Friends Fighting At Night?

[potterpets]

This morning I got to work to find the most adorable cat guarding the front door at my job. I fed him and gave him some water and he stuck around all day so I decided to take him home. I was told by a coworker that the cats owners moved and left him behind. He's very sweet and he crawled up in my lap and just wanted some love. I have never owned cats before but Ive somehow managed to acquire 3 (now 4) all within one year. Snape (intact male outdoor) was living on the property when I moved to this house a year ago. Petunia (intact female mostly outdoor) appeared on our farm about 6 months ago and loves to hang around Snape, they get along well. Last but not least, Minerva aka Baby because she's my child (intact female inside only) So I brought this new male cat home hoping he would get along alright with Snape. Snape ran right up to him and they just smelled each other and then sat in the shade beside one another. I monitored them for several hours and things looked alright! They napped practically on top of each other and then ate dinner out of the same bowl with no problems. I came inside at around 10:30 and about 30 minutes later I hear some gnarly sound outside my window that can only be described as a fight. I went outside to find new cat way way up in a tree and Snape at the base of it and tufts of new cats fur on the ground. I coaxed him down from the tree and I opened up our garage door and he happily came in to spend the night. Is there any possibility of them getting along so I wouldn't have to separate them? I don't want new cat to feel stressed here and I would feel awful to take the angel to a shelter. Sorry for the super long story just wanted to be as detailed about the situation as possible to get the best advice!

 

[vyger]

The first really big problem is that boys that arn't neutered will fight, even if they are best friends. They will fight over un-spayed girls. Un-spayed girls will go into heat and then the real fun starts. You have an explosive situation with the explosion part being up to 20 kittens in one year, and that is just this year. It could blossom into 50 in 2 years. But that is assuming that there is enough food to supply all and the queens raise big litters. If you want your cats to get along you will need to get them all neutered. That might be why the other people left their cat behind. They didn't want to deal with it. It's a pretty sad thing to do, abandon pets. Hope the don't have kids, they might dump them as well.

 

[potterpets]

The first really big problem is that boys that arn't neutered will fight, even if they are best friends. They will fight over un-spayed girls. Un-spayed girls will go into heat and then the real fun starts. You have an explosive situation with the explosion part being up to 20 kittens in one year, and that is just this year. It could blossom into 50 in 2 years. But that is assuming that there is enough food to supply all and the queens raise big litters. If you want your cats to get along you will need to get them all neutered. That might be why the other people left their cat behind. They didn't want to deal with it. It's a pretty sad thing to do, abandon pets. Hope the don't have kids, they might dump them as well.

Thank you so much for the advice! I really do appreciate it. I will definitely make an appointment for the new cat and my female outdoor cat for surgery. Ive attempted in the past to load Snape up in a carrier to take him to the vet but that was a big failure! Do you think there will still be problems if Snape remains intact while the other male and female get fixed?

 

[vyger]

He won't be as big a problem but he will still be aggressive with them on occasion. I have a feral tom cat that has taken up living with some of my mostly outside cats. I was hoping to get him fixed this year but the timing has been bad so far. Anyway, he did pick a lot of fights at first, even with the spayed females. But it has been a lot less now that he has made it his home. He goes off for a few days at a time looking for girlfriends and returns hungry and tired. He has lost weight this spring because of it so that might also be why he is less aggressive. His sex life is draining him of fight. having them fixed will not guarantee that they will all be friends. Cats pick who they want to be friends with and some just don't match up no matter how much sense it makes to us. And sometimes for no apparent reason they change their minds and become enemies with their friends and friends with their enemies. It's actually fun watching the evolving and developing social interactions.
I have a little old cat that used to belong to my daughter who couldn't keep her after she got married so she came to live with my crowd. I believe she is around 20 now. Anyway, she hates all of my inside cats and constantly fights with them all. Just howls and screams something awful. She decided she wanted out after the snow melted and it turns out she likes and has made friends with the outside cats including the tom cat. I even saw her sleeping with one of them, something she never did with the inside cats. I am happy that she is happy with them but also a bit mystified. The inside cats often go outside so they all know each other. but she just likes that group a lot better.
As to catching the other tom cat there is a lot of advice about that here on the site. You can get traps. I would just leave the cat carrier out and start putting food in it so he can get used to going into it. Then one day when it's time, close the door on him.
Anyway, you will have a lot less problems with them once they are all fixed and you won't get overrun with kittens.

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Congrats on becoming a cat "parent". And thank you for rescuing in cats other people abandoned.

I agree with the other posters, getting the cats spayed/neutered should be your main objective. Not only will the males get the females pregnant, intact males will likely start to spray around your house. And fight with each other.

Also, once males are neutered, even if they weren't spraying, their urine smell will become much less stinky.

Here's some TCS articles with additional info for you:

First-time Cat Owner's Guide

Why You Should Spay And Neuter Your Cats
Spaying And Neutering - What To Ask Before The Surgery
Spaying And Neutering - What To Look For After Surgery

Introducing Cats To Cats
The Multi-cat Household