Every once in a while, something in the neighborhood riles up the cats. No idea what or who, but the cats all seem to go on the prowl–and the defensive. Scamper isn’t much into brawls. She doesn’t like other cats much, and I’m sure when she was completely feral, she not only had to fight for her territory, she had to protect her kittens.

We have calico cats living on either side of us. Both of them are very aggressive and don’t regard the fence as the end of their territory. The best times are when they fight with each other. The worst times are when they chase Scamper.

Scamper has never really seemed to believe that this is her home or territory so when other cats go on the prowl, she runs, and stays away, usually for two, sometimes three days. Last week she was chased off and didn’t come back for three and a half days. She spent all of day four inside hiding under the couch and eating. She finally went out at 9 that night and was promptly ambushed by a black cat that lives down the street a ways.

Argh.

She popped back in to get a bite after about a day, but then disappeared again. She goes underground and stops by only when she absolutely needs to eat.

Last night around 3 in the morning (a common time for her to sneak by to get food) there was a big ruckus in the yard. The darn calico cat from the neighbor was attacking Junior. Junior ran to ring the cat doorbell and then led the way for us back to the invader. We chased the calico back to her yard, but we knew we’d see no sign of Scamper that night. I think she comes near the yard and can smell that the other cats are still on the prowl so she stays away.

Owning a feral cat is always an adventure.