Can this relationship be saved?
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Cats Thep and Tong fall out over territory
In the early morning darkness, my poodle Wan-Wan begins whining. “Wake up!” she tells me. She’s worried about two cats hurling bad language at one another outside.
I think it’s just Thep, one of the two soi cats who use my home as a hotel. He’s very efficient at removing intruding cats from his territory.
Thep’s best friend Thong is completely the opposite. The younger boy doesn’t seem interested in fighting. Besides, he knows how to climb up but not down. I seldom see him on the street, but wandering in someone’s second-floor patio.
Now, I try to go back to sleep, but Wan won’t let me. “You have to do something!” she whines. “Now!”
I’ve learned to listen to Wan. She always has a reason for talking to me, whether she’s telling me that someone's at the door or that she really wants a walk.
When I go outside, I understand Wan’s concern - and it’s quite a shock.
Thep’s down at the dead-end of the soi, sitting on the iron bench usually used by soi residents. He’s leaning over and yelling at another cat who is crouched underneath.
The cat underneath is no other than Thong, and are the two cats angry with each other! No wonder Wan was so upset.
“Get up to the second floors of the patios where you belong!” I think Thep says.
“Make me!” snarls Thong.
It’s serious. Tails are bushed out; backs are arched.
How can this be? These two boys have always been good friends. They spend their time together. Once, when Thep was sick, he wouldn’t eat until Thong joined him.
Thong is now nearly two years old, though, mature enough to start claiming territory, even territory belonging to Thep. He’s forgotten that Thep was once his mentor.
Before the fight gets even worse, I grab Thong and take him inside. Thep follows, but he won’t come inside.
Meanwhile, Thong tells me that he’s been hurt. As I run my hands down his body, he cries out. Never a cat to land on his feet, he must have fallen down to the road from a tree or a wall and injured himself.
Nothing seems broken, though. I give him a painkiller, and after a few more complaints, he goes to sleep.
In the following days, Thep and Thong don’t fight, but they ignore each other when they’re in the house. Wan runs from one to the other, trying to start some kind of play-activity, but the boys won’t talk to her either.
Wan herself doesn’t understand the cats’ territorial concerns. She likes both cats and just wants the happy times to come back.
Will Thep and Thong ever work out their differences and figure out who owns which territory? Will the old times ever return?
