Hey everyone. Seeking some advice..I let my cats roam in our backyard during the day (they always return home) and one of them got violently attacked by a stray cat a few hours ago.
I leave the door leading outside open so that I can check on them every few minutes and so I was able to hear REALLY loud screaming from my cat—I’ve never heard him vocalize like that ever before. I ran and found my poor fur baby being viciously chased and attacked by a cat slightly smaller than him. I had seen this cat on one occasion in the past hiding under my neighbors house, but it was just chilling calmly on that day. One of my other cats upon hearing the commotion immediately followed me and tried to protect him from being further attacked which I thought was quite heroic. I was able to break up the attack within a few seconds by loudly yelling at the other cat—it ran away and my cat ran and hid in the other direction. I waited for him for a few minutes and he came out from a bush and we went home.
The other cat that tried to protect him was not hurt at all, thankfully.. but the cat that was chased ended up with a large cut on his ear. Luckily he has his rabies vaccine and my game plan first thing tomorrow is to pick up some antimicrobial wound spray and call my vet to book an exam if they recommend it. I am hoping and praying that my fur baby will be okay— he was unscathed (no limping/guarding) outside of the scratch on his ear. Immediately after the attack he was hissing and hid from my other cats (I think he was still in panic mode). I sprayed some Feliway and left him lots of treats and he came out after about a half hour and seems to be completely fine but still a bit on edge mentally.
My main question for any fellow cat owners is what would be the best route for making sure this doesn’t happen again? My cats love their outside time but I’m seriously considering limiting or eliminating their outside time until this can be resolved. I understand now that letting my cats free roam was irresponsible on my part. However, I have noticed that they are always super happy (and stay closer to the house) when they get a bit of space from me so they can more freely explore rather than being attached to their leash.
I was also wondering if the stray cat may have been feral and/or rabid? I have never seen a cat act that way in the past and was quite shocked to see it acting as you would expect a predator to chase a prey. I would compare the behavior to how a dog would attack while hunting a rabbit or something of the like. I was completely unaware that cats were capable of fighting that manner which leads me to wonder whether the stray cat could be rabid. Would the best course of action be to call Animal Control? I am hesitant to go that route because I don’t want the animal to be euthanized, especially if something can be done to help them. I would appreciate any advice r/cats may have on this.
TL;DR:
My cat got attacked by a stray cat while exploring our backyard. He was unscathed except for a large (but not deep) cut on his ear and some emotional distress. He is vaccinated for rabies and I am taking him to the vet/getting him antimicrobial wound spray tomorrow.
My questions:
Should I stop letting my cats going outside completely or only allow them out on a leash?
Should I call Animal Control in regards to the stray cat? It seemed to act out of character from typical cat behavior (extremely violent), but at the same time, I don’t want to cause a cat to be euthanized if it can be helped in some other way.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/iqhwux/my_cat_was_attacked/
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