Bully

Our cat, Toby, has been a house cat for quite some time. Adopted as a feral kitten (he was found abandoned on a traffic island by my wife's brother), he has become calmer since we brought him here a few years ago, and he has settled in well. We were wary of the road outside our flat, which has slaughtered numerous pets over the decades, so we kept him in for the first year or so. Then, about two years ago, we let him out as a trial and he ran off, first for one week, then, after returning for a couple of days, for a whole fortnight. When he came back it was Toby-I-hardly-knew-you: he had huge ticks, a battered ear, was skinny as a starved rat, etc. However, he has been going out over the past month and seems much the better for it (the the dirt tray has barely needed changing, which is a relief). He returns each evening, or stays out for the night and is on the doorstep in the morning waiting to be fed, then spends the day dozing in the house at his favourite window-seat (see link above).

BUT, all is not rosy. He has met his nemesis in our neighbor's cute little black and white cat. It's nosy but a bit standishoffish, and, it now transpires, a bit of a bully. Issues of territory no doubt; it probably assumed it owned all the gardens hereabouts. It sends Toby packing, and sometimes chases him indoors, even though he's a marginally larger cat. Ah well.