Something is attacking my barn cats. What is this?

[fordtraktor]

So I have 2 dropoff outside/barn cats. Please don’t suggest I bring them in the house because one is semi-feral, the other pees everywhere when contained and they both fight my 3 inside cats. The inside cats were here first. I can’t help that people keep dropping off cats here. I am trying to get the semi-feral one tame enough to rehome but the other has too many issues to place so I keep feeding him.

Something is viciously attacking them. One went missing for a few weeks, then showed up with a huge patch of hair missing on his back in front of his tail. The other one came up a couple of days ago with blood all over the side of his face. Today he has a patch of hair missing on his back in the same place as the other cat so the foe seems to go for consistent spots. These cats are both excellent fighters and very territorial. I am trying to figure out what it is that is attacking them so I can try to trap it…one is going to get seriously hurt if this keeps up.

Raccoon? Possum? Fox? I have seen all those here. I have also seen coyotes but not that recently. Ideas? I have to think it can’t be that big or they would hide from it instead of repeatedly tousle.

[islgrl]

Could it just be another cat? My cat was severely attacked by a neighborhood feral cat. I live in an area that has no natural predators so we know it was a cat but seriously, it was scary seeing how much damage another cat could do.

[S1969]

I’d guess another cat. Are they spayed/neutered?

[Zu_Zu]

A Tomcat who is trying to run them out of what he believes to be his territory …

I’m sorry this is happening • dangerous for all involved !

[CanadianTrotter]

Agree with the others…if it was something other than another cat they wouldn’t be getting away with just a patch of hair missing.

[fordtraktor]

Hm… I guess they could be doing it to each other. I hadn’t really thought about that because they didn’t really fight for the first 2 months the Orange Cat was here and I haven’t heard them at it. My other cat is very vocal when he’s mad. I’ve also seen them sleeping on the porch together.

I have been working with the Orange Cat (who is a Tom) to get him so I can take him in for castration, but it has been slow as he was super shy for a long time. He showed up around the first of the year (every few days) but it took me until a few weeks ago to be able to touch him. He is still not ready for me to hold him or pick him up, though he lets me pet him every day. I think he finally got hungry enough for forgive me for being a human. I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t just run off after he was fixed at this state, and honestly if cornered too early I have a feeling he’d be a spitfire to work with and I’d get torn to shreds. I guess the low cost clinic is used to dealing with that…I have never taken one in that feral before.

Once he is calm enough to catch I have a possible home for him so perhaps I just need to trap him, get him neutered and see if they can take him.

[MyKindaFlower]

Might be that you have another one that has started coming around. I leave a bowl of food and water available for feral cats in my neck of the woods. I’ve got three that I’ve seen come for it - but only one that ever comes in the barn if I’m in there. Could be that there’s another that prowls around when you’re not around.

Hope you get to the bottom of things! I hate when people just dump cats like they’re trash - thank you for taking care of these two!

[vxf111]

If a raccoon fights with a cat (and they will over food) the cat will be the worse for it. But I have trouble imagining this situation happening multiple times. Do you leave food out? I would stop. Just feed the cats wetfood when you see them and take it away once they’re done eating. That way the food won’t be attracting anything else.

A fox won’t usually fight with a cat unless a highly unusual situation happens (cat gets between fox and kits or fox is starving). I wouldn’t expect that to happen multiple times either.

Possum fight unlikely.

Coyote-- you wouldn’t see the cats again. The coyote would win.

Cats WILL fight with each other again and again, especially if there’s a territorial Tom. And they will hurt each other badly. Could be the tom you’re feeding or a different tom. Getting him fixed ASAP would be a priority for me. Even if you have to use a trap to catch him. They neuter 100% feral cats. An experienced clinic won’t have a problem. And honestly, usually they aren’t THAT resentful afterwards if you keep feeding them.

Can you lock the cats in the barn at night? Or somehow enclose them in a protected area that’s not inside the house (i.e. the garage?)

[fordtraktor]

I don’t leave food out – but the raccoon comes for bird seed. Maybe it is getting to the point of the year I can stop feeding the birds? I can’t see the cats fighting over the birdseed but maybe they don’t like it in their territory.

I will call for an appointment for Orange Cat.

I can’t lock them up at night…they aren’t that reliable to show in the evenings. They are usually there looking at me in the morning for food, evening is hit or miss. plus OC won’t come into the screened porch. The other cat usually sleeps in the barn loft at night already.

I think I am going to trap the raccoon I have been seeing recently. He seems relatively “new” and could be the culprit.

[LauraKY]

I’ve had so much trouble with feral cats attacking my barn cats, that I lock them up at night in the garage or the laundry room. I no longer leave food out for them during the day either.

There was a week or so that I had to lock them in the laundry room 24/7. A feral cat attacked them in front of me in the garage. My vet agreed to euth it if it didn’t move on and I trapped it.

We’re talking $250 vet visits for each attack from infected puncture wounds.

[SMK]

@vxf111

Cats WILL fight with each other again and again, especially if there’s a territorial Tom. And they will hurt each other badly. Could be the tom you’re feeding or a different tom. Getting him fixed ASAP would be a priority for me. Even if you have to use a trap to catch him. They neuter 100% feral cats. An experienced clinic won’t have a problem. And honestly, usually they aren’t THAT resentful afterwards if you keep feeding them.

This. It’s amazing how much neutering can help if it’s a cat fight. This also gives the opportunity for the rabies vaccine.

I just wanted to echo the fact that they really can be caught in a live trap, put into a really stressful situation, and still stick around. In the past, I volunteered for a feral S/N clinic and helped with colony management. They pretty predictably stay around post-op, and this is typically cats that have never been touched by humans.

That’s really nice that you’re looking after these poor kitties that were looked over when the good life was being handed out.

[csaper58]

OP please some how vaccinate these cats for Rabies until then be very careful not to get bitten.

[Sugarwells]

I doubt it is anything but another cat, maybe just your two guys fighting each other.

Get them trapped and fixed.

You are a kind soul to do all of this, thank you.

[S1969]

@LauraKY

We’re talking $250 vet visits for each attack from infected puncture wounds.

My experience was a lot more. Huge infected abscess on my cat’s back. It was summer so she stays out much of the time and we didn’t see it at first; a day or 2 later and she was a sick kitty. I think it was around $750 in the end.

It was a young tom cat that we ended up befriending and trying to trap but failing. It sounds bad but if another one came around I’d probably shoot it. Too much time and money invested between my own cats and this poor guy…and a bad outcome anyway. Not sure what happened to it but we ended up having to shoot it in the yard because it showed up one day with a compound fracture of its front leg; probably hit by a car. No way I could have gotten him to the vet safely without major injury to one of us.

Feral cats are a sad story. Please trap your cats and have them fixed.

[LauraKY]

@S1969

My experience was a lot more. Huge infected abscess on my cat’s back. It was summer so she stays out much of the time and we didn’t see it at first; a day or 2 later and she was a sick kitty. I think it was around $750 in the end.

It was a young tom cat that we ended up befriending and trying to trap but failing. It sounds bad but if another one came around I’d probably shoot it. Too much time and money invested between my own cats and this poor guy…and a bad outcome anyway. Not sure what happened to it but we ended up having to shoot it in the yard because it showed up one day with a compound fracture of its front leg; probably hit by a car. No way I could have gotten him to the vet safely without major injury to one of us.

Feral cats are a sad story. Please trap your cats and have them fixed.

This feral tom was the only one I’d ever considering putting down. I’ve trapped, spayed and neutered and vaccinated a bunch of cats. The ones who can be tamed, I’ve rehomed. This feral moved on once my two cats were locked in the house and the food supply was gone.

My latest is just a kitten…she must have been an inside cat that someone dumped on my farm. She’s absolutely terrified to be outside. I found her curled up and sleeping in the cat hating horses stall…thought he had killed her at first.

She’s been spayed and vaccinated and is looking for a home…she’s the most affectionate, sweet kitten…about 5 months or so old

Good luck with your two OP. I second trapping and spay/neuter and vaccinate. I always let the recuperate in a crate…they almost always become more friendly then.

[beowulf]

ah, poor kitties. To me it sounds like something is trying to catch them, not just fight them. The HQ is prime area for “Scooping”.

Once we had one of ours come in with about four inches of his back completely exposed back, muscle in full view and all, like a flap or some obscenely flying flag. I’m certain it was the work of a bird of prey. Cats can fight back and some do enough that the birds are forced to drop them.

otherwise, I’m thinking another cat moved in and disturbed the hierarchy. Jingles it calms down soon. Cats can be so terrible to each other, especially males.

I have a hard time envisioning a raccoon/cat tousle - I’ve seen cats stand their ground around raccoons and it is usually mostly verbal with lots of aggro posturing… not much contact. I’m sure it could happen but twice? I would definitely be thinking about keeping away from both cats… rabies could be a concern.

[vxf111]

I saw a raccoon fight a feral tom, it was nasty! Both came for food at the same time

[sprite]

The devil!

sorry, I just read a Neil Gaiman short story in which that was exactly what was happening. It’s probably another cat though.

[fordtraktor]

Lol. It might be the devil. That is my favorite expletive so he might be getting me back. I set the trap so we will see if I have anything tomorrow…if Orange Cat I will try to get a rush neuter, if raccoon I will drive an hour and hopefully never see it again.

vxf111, I tend to think it is a raccoon because I have a new youngish one around and he is bold and walks aggressively even when he sees me.

beowulf I didn’t think about a hawk. We have a couple big ones nesting here but they have never attacked before. Maybe they are hungry and getting bold. I think they would go for the bunnies first and we still have a decent amount of those but it is possible for sure.

[csaper58]

If the cats are being attacked at night it could be a big owl. They definite try to swoop down and break their pray’s back.