Aggressive Feral Cat

[applesmom]

Being a feral cat, he is all about territory and pecking order. You should wear gloves and boots and jeans when you go out to feed them, have a squirt bottle full of water in your hand, look him square in the eye with a bland expression and go about your business feeding the cats as if nothing were amiss and don't show any sign of fear if he starts with his hissy fit stuff. If he advances on you, just squirt him with the bottle of water; he should back off and will probably run away. Don't worry, you won't harm anything but his kitty ego, and he will be back, and he will have a healthy respect for you when he does. You just need to remember who is bigger and show him who is boss and he will settle down. I have ad problems with cats like this who actually attacked me, but I tend to be rather fearless with cats like this, having dealt with cats all of my life. I've been bitten and scratched and chomped and jumped on, you name it, and cats who jumped on me were firmly grasped (with gloved hands) and lightly tossed away without hurting them. A few times I still had some sizeable bite and/or scratch marks on my arms that ran with blood and had to go get tetanus and rabies shots as a result, but this is the reality of the situation when you take care of wild animals. Anyway, they all landed on their feet and they all ran for the hills, but they all came back a week later, meek and mild and wanting to be fed.

Thanks for the response. It sure helps to hear (read) others thoughts on the situation.

This morning I called Suzie, the AzCats person we work with and she suggested that I purchase one of the automatic feeders so I don't have to put food out twice a day in seperate dishes. Also that I move the feeding station a good distance away from my patio and laundry room.
This will keep the necessity of me invading his space (and him invading mine) to a minimum.

She also suggested that I have someone with me armed with a broom when I take the food out. At least until we can figure out what's going on with Tiger.

I just found out from my neighbor that this is not the cat I thought it was and he was completely new to the colony when he arrived in my back yard. His left ear is tipped just like the others. I suspect he might have been someone's indoor-outdoor cat that got trapped and neutered in our initial trapping and has recently been abandoned and is very frightened.

Strangely, before the aggressive behavior began and after he appeared to begin trusting me, he would merely sit back and meow pleadingly as I put the food down. That pleading meow has changed to a menacing growl!

I just went out to check on the situation (did not have any food or water with me) and he is calmly laying on a bench bathing in the sun and another male cat is laying less than two feet away from him on the same bench. Neither one of them moved, though he did watch me closely while Morris kept right on snoozing.

Suzie also gave me the number and website of Pet Behavior Solutions (a local organization) and I'm waiting to hear from them.

My kids and grandkids have been teasing me about becoming known as the crazy neighborhood cat lady. This one's driving me crazy allright!

Stay tuned for the next episode of Tiger and the crazy cat lady.