Never in my life have I wanted to kill any animal that are normally considered pets: cats, dogs, parrots, ferrets, etc. I used to hunt dove when I was kid, but in general my animal killing days are long behind me.
However, there are some stray cats around my apartment here in Taiwan that I am dying to kill. I feel almost insane with rage at these demons.
Taiwan has a bad problem with stray animals. There are stray dogs and cats everywhere.
I’m already not a “cat person.” Now, I’m even less so. At least four or five nights a week, the cats in the alleys on both sides of my appartment start that horrible, blood-curdling moan they do before they fight. Then there’s about twenty minutes of fight, moan, fight, moan. They even fight on the tin roof of my fourth floor balcony! The noise is unbearable. My girlfriend and I lay in bed, praying for one of the cats to fall to its death.
What I want to know is if cats are territorial, which I think they are. If so, why do they fight constantly. That’s to say, it seems like there would be one fight, winner cat stays in the alley behind my place and nobody fucks with him, but that’s not the case. They are constantly fighting.
No, I don’t know how many cats there are, but I don’t think there’s enough to cause this many fights! I’ve only seen a total of three cats in the time I’ve been here.
Cats are very territorial, especially the males. They spray with urine and rub with their paws and cheeks to mark territories. Cat territories also change with time of day - a cat will claim different spots at different times - for example the spot where the sunshine hits the sofa may belong to the biggest and strongest cat when the sun shines, but belong to a less important cat at night.
You can improve the stray situation if you get a cat or two neutered and return them to the area where the trouble is, and then consistently feed them and nobody else. They will try hard to maintain the trouble area as theirs, but being neutered will exhibit less of some of the bothersome behaviors.
Cats are highly territorial, although they do form ‘gangs’.
One of the most peculiar things I’ve ever seen was a ‘Cats Parliament’, a semicircle of cats lying under my bedroom window making odd (but not aggressive) noises at each other.
Napier’s suggestion appeals to me, buying off a couple of minders might be amusing.
You could do something to the tin roof of your balcony, it is possibly a ‘cat run’, a sort of cat motorway (autoroute/autobahn ?) I have one in my back garden.
My little gray kitty repairs to our bed every morning. She will let one of the other girl kitties bunk with her. But if the big boy kitty gets there first, she hisses and carries on for a while and then lays down under the TV or something. It’s HER bed, damn it!
This is pretty typical behavior for unaltered cats. Unneutered male cats will roam over a large area in search of females to mate with. They will also fight over potential mates. Neutering male cats cuts way down on their roaming and fighting in most cases.
If you’ve got an animal shelter near you that does trap-neuter-release, you might want to contact them about trapping and neutering some of the cats. Trapping them and killing them, as I’m sure you’ve thought of doing, won’t do any good- there’s something around your building that is attractive to cats, and if you kill the ones that are there now, more will move in from elsewhere and start up the same behavior. If you have them neutered, though, that will help keep new, unneutered cats from moving in.
And if you’ve got any pet cats, or if your neighbors do (they’re probably bothered by this, too), get them spayed or neutered ASAP. Your or your neighbors’ unspayed female cats may be attracting the male cats that come and fight near your building.
Cats don’t have territory in the sense of square feet or area. but more in the sense of paths they patrol. Male cats in particular will walk the same routes day after day, marking as they go along and covering any other male cats’ marks as they encounter them. If two males should pass one another on the same path, each will consider it “his” and fight. Many male cats can share the same spot as long as they don’t happen across one another on their patrols.
And as Rhythmdvl alluded to, it may not be fighting going on, but lovin’. Both are pretty loud.
Among cats, there’s usually much more sound than fury. Two males will meet on the edge of one’s turf, and they’ll yowl and glare at each other for quite a while. Usually, one will back away slowly, discretion being the better part of valor. Actual fights do happen, but not often.
The really noisy bouts are probably mating. Lady cats play really hard to get, but they don’t mean it. The female will roll around, looking playful, but when the male gets near, she’s up on her feet, yowling and baring her fangs. They go through a lengthy dance/fight, with lots of yowling and hissing. The male will make a few pounces, and puncture wounds are traded. As she gets more receptive, he’ll nip the back of her neck, and the actual mating happens. There may be repeated couplings.
It sounds like they’re killing each other, but it’s only a courtship ritual. Cats probably look at human courtship and think, “What a buncha wimps.”
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I’m (through my girlfriend, since I don’t speak Chinese) going to see what I can do about getting some organizations to come in here and seperate these cats from their balls.
It’s sick how happy it makes me to think that these cats may be so inconvenienced.
There isn’t a proper animal catcher here in Taiwan, I don’t think, but I know there are organizations that deal with stray animals. I hope they don’t make me catch the animals and bring them to the center. We’ll see.
Thanks again.
By the way, Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor I find your signature quite amusing…
Often, groups that are working to reduce feral cat populations through trap and release programs will rent out humane traps to folks who are willing to place them around their house. There is usually a nominal fee or deposit to make sure you don’t vanish with their trap. Holding onto a feral cat without one of these or some sedation is damned near impossible, lemme tell you. Be sure to ask, especially if they don’t have a way of transporting the animals for you.
