Poor Alex

There's this new cat next door - a little black cat, who is somewhat sweet but just haunting Alex, one of my two cats. This little kitty comes over to our house, sits on our porch, climbs on our roof, and does what he can to be here. Annie (my other cat) has been okay about it, but it's driving Alex nuts. I sort of see his point. I mean, this is his house. Another cat shouldn't be all over his house! But Alex is taking this circumstance to extremes. Used to be, he would sit in the a.m. and peer out the front window, watching the world go by, content. Now, he gets up early and goes and sits by the side window, watching and waiting to see when this new little cat - "Venom" is his name - comes out for the day. Just sits and watches and waits. Here's what this looks like:

One morning a few weeks ago, Alex was outside, and Venom came up to the porch. Alex growled a warning at him. Venom kept coming. I went outside to encourage Venom to move on when Alex pounced - !! - on Venom, tearing into him. I started yelling, and used a large stick to separate them. They both stepped back and then - yikes! - Venom pounced on Alex and they were back at it, with me with the stick, shouting "Stop! Stop it!"

Finally they were separated. Alex went in to the house. Venom went back next door. Things seemed calm. For the next couple of days, though, Alex just laid around sleeping. He didn't want to go outside at all - not like him. I figured he had to have been scratched, but couldn't find a mark. Luckily Venom had decided to steer clear of the house, so the need to defend territory had subsided...

Then this past Friday, I saw it. Alex had an open wound on the inside of his right ear. Ah - that's why I couldn't find the mark. Such a weird place. An open wound is actually a sign of healing with cats, as scratches form abscesses and when the abscess breaks open, that means it's at the end of the infection process. So it looks gross, but it's a good sign. The vet agreed with me, that as long as Alex seemed okay, I didn't need to bring him in.

He slept all yesterday, seemed completely fine, went out this morning, was happy outside...

But then I got a gander at him. He has just scratched the heck out of the inside of his ear. What a mess! Yuck, yuck, yuck.

So I just went and got him one of those Elizabethan cones, I guess they're called, that go around the head. My neighbor helped me get it on him, but Alex didn't even resist. He just let us do it. But guess what? Now that it's on, he doesn't like it. At all.

Poor guy. First Venom tries to own his house. Then Venom fights back when he claims his territory. Then he gets a wound in a spot that he can bother if he tries. And now - this.