My beloved cats, majestic and epic cats

Simon was a calm cat regarding a cat meeting

Mats Bengtsson mib over the years

My big Norwegian forest cat was calm about meeting other cats

I have seen my big Norwegian forest cat Simon with other cats many times. He approached other cats similar as to he did with dogs. Simon was in those circumstances showing he was a very calm cat. Walking towards them, meeting the cat without ruffling up neither himself nor his tail. Not walking cautiously, just simply strolling forward until there was about 3 decimeters in between the meeting cats.

Simon and Zorro taken there first outdoor steps in their life, with exception for being on the balcony. Both cats are calm about the other cat. The cats are used to each other. They do not even think twice about meeting a cat. Both study the snow and the surroundings intensively.In his young years, Simon expected nice calm meetings when meeting cats, as he was used to when being with Zorro, the cat he grow up with. Simon was used to just being there together with the other cat. As time went on, he learned that this is not the way cats often think about cat meetings, and he adopted. The other cat would likely hiss, put stomach towards the ground, indicate that he was prepared to fight. At that time, Simon would likely just sit down in his normal sitting pose, with two straight front legs, just a few decimeters from the cat he was meeting. If the other cat left, he would follow it. I have seen this happen many times in the first years Simon was out. So he did probably got a lot of turf by trying to meet with other cats, who thought about the meeting differently.

Simon's calm when meeting other cats confused and frustrated them

I have woken to the sound of angry cats or fighting cats and gone outside the house in the half dark, lit by street lamps only. These sounds came more frequent in the beginning of Simon's life here. And at those early years, I have then seen Simon sitting on the ground, in his familiar pose with two straight hind legs. In front of him a cat, 1 meter away, not more, meowing and moving. With Simon remaining sitting, absolutely calm. Also until the last two years, I have woken to the sound of march cats. Again when going down, there has been Simon sitting calmly (he was castrated) and a frustrated female cat in front of him. Both kinds of meeting contained a frustrated cat opposite Simon. But of different reasons. In both kinds of meetings, Simon's calm sitting probably led to even more frustration.

When Simon was young, he had cat meetings, but was involved in only very few fights

Other times, when Simon was still young, I know from the white fur on the grass that Simon has been involved in a fight. That has happened only about three times in all the years he lived with me. Those three times all happened around the first two years of him becoming an outdoor cat and claiming a turf which originally belonged to another cat. There was many cats in the neighborhood.

When Simon's turf diminished, Simon stayed calm when other cats fought closer

In the last two years of Simon's life, when I have heard the sound of angry or fighting cats close by, or March cats, Simon has not been involved. Some of these times Simon has already been inside. Sometimes when going out in the night, I have met Simon in the garden not being part of the ongoing dispute. He was not stressed by the closeness of the fight or the cats. I could talk to him and he kept the focus on me. I could ask him to go in, and he would follow me. This was different from when a cat or a dog was considered too close. Then his full attention would be on the intruder, he would be blind for anything else.

Until his last days, he managed to keep his garden clean from cats. I do believe he managed to keep two or three more gardens as his, judging by his inspection rounds. But he no longer did keep a big turf clean from cats wanting to have it as turf. Their fights were coming closer to our house. There was fights on the other side of the street, just opposite our house. It was their fights, not Simon's. They where redistributing parts of Simon's old turf between them. Simon did not try to regain the turf that was outside his closest area.

When Simon got old, he got insecure when meeting cats, and also had to fight for the turf he demanded to keep

Even if I do know Simon did get into a few rare fights in his younger days, I only saw him do the attack once, and that was in his old days. This was the only fight I believe Simon possibly lost, and it was in his last living year when he was no longer that confident on himself around other cats. It was with a cat I had lately seen around our block. To my knowledge, a fight started by Simon like this last one only happened once, and only after he had become old and weak enough not to be absolutely sure to win a fight if needed (or maybe rather for the other cat not to be absolutely sure Simon would win).

This last year in my cat Simon's life also marked the start of a new behavior from him. Lats year, I have seen him hiss at other cats. I have seen him lower his tail and get closer to the ground when being close to other cats. I think this is the first time he started to think of the need to be careful. It is around this time when he started to feel that age had affected him enough to make him a possible pray to other big cats. I think it marks one of Simon's aging signs.

 

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