Bullycat

As I said yesterday, I think we have a bullycat.

It is quite huge, compared to our two, or perhaps just fatter and furrier. Neither of them could have it in a fight. It has quite a big head, so maybe it's a boycat.

I call it the blue cat, but it's actually grey and white and we used to see it in the garden before we got the cats.

I'm not sure if this story involves the same cat, but it certainly explains some of Nathan's behaviour if so.

You often hear cat behaviourists saying they don't like cat flaps. I read Cat Confidential by Vicky Halls before getting the cats and she is not a cat flap fan. She likened it to humans removing the front door and replacing it with an unlocked flap. I know I'd be terrifed about who could get in, day and night.

We do lock the cat flap at night, and place one of their unused beds in front of it. This is to stop Natalie pounding on it constantly as that cat really does like to go out, rather than reassure the cats they are safe inside, and I'll give some thought to this in light of last night's events.

The cats are extremely spoilt and have their own room, which is off the kitchen and is attached to the garage. There's a corridor from the garage down the side of their room (behind a wall) that also leads to the garden. As their room has a glass sliding door, they have two cat flaps - their room to garage, and garage to garden. Lovely.

Last night, I had to go into the garage and as I shut the door on their room, keeping the bed in front of the flap (they'd been put to bed) I heard an ALMIGHTY pounding on the catflap from the garden. I was absolutely TERRIFIED. It was so loud and persistent and completely unexpected. I actually froze in position for a good minute, before finishing off my chore and running upstairs to get my partner to go into the garden and lock the external catflap. It probably was just another neighbourhood cat, but oh so scary!

We don't usually lock the external flap, and it made me wonder if bullycat comes into our garage when the cats are in bed and pounds on the flap, making them scared and anxious? I really hope not, and it really has made me count my blessings that Nathan's spray/piss problems are actually quite minor. I know some people really do suffer with their cats' stresses and anxieties.

I think we may re-evaluate the cat flaps over the next few days and see what we come up with. Nothing may change, but I do know it's extremely important for cats to feel secure to get the best out of them.

Here's a picture of them in their room from when we'd had them a month. They're so much bigger now!