So, there's been a male brown tabby cat that I've been feeding pretty much daily since May of this year. When he first showed up, he looked like a 5-6 month old kitten. He was VERY wary and he wouldn't even eat in my presence. It took about 2-3 months for him to eat his canned food on our porch with me standing right there. But after he got to that point, he started letting me pet him and became more friendly. He's been pretty much a daily visitor for the past 7 months. No, I haven't trapped & neutered him yet (I know, I know.....)
Everything was going fine - until a couple weeks ago, this new black & white male stray cat suddenly showed up on our porch. He's obviously older - and bigger! - than my stray brown tabby. You guessed it - he is also an intact male. But he was very friendly from the start - he let me pet him and he rubs up on me, and he always bumrushes the door when I get home from work and tries to run in the house with me! It's very sad, it seems like he wants a home so very badly (but I am at max capacity with 4 cats - hubby will have a conniption fit if we take in one more - and honestly, I don't really want another cat because with 4 already, it feels like the house is chock full o'cats!) I'm sure you can predict where this is going - stupidly, because I'm a big ol' softy who'd rather feed a cat than chase it away - I started feeding this new cat up on the porch also. Perhaps naively, I didn't think it would be a big deal - if the 2 cats happened to show up at the same time, they would each have their own plate of food and wouldn't bother each other - that's what I thought would happen. But what's actually happening is the new black & white boy is camped out on our porch literally 24/7. He is always right there!! And when the brown tabby comes up to the porch, they start screaming at each other! It sounds like they're going to fight & kill each other. I will give them each their own plate, but brown tabby only eats a few bites and then runs off. I feel bad for him because I have been his constant food source for months, now this new guy is here and brown tabby is scared to come up & eat. I'm worried he will starve himself.
I've started the process of calling around local rescues to see if anyone will take the black & white boy, but of course, it's winter and they are all full. Fortunately, it's been in the 50s in Ohio up until this week - it's just starting to get down into the 30s/40s. I was going to build each cat their own Rubbermaid winter shelter on the porch, but now I think brown tabby will be too scared to come up onto the porch to use the box shelter I build for him if black/white cat is also up there. I know it's a little late, but even if I could trap them both & neuter them, is that any guarantee that they won't still fight each other?
I could put brown tabby's winter shelter out back of the house, but there is no covered area back there (like how the porch is covered) so I'm not sure if he would be as warm as he would on the porch. But I guess it is better than nothing. Any ideas on how to make these 2 get along on the porch, or is that asking the impossible? I feel bad for them both, but especially brown tabby - I feel like I have let down an old friend
Everything was going fine - until a couple weeks ago, this new black & white male stray cat suddenly showed up on our porch. He's obviously older - and bigger! - than my stray brown tabby. You guessed it - he is also an intact male. But he was very friendly from the start - he let me pet him and he rubs up on me, and he always bumrushes the door when I get home from work and tries to run in the house with me! It's very sad, it seems like he wants a home so very badly (but I am at max capacity with 4 cats - hubby will have a conniption fit if we take in one more - and honestly, I don't really want another cat because with 4 already, it feels like the house is chock full o'cats!) I'm sure you can predict where this is going - stupidly, because I'm a big ol' softy who'd rather feed a cat than chase it away - I started feeding this new cat up on the porch also. Perhaps naively, I didn't think it would be a big deal - if the 2 cats happened to show up at the same time, they would each have their own plate of food and wouldn't bother each other - that's what I thought would happen. But what's actually happening is the new black & white boy is camped out on our porch literally 24/7. He is always right there!! And when the brown tabby comes up to the porch, they start screaming at each other! It sounds like they're going to fight & kill each other. I will give them each their own plate, but brown tabby only eats a few bites and then runs off. I feel bad for him because I have been his constant food source for months, now this new guy is here and brown tabby is scared to come up & eat. I'm worried he will starve himself.
I've started the process of calling around local rescues to see if anyone will take the black & white boy, but of course, it's winter and they are all full. Fortunately, it's been in the 50s in Ohio up until this week - it's just starting to get down into the 30s/40s. I was going to build each cat their own Rubbermaid winter shelter on the porch, but now I think brown tabby will be too scared to come up onto the porch to use the box shelter I build for him if black/white cat is also up there. I know it's a little late, but even if I could trap them both & neuter them, is that any guarantee that they won't still fight each other?
I could put brown tabby's winter shelter out back of the house, but there is no covered area back there (like how the porch is covered) so I'm not sure if he would be as warm as he would on the porch. But I guess it is better than nothing. Any ideas on how to make these 2 get along on the porch, or is that asking the impossible? I feel bad for them both, but especially brown tabby - I feel like I have let down an old friend