Alpha Kitty

I was sitting at my computer when I heard one of the most awful and freaky sounds coming from outside the window. Another catfight. It is amazing just how horrible it can sound when two normally cute and cuddly kitties yowl at each other. This one sounded particularly bad and it gave me shivers because it really sounded like someone was out there torturing a cat.

Knowing Petey wasn’t in yet for the night, my brave husband got out a flashlight and went outside to see if Petey was involved. Chloe and Molly always get riled up when they hear catfights, so they went along. Chloe was barking her little head off and thankfully did not wake up Adrianna.

Petey is the alpha male in our little corner of the neighborhood. At least we think so. When he and our other cat that we had for awhile, Jimmie, were condemned to be outdoor kitties a couple years ago after committing an unpardonable sin (peeing in the house), there were lots of fights with the other neighborhood cats. Jimmie is a sweet and loveable kitty that we had adopted as a stray. We think he may have been inbred, because he was a little on the slow side, but he was a great cat. He also had 6 toes on each paw and was pretty clumsy. Poor Jimmie always ended up with sores on his tail from these catfights, because he would always turn tail for home. Petey always came home with sores and abscesses on his face and shoulders as he stood his ground.

Now it is a couple years later, and Jimmie lives on a farm in Kansas (really!) and Petey hardly ever comes home with sores. Since he still gets involved in fights, we think he has finally established his dominance.

We had to send Jimmie to the farm because one of our neighbors complained that he was going into their house through a pet door and beating up their cats. Now, I believe the going into their house part. I don’t believe he was beating up their cats based upon the wounds he would always come home with. He didn’t strike me as an instigator like Petey. We asked our neighbors if they were sure it was Jimmie and not Petey, and they said they were. So, in order to keep the peace, we found him a new home with some friends in Kansas. I still miss that cat. So do some of our other neighbors too. Apparently Jimmie visited lots of other homes too and made lots of friends. He would be gone for days at a time; I think he was hanging out at other peoples’ houses during that time.

After Jimmie left, the catfights didn’t stop. Our neighbors never said anything more to us about our cat. Maybe they felt bad about us giving away the wrong cat.

Petey was involved in that catfight tonight. But as usual, he came out on top with no visible injuries.