My cat keeps going out and picking fights with other cats

[Fizzle52]

Hey guys,

I have a 2 year old cat with a bad case of stress-related cystitis whom I brought home to live with me in a house with a garden. It's a long story, but essentially, he seems to need some combination of the freedom to roam, and being in nature, in order to feel relaxed enough so that he doesn't suffer another urethral obstruction. It's been 3 weeks since he's moved here and he's definitely been improving.

The big trouble is that he's been going out and picking fights with all the cats in the area. I already have two cats, one male and one female, and he's already fought with the male (who is now very traumatised and will only stay indoors now), and he keeps chasing the female one, who hasn't been home today to eat. The female and he are sometimes alright, I've seen them sit together at the back yard, but the moment she runs, he chases. I can't tell if he wants to fight her or chase her.

Then there are a few strays that frequent our area, but they normally only hang out at the roadside, outside of our house and garden area, and he keeps going out and picking fights with them! He's already had 3 proper scuffles since coming here, and countless big meowing matches. He's always the one chasing after them, and because he's quite fast, he catches them and they tumble and fight. It's horrible. The house is very open with multiple entry ways and there's basically no way to contain him, and I don't want to confine him either because it seems to cause his cystitis to flare up. I'm really worried about all the fights though, and I really need him to get along with my two other cats. Why does he purposely go out to pick fights? Does anyone here have any advice?

He was neutered about 6 weeks ago.

 

[vince]

Perhaps the hormones are only now working their way out of his system. It takes quite a while for them to do so. He may still get better about this. That being said, sometimes cats are just ornery. We had a fixed male that continued to fight with other neighborhood cats, even though he often got the short end of the stick. He'd come back full of holes and with fur missing, after which we'd take him to the vet for shots and to be patched up. He was a very loving and cuddly cat with us as well as our other cat. It was just his fashion (this was back in the day when it was the rule to put cats out for the night).

 

[Fizzle52]

Perhaps the hormones are only now working their way out of his system. It takes quite a while for them to do so. He may still get better about this. That being said, sometimes cats are just ornery. We had a fixed male that continued to fight with other neighborhood cats, even though he often got the short end of the stick. He'd come back full of holes and with fur missing, after which we'd take him to the vet for shots and to be patched up. He was a very loving and cuddly cat with us as well as our other cat. It was just his fashion (this was back in the day when it was the rule to put cats out for the night).

Where do you live? It was a rule once to put cats out for the night?! That’s fascinating! But also, do you mean it’s important to take him to the vet after each fight to get shots? I had two male strays who went out and fought all the time and they both died really young, at 3 years old, from FIV, presumably because they went out to fight so much. I really don’t want this to happen to this poor boy!

 

[ArtNJ]

The main issue with cat fights is that every now and then they get bitten, and bites = infections. Not good for the cat, and it can be very expensive to deal with as well.

I'd keep the cat in and look at other ways to deal with stress.

 

[LTS3]

Could you put a catio in the yard so the cat can have his outside time but isn't able to attack and fight the other cats who roam into the yard?

 

[vince]

Where do you live? It was a rule once to put cats out for the night?! That’s fascinating! But also, do you mean it’s important to take him to the vet after each fight to get shots? I had two male strays who went out and fought all the time and they both died really young, at 3 years old, from FIV, presumably because they went out to fight so much. I really don’t want this to happen to this poor boy!

I always lived in the Detroit area. I was talking fifty-plus years ago when I still lived at home. Then, everybody let out their cats, at least those that wanted out for the night. Yes, Ajax, the cat in question, made two or three visits every year to be given a shot of an antibiotic, a stitch or two and possibly a tube inserted for drainage. Poor little guy...

That doesn't necessarily mean he went into the vet each and every time--only when he looked ill or smelled funny from an abscess. He did grow out of his fighting habit in his old age and became a stay-at-home kitty.

 

[Fizzle52]

The main issue with cat fights is that every now and then they get bitten, and bites = infections. Not good for the cat, and it can be very expensive to deal with as well.

I'd keep the cat in and look at other ways to deal with stress.

I have tried literally everything — he was living indoors in an apartment when we first rescued him and we made every modification possible but he kept getting life threatening blockages. The only option left is the surgery to amputate his penis and create a wider opening, which I am very reluctant to do as it predisposes him to a life of bacterial infections. The main thing about keeping him outside is so that he can pee in comfort wherever in the garden he wants (he prefers to pee in grass and dirt). There is also the option of using individual metal fences to assemble a 2 by 2 foot small area for him to be fenced in outside at night, but I don’t know if that’s better for him to prevent him from fighting, or if it’ll make him feel confined and frustrated.

 

[Fizzle52]

Could you put a catio in the yard so the cat can have his outside time but isn't able to attack and fight the other cats who roam into the yard?

I have some loose metal fence pieces that I can use to make a 2 by 2 foot fenced area to keep him in at night… which is when the fighting usually happens. But I don’t know if that will frustrate him and make his cystitis worsen even more.

 

[corvidae]

If you’re worried about bacterial infections from surgery, I think it’s worth considering that risk alongside the risk of bacterial infections from the fighting. On top of the stress and injuries from fighting, free roaming cats results in significant risks to their health (cars, predators, illness), as well as ecological damage.

Have you considered harness training this cat? If he prefers to do his business outside, it seems to me that a good option might be taking him out on a leash to do his business throughout the day, like people often do with dogs.

 

[ArtNJ]

Cut out one wall of a an extra large tray so he can just walk in, and fill it with dirt from your garden, put a huge mat underneath. See if he'll use that. Maybe you can gradually add some litter and eventually change the proportion to be mostly litter with some dirt on top.

I can't imagine that fighting outside is actually less stressful. If anything it should be more stress. So its just a different bathroom environment.