Katz Tales: New tomcat sends resident kitties into fluffed-up shriek mode

Potato is a cat with newfound freedom to roam his neighbourhood. Photo: Ellen Whyte

A week ago, a howl of fury went up outside. I can tell Swooner’s shrieks a mile off and this one was pure fear. I went piling out, thinking he was facing wild dogs, a pack of feral cats or worse – when I was confronted with the terror: a young tomcat.

The tom was in our garden, and therefore in Swooner’s territory. As the intruder hid in the ferns, I surmised he’d snuck in for a pee and had met head on with our kitten, bent on the same mission.