Backyard bully

Posted On July 31, 2013

It pains me to have to admit this, but my cat Poquito has become a backyard bully. I feel something like a parent must feel when told that their child is a juvenile delinquent!
 
Poquito is the kind of cat who likes to mess with your head. He will occasionally pin my other cats to the floor, just because he can. But he doesn’t attack them, he’s just showing off. He plops himself in front of my computer monitor and refuses to move when asked politely. He just laughs in my face…ha! You can’t make me move!
 
Last year my neighbours Nancy and Rick got two new kittens. They named the little sisters Gypsy and Rhu. After the girls had grown up a bit, and winter was over, they started letting them outside.
 
And then the trouble started! Poquito began chasing the kittens up trees, and cornering them under their house.
For some reason, he decided that these little kittens were fun to torment. This was dangerous for the kittens, as Poquito is a large cat who weighs over 15 pounds.
 

He started out life himself as a tiny little throw away kitten I found running across the road outside of Kilburn some 6 years ago. He has grown mightily since that day when he weighed mere ounces!
 
My neighbours and I began a system whereby if the kittens were out, Poquie was in, and vice versa. We kept this up for awhile, letting the girls grow up a bit.
It was our fervent hope that once Gypsy and Rhu got big enough, Poquito would leave them alone.
 
Alas, that has not happened. If anything, they all appear to hate each other even worse!
 
When it is Poquito’s turn to be outside, he goes over to the girls’ home and stares in their sunroom door. If Gypsy and Rhu see him there, they hiss and spit at each other through the door.
 
So….in the interests of cat health and harmony, Gypsy and Rhu’s, that is, we have continued the cat segregation policy. Poquito gets to go outside between 10 am and 5 pm. I turn on a light in the window as an alert.
We synchronize cat times by phone. So far, it’s working but it sure would be easier if everyone would just get along.
 

Poquito begins blatting in the morning when it gets near to be his time to go out. In fact, he comes on the mad tear as soon as he hears the phone ring when Nancy calls to tell me the coast is clear. This morning he ran by me so fast when I opened the door he nearly bowled me over!
 
When it is time for Nancy to call the girls in we have occasionally fooled them into coming immediately by having me stand outside and pretend to call Poquito. They know his name perfectly well, and when I holler for him outside they run for home!
They love to be outdoors, but not when the Beast is out and about!
Stephanie Kelley