Feral Cat Acting Dominent Over My Domesticated Cat

[mazie]

I have been feeding a feral cat on my front porch for a couple of years now. Katy, my cat was not at first happy with me caring for this cat, but in time, she relented and allowed him to come up on the porch and feed. Every now and then she would walk over to the food and eat, even though she was not hungry, just making sure the feral remembers, she is "the boss". Now, this feral is warming up to me. I will feed him, sit on the front porch and talk to him he now comes up and lets me pet him and he is learning that humans are nice and not to be feared. While this is going on, Katy in the meantime is romping around the front yard chsing squirrels. If he thinks that she is making a move to come up onto the porch, he will jump down off the porch, go over to her, not being aggressive, just walking up towards her. Apparently this behavior is intimidating to Katy, she will start hissing at him. The feral is now acting like he is trying to protect me or be dominant over me and trying to make Katy the submissive cat now? What do I do to curb this change in behavior between the two before a fight breaks out? (other than get him neutered, of course).

 

[Jayflower]

I think that most feral or wild cats see house cats as being "soft" because they live indoors, and they don't have to hunt for their food like a feral cat does. That may be why the feral is acting dominant towards your Katy.
Getting him neutered would probably be the best way to curb some of his aggression.

 

[mazie]

Thank you, I thought that getting him neutered would help neutralize that behavior not to mention, he needs to be neutered anyway, especially since I am considering at one point bringing him inside, as long as the 2 cats can co-exist.

 

[surya]

I don't know if there is anything you can do, besides getting him fixed. But I have seen them work things out on their own sometimes.

 

[mazie]

Yes, I will be getting him fixed, I agree. I know my Katy is very possessive of her yard, she lets all animals who may wander in that they have "crossed the line and are now in her territory", why I have seen her swat at dogs across their snouts, and they would cry out in pain. Thank goodness they are not aggressive dogs, then I would be in trouble, plus I am out there when she is outside. With Andrew, (I call the feral Andrew, at first I was calling him Annie until I saw him "spray" the plants and trinkets on my porch lol) he used to be very respectful and cautious with Katy, as I said, he knows that the yard is her territory, BUT now that he is warming up to me, letting me pet him, HE is starting to be possessive of me and tries to keep Katy off the porch when I am sitting out there with him. I suspected and now know that neutering him will help big time, but I thought I would ask you all in case there may be something else I need to knowledgeable of.

 

[fionasmom]

I have a close friend who was in a very similar situation. She more or less kept the cats separated at first, then did things like brush them with the same brush to give them the same house smell, and slowly let them work things out. They are not best friends but things are completely workable now. Neutering will help; I recently neutered a large male feral, not pet material, who was fighting and getting injured all over the neighborhood, probably winning most of his fights at that. He is now calm, quiet, healthy looking, and peaceful. I never even see him challenge any other of the TNRed cats.

 

[mazie]

Thank you for your advise. The exchange of their scents to each other on a brush is something I have not thought of before. Also, good way to introduce to the feral what "indoors" smells like. As you can imagine, one always worries when introducing a feral to the "inside world" how they will react. I know, a kitten would be much easier, this male I would say is about the same age as Katy, around age 5. He is not knew to the neighborhood.