Newcomer in the neighbourhood.

After being in the house all day yesterday, Malo was allowed out for the evening. he did come and go a bit - I think just to make sure he could. When JC suggested we ought to get him in for the night I went to the backdoor to call him, just in time to see him disappear down the garden at speed, in pursuit of something. I went down the garden to see where he had gone, to find him under his favourite bush for ambushing from. Malo doesn't choose this bush to sleep under, nor to watch the world go by, but as a deliberate vantage point for ambushing. I still couldn't see what his target was. Then a big flurry and another chase of a lovely looking cat. The other cat shot up onto the compost bin, looking petrified - and so he should be. This cat initially looked like Dylan - a rather magnificent brown tabby, but this one was younger and had a very pretty face, with wide eyes, whereas Dylan is much more self-assured and doesn't do the wide-eyed look. this one looked fairly young, whereas Dylan must be getting on now. They were growling at each other and I took my life into my own hands by picking up Malo and carrying him back to the house. Strangely he didn't struggle. I told JC about this new cat and we both went back down the garden to investigate. The cat, a neutered male, looked bewildered and a bit lost, but I think that must be because of the newness of his surroundings and the encounter with Malo. A friendly thing, he came to us for strokes. No collar - but then again my two don't have collars either anymore, as they just lose them. I do hope we see more of him and that he becomes a permanent part of the crowd that visit our garden - but then again I hope he doesn't have too many encounteres with territorial Malo.

Joanne

Your as soft as me when it comes to visitors Joanne, I love it when a newcomer appears. I'm not so keen when they're friendly from the start tho', I'd much rather see them wary of people and my having to earn their trust.

Ian

I'm the same. I would prefer them not to be too friendly from the off - especially as I would then feel guilty when Malo has a go at them, wondering whether it is my fault for encouraging them into his lair.

Joanne

... and there is so much more satisfaction in gaining the trust from a cat who initially wasn't sure.

Joanne

Jojolabanane wrote:... and there is so much more satisfaction in gaining the trust from a cat who initially wasn't sure.

Joanne

Very true

I'll always remember the first visitor to my garden I went out of my way to try and get friendly with, a scrawny, unneutered black tom. I'd seen him about regularly and he'd been using the box in my shed but it took many weeks of leaving food out for him till he came to expect it and would be waiting for me to open the door.

Eventually he got brave enough to approach me and would let me stroke him, then one day he came thro' the flap and into the living room. After a nervous look round he jumped onto the windowsill, but knocked a pile of cassette tapes over on his way, which just scared him back outside.
I think I only saw him perhaps once or twice after that, he just disappeared and as he was a genuine stray I think he came to a sticky end somewhere. To this day, 6 maybe more years later, I still wonder what happened to him

My fav tho' has to be Ginger Tom, a big bruiser of a cat who'd also been using the box in my shed and got brave enough to come into the kitchen for food but that was as far as he'd go. Till the day I got back home from the vets after having Beckett pts, I found Ginger Tom asleep on Becketts fav chair in the dining room.

From then on he was a regular visitor, often staying all day/night, but he also suddenly stopped calling, tho' he did call once more, about 6 months later, almost as if to say "thanks for feeding me, but you won't see me again" and I haven't from that day

Ian

Visitors to our garden include the following:

Tubs - black and white who was very friendly from the off, but had good reason to be. He had been abandoned and was looking for a new home. Too friendly though as this put Malo's nose out of joint and made him enemy number 1. Now adopted by nextdoor neighbour but one.

Dylan - brown tabby who was intially not welcome as destroyed birds nest and killed newborn chicks like nobody's business. Now older and not as destructive, and also not sure whether he still has his status as top cat. Malo appears to manage to keep him away from our garden, but he is beautiful cat and much admired from a distance. Dylan is from the garden next to the garden that touches the bottom of ours.

Two stunning black cats from the garden that runs along the bottom of ours. These two are shy and usually don't come further than sitting on the dividing fence, or along the top of the trellis that separates our veggie garden from the main one. Occasional visits to our garden show they are slowly but surely warming to us.

A lovely white cat who was a slow approacher. Each day getting closer and braver - until we found out that he comes to ours across an extremely busy and dangerous road. We informed the owners so they could be aware of the danger, and stopped encouraging him. Haven't seen him for a while, but think this is a good thing and that the owners have taken steps to avoid him crossing the road (although what those steps are, I am not sure).

And now this new one - who I think may be from the same house as Dylan, or maybe the house next door to Dylans, which actually touches our garden at the bottom.

Food that we put out for cats is usually eaten by Malo, or in the past by a hedgehog family, who appear now to have disappeared. There are no strays in our vicinity and happily abandoned or lost cats are very rare, but in the main the neighbourhood is a cat loving one and those without cats enjoy those that visit them and their gardens.

Joanne