feeling guilty about keeping him in cage for 36 hours, and not cleaning cage at 1am on Saturday night when he started making a noise just as I was going to bed exhausted (and I think he must have had a major pee, but the thick paper absorbed the liquid but not the smell).  Also his agitation may have been from wanting to poop, which he never actually did in the cage.  I had changed the paper at 10pm on Saturday night, so I figured that would be enough for his release around 11 am on Sunday.  There are some other minor issues regarding the cage itself, some rough spots inside and a few loose metal wires (I plan to remove).  A friend feared the cage too small.  I never had any sense that the cage was too small, Creamy could wrap up and relax in a small corner if he felt good.  But he often and especially during the the last AM hours (he had been amazing wonderful all Saturday long, I took videos of how happy he seemed to have so much food and attention.  But it turned for the worse around 1am Sunday morning just as I was going to bed.  FWIW, I put the cover back on then (though my experience generally was the cover was not helpful, he seemed better with it off and especially when looking at me, but I could have been wrong, so wanted to follow standard advice when "my way" appeared to be not working.  In this case he seemed little different cover on or off.   Which is consistent with my idea...he needed to get out and poop.  I plan to write several articles about the TNR experience, but I needed to give some context for the comments here about his nose.

Fortunately by Wednesday his nose had healed up, looking about the same or possibly even better than it had been before trapping.  I think his rubbing on the cage loosened scabs which had been on his nose from earlier fights and looked a bit like freckles.  

But by Saturday, he had a new scratch which is different and it goes past his nose an inch into his forehead back and forth.  As a starving urchin, he had been fearless.  Perhaps that's no longer the best strategy now that he has a regular patron or two?  Will he mellow?  I tell him to stay in the backyard as much as he likes, and not to mind Augie who is just out for a few hours a day.

The encounter on Thursday morning started similarly.  Once again Augie was able to barge out while I was bringing Creamy his serving of crunchies (which were eaten later and probably by Creamy).  This time, however, they decided to hold their negotiations more privately.  They had some choice words near the back fence bamboo.  The it seemed like Creamy may have taken off.  Augie spent some time checking out the back yard and no doubt adding his signature.  Strangely he had never much been interested in my backyard before.   He used to just take off the fence on one side or the other.  This morning he started at the north side fence for a few seconds, considering whether to ascend it looked like, then decided not to and came inside.  (I believe he does still go over the fence, and seemed to have done so for awhile on Thursday afternoon, if not earlier.  Ever since Monday Morning he has seemed to have been getting more and more of his mojo back.  But it's hard to tell, since he almost always pretends to have it.)

On Friday I was more careful about preventing Augie from prematurely charging the screen door.  He gets the idea when I just lift the recycling can (a small plastic trashcan having aluminum cans) and then he backs off letting me place the can between him and the screen door.  So I was able to feed Creamy both wet and dry foods, losing interest after eating about half of the dry food provided.  Then I let Augie out the screen door.   They both ran towards the back yard again, but this time Creamy got under the chaise lounge.  For awhile Augie was rolling around on the dirt behind the oak tree, with Creamy still under the chaise lounge.  Eventually Augie rushed back toward the screen door and I let him in for another small bit of wet food.  Creamy took off.

On Saturday Aug 21, Creamy and Augie had a session on the patio after feeding.  After some arguing they were quiet for awhile.  Then Creamy starts cleaning himself.  Augie comes by and looks like he's going to lick (groom) Creamy.  But just as he gets about 4 inches away, Creamy growls and Augie immediately backs off, retreating to about 3 feet away.  It was now clear that Creamy had a new scratch across his nose and face, acquired sometime after Wednesday.  (I have not seen or even heard anything like an actual fight involving either Creamy or Augie.  I suspect the fight involved another cat some distance from my house.)

On Sunday Aug 22, Creamy showed up around 10am and I fed with 2/3 can, no dry because I didn't have time to let Augie out and deal with another session.

On Monday Aug 23, Creamy was not present at 10am but at 12 noon I found resting on the patio.  I fed most of a can of food (about 7/8) giving Augie the rest inside.  After that I let Augie out and they had more negotiations on the patio.  Creamy was sitting underneath a small table growling.  Augie bopping around various parts of the patio clowning around, one time coming to within 2 ft of creamy looking like he wanted to groom him, then playing as if trying to tease Creamy--sometimes looking more stereotypically female, like Bugs Bunny.  Creamy is unmoved to do anything by all this, just an occasional growl from beneath the small table.  Sometimes because Creamy and other times when there are barking dogs or other noises on the street, Augie looks scared or spooked and rushes back into house only to come back out a minute or two later.