It's been building up over the days, actually. He started terrorising Rosie, then Daffodil and with Vincent, it's been ongoing all these months.
Today, he turned on Ginger and Timmy.
The only one spared from his bullying seems to be Heidi.
So at dinner time, I put his bowl into one of Timmy's cages and...
You eat in this nice cage, Mr Zurik, sir.
He didn't suspect a thing so he did not put up any resistance.
Aren't I lucky?
Shortly after I put Mr Zurik in the cage, Rosie came back to eat with the rest.
She'd been hiding all afternoon since I came back from work.
This is NOT a correctional facility.
Timmy will be let out after everyone has finished eating.
Rosie walks away after dinner...to the porch.
At least she need not be afraid or be chased by the mobster now.
She can groom herself and relax after dinner.
Now, our Mr Zurik realises he has been tricked.
Timmy polishing up left-overs.
I would think this is better than your headquarters in the drain, isn't it, Mr Zurik.
So, please do not complain.
You even have the fan on.
This is Rosie's usual chilling out place.
She has every right to BE here.
She is our first PatioCat and she brought her family in.
I need a nap. That mobster won't be disturbing anyone for now.
Me too.
Meanwhile, the Russian mobster is juggling with the two latches in the cage (I can hear him). I'll let him go...later - by order of the Department of Corrections.
The Department of Corrections welcomes suggestions on rehabilitation programmes...please!
9 comments:
Call Jackson Galaxy! He will fix Mr Zurik!
No suggestions to the Department of Corrections, ... well except maybe watch out for tree shrews that could cause a jail break incident.
Oh, dear!
Most of the suggestions I know of assume that they are indoor cats, so I don't know if they will be applicable to outdoor cats. Plus, I've been very, very lucky that none of our cats have been outwardly aggressively to each other, so I've never really had to put any of the suggestions to test. (Just one cat and the dog, which is why I had to do some Google research :P )
One of the first things some suggest is a trip to the vet, just to rule out medical problems, with the assumption that sickness or injury may be causing the cat to feel just more grumpy. Pain would probably make him more defensive... so maybe just personal look to make sure there aren't any wounds, or anything that make him cranky?
Another thing I learned is that cats operate on "vertical territory". A cat's hierarchical position in a colony (I think your patiocats sort of form their own colony?) is fluid, so that's why sometimes one cat may seem more dominant for time, and then another cat will.
Cats who view each other on the same position may feel the need to "duke" it out to see who has dominance over the other. From what I can understand, position in PHYSICAL HEIGHT influences this. I hope I'm remembering this correctly but I think a cat who's on a higher ledge than everyone is often perceived more dominant. It could also just allow him to feel safer because he can observe his surroundings and not feel threatened. (One of the tricks for indoor cats is to have different feeding areas on different levels. For a cat who's a bit more aggressive, feeding him on a bench higher than everyone else may be enough assure him of his dominance.)
When you don't have enough different height ledges or surfaces for them to distinguish "their" territory, especially in a shared space, things can get dicey because everyone's on the floor. For territorial cats, every other cat becomes a potential threat.
That's why all those wall shelves, ledges, cat trees are so very useful. At least, that's what I read.
I'm not sure if this is at all helpful, though, but maybe you can re-examine your patio to make sure there are enough different vertical spaces? Maybe put an empty shelf? Or install some wall shelves outside to create a "staircase" for them?
Let me see if I can find some of my old articles and post them in another reply. Good luck!
Here are two I managed to find:
http://thecatcoach.com/being-high-is-good-vertical-territory-matters/
http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/cat-fights-what-to-do-when-your-cats-turn-on-each-other/
I THINK I didn't get too much wrong! LOL. But better to read about it from teh experts.
Thank you very much, Juliana. Mr Zurik always eats on the table (higher than the rest). Maybe this makes him feel superior. Hmm...maybe I should let him eat inside the cage to make him feel that he is "equal" to the rest.
Maybe! I'm not sure if there's any correlation, but we feed our cats in individual cages (like Timmy, they tend to travel, haha), all on the same level. We call it their "dinner cars". ;)
As of now, Mr Zurik is going to eat in the cage! Thanks for the tip!
Good tip!
I think what Juliana says makes pretty good sense... never thought of it before... thanks for the tip
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