My neighbour has a wild cat who has developed a rather interesting habit of coming home with my cats. Her name is Daisy, and from the moment she first entered my house, I knew we were going to have problems.
The first day she came over, I poured food into Tiger’s bowl, thinking the two of them could share. How innocent of me.
Daisy was tiny then, but the moment she saw Tiger approaching the food, she grunted so loudly, puffed herself up and chased him away from the plate. I was stunned. This tiny creature had apparently decided that my house was now her territory and my cat was an intruder.
Tiger was clearly hungry because he kept trying to return to the same plate he had just been chased away from. So I put some more food in another bowl specifically for him. It seemed like a problem solved until Daisy finished the portion that was meant for both of them, then casually catwalked over to the new bowl I had prepared for Tiger and started eating that one too. At that point, I had to intervene by picking her up and putting her outside.
I thought that would be the end of it but it wasn’t as she kept coming home with Tiger and Clover.
Clover is quite the opposite of Daisy. She’s introverted, easily frightened and generally minds her business. Whenever Daisy comes around, however, she somehow manages to make my own house feel like her house. She takes things that belong to my cats, occupies their spaces, chases them away from their food and she has this incredible talent for making everything about herself.
As she has grown older, her attitude has somehow gotten worse and I genuinely don’t understand it.
What kind of mood swings does this cat experience whenever she sees another animal or food? Because the moment either appears, she just transforms.
One time, I noticed that Tiger had followed her to my neighbour’s house. My neighbour fed Daisy but kicked Tiger when he tried to approach the food. My poor boy eventually came back home. Of course he knows where the love is cause at home, nobody is kicking him away from the food.
Despite all this, I still continued allowing Daisy into my house. I kept telling myself that perhaps she would eventually grow out of the behaviour. Apparently, I was delusional because now Clover has kittens. Three beautiful, tiny, fragile little things who can barely walk properly yet.
One afternoon, Daisy came home with Tiger, and one of the kittens wandered too close to her. Daisy immediately smacked the poor thing hard with her paws. I was horrified because this is something my own cats would never do.
Tiger and Clover share things all the time without turning it into a wrestling match. The only time Tiger becomes possessive is when meat is involved. Then he will pick up his piece and retreat to a corner to eat it peacefully. And even then, the grunting only starts if he thinks someone is about to steal his meat.
Daisy, however, apparently believes that sharing is a personal attack. After hitting the kitten, she went straight over to Clover, who was eating, and chased her away from her food. Then she sat there and ate it herself. I was furious. Because Clover doesn’t even eat much. She’s an extremely picky eater, and now that she’s breastfeeding, getting her to eat enough has become like a whole project.
Sometimes I practically have to beg her to eat because she needs the food to produce enough milk for her kittens. This is where it becomes frustrating. Whenever Clover doesn’t eat enough, she doesn’t always go back to the kittens immediately. She’ll let them whine for what feels like an eternity while she finds herself a comfortable corner and goes back to sleep.
So when she actually sits down and eats properly, I’m always happy. Only for Daisy to stroll in and ruin everything. The moment Clover walks away from food, getting her to eat again becomes difficult and that was my final straw.
I looked at Daisy and thought, enough is enough. I’ve tolerated the stealing, the territorial behaviour. I’ve tolerated her chasing my cats away from their own food. But hitting a tiny kitten and then stealing its mother’s food? Absolutely not.
I even warned Tiger that he needs to keep his wild wife out of my house. He can conduct his romance wherever he wants outside. But Daisy is no longer welcome to come inside and terrorise my household.
I have tried to understand and accommodate her. I’ve even tried sharing food with her. But this cat has made it very clear that she does not believe in communal living. Everything must be hers. The food must be hers, the space must be hers, attention must be hers and my cats must simply accept their fate.
Well, Daisy, I’m sorry because your ease has expired. She can have Tiger outside but inside this house? We share food here and I don’t want nobody's badly behaved cat teaching my cats to be badly behaved too..
