My sweet Henryetta is a feral/semi-feral I fed for several months and then was able to rescue when she was pregnant and help her care for kittens. She's now spayed and has been an indoor-only cat since last April and has adapted wonderfully. She's loving, sweet-natured and gets along with my other indoor-only cat, a neutered male named Chaucer, but she is still afraid of other people. Both cats are about 2.5 years old.
Henryetta has never really objected to other cats coming by to dine. She looks at them through the glass or screen and it's all okay. However, there is one cat that comes round that she clearly hates. Anytime this cat is in the yard, she starts growling. Last night, it escalated. The cat came closer to the door and Henryetta was most terrifying in appearance and sound. She didn't just growl and hiss, this was a full-on scream like some sort of panther and if she could have leapt through the glass it would not have been pretty. Chaucer was not far off and he went over. She must have hissed at him because he came from under the curtain with his tail fluffed and then started to go back under. I clapped and Henryetta ran off with Chaucer following. I was afraid that Chaucer, who I've had since he was 4 months old and has not been in a fight, would get seriously hurt so I managed to get him to another room until Henryetta calmed down.
My questions are: Why that cat and not the others that come around? They are in her territory. Is it possible that while she was living outside she had some tangles with this cat? Did it perhaps hurt some kittens she might have had back then and she remembers this? How common is this screaming? I've had cats all my life and never heard anything like this before.
Henryetta has never really objected to other cats coming by to dine. She looks at them through the glass or screen and it's all okay. However, there is one cat that comes round that she clearly hates. Anytime this cat is in the yard, she starts growling. Last night, it escalated. The cat came closer to the door and Henryetta was most terrifying in appearance and sound. She didn't just growl and hiss, this was a full-on scream like some sort of panther and if she could have leapt through the glass it would not have been pretty. Chaucer was not far off and he went over. She must have hissed at him because he came from under the curtain with his tail fluffed and then started to go back under. I clapped and Henryetta ran off with Chaucer following. I was afraid that Chaucer, who I've had since he was 4 months old and has not been in a fight, would get seriously hurt so I managed to get him to another room until Henryetta calmed down.
My questions are: Why that cat and not the others that come around? They are in her territory. Is it possible that while she was living outside she had some tangles with this cat? Did it perhaps hurt some kittens she might have had back then and she remembers this? How common is this screaming? I've had cats all my life and never heard anything like this before.