Mrs Sensible’s manky cat is the only cat I know, who can purr contentedly whilst glaring at me. The cat loves Mrs Sensible to distraction and it hates me in an equal measure.
Look at the eyes on that cat, From day one I knew it was either a cyborg or evil.
Two months ago things came to a head when the manky ginger cat decided it would be great fun to pee on my beloved Mini. Every day it sauntered pass my car and peed on it. I googled cat pees on my car and found the ideal solution…. take the cat to the vet and have it neutered, in layman’s terms this means taking the cat to the vet and having his nadgers removed… I thought this was an ideal solution. Oh! I didn’t tell you the manky cats name did I, Mrs Sensible calls it Toby (I think after her screen heart throb Toby Stephens) Before the cat visited the vets, I called it Ginger or that Bl%$dy Cat. Now I am happy to call it Pussy No Balls.
I had just explained to the cat why he was going to the vets.
Mrs Sensible’s cat has spent the past month fighting with a rather large feral cat, so far he has come home with part of his ear badly chewed, various bits of fur missing and a tail that looked like it had been snapped in half and then passed through a mangler.
Mrs Sensible said enough was enough and something needed to be done to protect her beloved cat from the monster that was attacking it. I tried to explain to Mrs S that her manky cat was probably starting the fights and deserved the kicking he was receiving.
To be honest at least once or even one hundred and sixteen times I have wanted to kick Mrs Sensible’s beloved cat ….. and I like cats, with the exception of Toby aka Ginger aka Pussy No Balls.
If Ginger was a human. “My Toby wouldn’t hurt a fly he is so sweet” says Mrs Sensible
We took Ginger and his mangled tail to the vet, the cat received two injections (that should have been more painful) and I received a bill for €20 and a rather large cage to catch the wild cat. The vet said if we manage to catch the wild cat he would drive the cat 20 miles away and release it so it could torment some other cats in another village.
Adding big game hunter to my other list of achievements was an exciting prospect, I donned my pith helmet, armed myself with the cage and set off to catch the wild and terrible cat.
I told my neighbor about my latest adventure
I baited the trap with very expensive cat food and set it in the front garden, I then retired to bed. At precisely three o clock in the morning I was awoken by a terrible commotion. Mrs Sensible said “quick it will be the Gattoni, the trap has caught it!!!” I noticed she didn’t say YOU have caught it..I tried to roll over back into my dreams by suggesting it was probably just my stupid cat Mishmash in the trap.
The terrible, wild and to be honest angry Gattoni
I looked out the window and it wasn’t Mishmash, it was the Gattoni who was caught in the trap. The trap appeared to be walking across the garden as the cat tried to escape. To subdue the animal I covered the trap in a blanket.
Mishmash and Ruthie inspecting the cage and captured cat
Now that I had captured the cat, the decision was whether I should drive the cat 20 miles away and release it, or take it to the vet who promised to release it on our behalf. I had a little nagging doubt whether the vet would take the cat for a drive or if he would give it a little injection and send it to sleep.
After debating the problem with my friends over a beer, I decided my son and I would take the cat for a scenic drive through the countryside.
Famous last words
Driving back from the vineyard my son told me about a film he had watched called Homeward Bound, it is a soppy film about two dogs and one cat that traveled halfway across America. I think he was trying to tell me 20 miles was not far enough. I pointed out that movies are one thing, real life is something different.
The cat returned
Now either somebody has a great sense of humour and has brought the cat back to my garden or the cat has found his way home. He either wants to finish his fight with the Ginger cat or his love for Mishmash has not been satisfied yet.
Englishman in Italy 
I hope your wife knows that you took the cat and dumped him someplace. Just get him nurtured or de-nuttered, what ever suits your fancy. I did that with a neighbors’ cat and that stopped the fighting and coming over to our house. Just for the record- hope you did not dump the cat. That is cruel and you don’t know if the cat can make it on his own or be killed by dogs, run over, etc.
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It was the wild cat I took to the Vineyard not Mrs Sensible’s cat, and Mrs S knew. The options were
1) Do nothing and wait until the stray cat severely hurts Mrs Sensibles ginger cat
2) Capture the stray cat and release it 20 miles or more away
3) Capture it and take it to the cat rescue home and let them deal with it.
4) Capture it and take it to the vets and let him deal with it. (He would put it down)
After the big cat (feral) attacked Mrs Sensible’s ginger cat, we thought he would lose his tail (The vet said the cats tail was infected and was going bad, he gave us some strong antibiotics, he said he might have to cut the tail off if it didn’t heal to save the cat).
Mrs Sensible’s ginger cat has been de nutted but he stills fights and if we pay to de nut the wild cat I think he will also carry on fighting Mrs Sensible’s ginger cat.
I don’t really see a solution to the problem of the stray cat, other than taking him further away. Perhaps you have a better solution.
Comment updated with more information
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Pete you covered it all very well. Hopefully at the vineyard he will have a good life there but cats that are fighters generally don’t live long due to a severely infected bite or disease.
I’m glad that your wife’s cat healed and did not lose his tail. I don’t let my cats outdoors because there are too many hazards of outdoor life for a cat, where I live.
I’m sorry to have wrongly misjudged you. I should have been able to put two and two together and realized the situation.
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Hi, it’s ok. Our cats are really working cats, they keep the mouse population in check. we are sat in the middle of the vineyards. In the evening Ginger sits with Mrs Sensible on the sofa and glares at me for a couple of hours, he then goes outside to work. Mishmash refuses to sit on any chair. If we try to keep her in the house she yowels until we open the door and release her
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The cats are so lucky to have two wonderful people who care about them. And a cat has gotta do what comes naturally sometimes.
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Awwww, thank you. Our cats have two brick houses to live in I think there is a picture on this blog mmmm, yes when I wrote about Mario the woodman and his wood
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Written in true PN form, thanks for the giggle! Murphy the unlucky black cat has had the op too, but still attempts to mark his territory and fights anything with four legs that enters his territory. If you take the wild cat to the vet, maybe he’ll be able to see if has a chip in its neck (as well as the one on its shoulder). It doesn’t look underfed to me – I suspect that it has an owner.
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There are only 3 houses within two miles of our house and none have cats. I can’t believe this cat travels over 4 miles a day to fight ginger and to woo Mishmash, although Mishmash is a bit of a hussy.
The ginger cat is currently licking his wounds, his tail is bent in two places and his left ear has some fab chew marks on it. I almost feel bad about have his nadgers removed…… almost.
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In that case, Mr Wild Cat must eat his victims, or be one intrepid hunter. You could get yourselves a puppy…. Dogs are a good means to keep other cats at bay, and they protect your cats too. We got smelly Dog when Murphy was 2 – they’re a great team.
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I keep threatening to buy an Airedale Terrier and Mrs S keeps threatening me with her wooden spoon.
Airedales are pretty loopy so one should fit in quite nicely.
Mrs S will fly to Sicily during the summer and I will be left here ‘in charge of things’ maybe I could go puppy hunting
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You are so lucky the vet only charged 20 Euros. Wish my vet bills were that small.
I think once upon a time I sent you the link to the Canadian cartoon and song “The cat came back”. Try looking it up on YouTube. Yes, the Homeward Bound movie was actually based on a true story. You can also Google stories of cats who traveled many, many miles to return to their homes. So the big, bad kitty must have always lived in the area. But he really should not be allowed to terrorize other cats. The cat home would be a good place for him.
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I think I might take him to the dogs home. Thanks for the link to the cat came back, I will go and have a look
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Ciao, PN! I’m always so entertained by your posts. But, while your tongue is in cheek, I can’t bite my tongue regarding this post. In my opinion, the most obvious solution to the problem is to keep your cat indoors. He won’t be attacked by other cats, become part of the food chain, be run over by a car and is less likely to become diseased or infested with parasites. And, until now, your roaming intact cat could have been contributing to the unwanted pet problem. Yes, they can successfully breed when they are only months old! Trapping and ”dumping” the feral was – well, not cool at all. You removed him from the territory he knows. I’m sure there is a rescue group who will help you with TNR – trap, neuter and release. Grazie.
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Hi, Thanks for your comment, erh our cat has been done that is why he is called pussy no balls. It is the big stray cat that is still intact. Although our cats are ‘pets’ they are also working cats…. this may sound strange, let me try to explain, to reach our house we have to drive up an kilometre of dirt road it is really just a farm road the nearest village is two and a half kilometres away. Our cats earn their cans of cat food by keeping the rodent population in check. If you drive faster than walking pace down our road either your teeth will shake out of your mouth or the engine will fall out of the car, the chances of accelerating fast enough to catch one of our cats is, well impossible.
.
Mishmash would go stir crazy if we tried to keep him in the house
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watch your back! ) hope the peace returns again sometime soon –
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Quick update, I caught the big wild cat last night!!! Can I send it to you….. please
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Gattorini watched you and shook his little kitty fist at your car as it disappeared through the Italian countryside, “I have a very particular set of skills, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you”. He then took a deep breath and followed your car with his eyes, “I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you”.
Watch your back. He’s a coming for you!!!
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It took him 4 days to cover 20 miles…. Amazing!
We caught him again, he is sat in the garage while we decide where to take him for his next trip
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Please don’t dump him again.
“It is man’s sympathy with all creatures which makes him truly a man.” – Albert Schweitzer
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Hi, I would love a solution to the problem, at the moment the ginger cat is slowly recovering from the last fight… his tail will never be the same. I love animals, If a spider invades the house I release it outside the only thing I kill is mosquitos,
If I don’t find a new home for this stray cat (miles and miles away) He will eventually kill Mrs Sensible’s ginger cat. I admit the ginger cat and I don’t like each other but he is quite sweet with Mrs S, maybe I should enrol him in a judo or karate class
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I here they have a big arena in Rome that will pit animal against man. If you have a Russell Crowe physique it might be internet worthy hehehe
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Ha ha ha, I wish I had a Russell Crowe physique
The wild cat has an impressive physique it appears he can run 20 miles in less than 4 days
And he probably stopped on the way to have a fight and spread his wild oats,
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Before you invest in a dog, perhaps you should sum up the pros and cons and even other options available to you …
First of all, have you considered that Gattoni may be more than a match for a young Airedale Terrier, which will then probably end up traumatised after their first encounter…?
And what if there are bigger dogs on the prowl, who so far have never bothered you as you only have cats … and mice …?
Are you prepared to spending another €20 on Puppy No Balls, only to find they still don’t stop fighting, so you have to spend even more time cageing both Gattoni and the cane-assassino, travelling further and further and further afar, week after week after week, only to find them both back on your doorstep before the mini’s engine has cooled …?
As you’re already used to having cats glaring at you, before plumping for a dog, why not choose something just that gives you just a little bit more of a guarantee … like an Eurasian Lynx, which although it will cost you about two kilograms of meat every day, should be able to keep Gattoni at a safe distance, being the third largest predator in Europe after the brown bear and the grey wolf.
However, if by chance you have brown bears and grey wolves in the woods nearby, then I’d plump for a Siberian Tiger if I were you … 😉
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Well done getting Ginger neutered, don’t feel bad about it, you know what a problem gatti di randonaggio are and this way you have reduced the future cat population. It is just a shame you couldn’t persuade the vet to neuter Gattone when he was trapped. The Chelsea Fan doesn’t really like cats, so our late cat got his (or should that be its?) own back by conceiving a great affection for him, walking all over his keyboard when he was trying to write an article, and mewing every few minutes when he was trying to concentrate. The cat didn’t want anything special, just attention.
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Oh! I don’t feel bad about have the Ginger Cat’s Nadgers removed. The little operation has cured him of peeing on my car. It is the best €50 I have spent this year.
My wonderful cat Mishmash (female) hates the sight of Mrs Sensible’s Ginger cat. Sometimes in the morning I catch sight of Mishmash chasing him across the garden and down into the vineyard…
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Perhaps Gattoni needs to go on a longer journey – perhaps involving sea travel? 😀 It would be a challenge for him to make his way back from that.
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I am indecisive as to wether to send him to you, last week he took a trip to Vercelli, we don’t expect him back for 10 days because he will have to swim the river PO
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I’d say see how he gets on with his trip to Vercelli before having any thoughts about sending him this far. 😉
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Hopefully he won’t be able to swim across the river Po and he enjoys the beautiful scenery of Vercelli
If he is on his way back he should arrive around next Friday, and then we will decide what to do with pussy boomerang
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Omg.rotfl. That was quite a tale. Hah. Seriously though-that was so so funny. I mean it was a serious subject…especially for the cat. In the finish-i think you made the right decision. Yup.
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After he walked back (20 miles) from the village of LU he had enough energy to have another cat fight with Mrs Sensible’s scabby ginger cat.
We disinfected the cats cuts, tried to give him a comb over to hide his bald spots and I managed to catch the big wild cat for a second time.
He is probably walking back from Vercelli (30 miles away) as I type this, probably cursing me and thinking how he will exact his revenge on the ginger cat when he returns
Life in Italy is always interesting
ps The ginger cat sits in the garden looking nervously in the direction of Vercelli
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A cat comb over? Laughing so hard. Cat fights are the worst. Even if you dont see it but hear it-you pretty much know some poor cat is getting a beat down. But you have to admit-fox screams-or mating calls in the middle of the night-is horrible to hear.
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His comb over is not as bad as it was and his tail is starting to look better, although it is still bald in places.
I haven’t seen any foxes here but we do have wild boar in the vineyards and 3 roe deer once wandered into our garden, I might upload the photos…
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Wild boar. *mock cries… ‘uggh.’ * you should totally upload some pics.
I have ‘adopted’ my neighbours cat-she walks in when the door is open…like she lives here. She is in no need of a cat comb over. Sometimes i catch her looking at me with complete disdain. She likes me-right?
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Honestly, Pecora Nera, I really enjoy your post – except this one. I am saddened by the lack of compassion for the cat you keep trapping and dumping. Damn, call a cat rescue! Let someone with a heart take care of your ‘problem’. Maybe they can introduce him to an established colony – or, euthanize the poor thing. This is what you’re teaching your kid – to dump animals? Sheesh…
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I am sorry you are upset, the cat is wild. Is it really better to have it destroyed? I thought it as more compassionate to release it back to the wild, maybe you are right, maybe I should have took it to the vet and let him kill it.
The cat home won’t rehouse it because it is completely wild, after 14 days they would put it down.
Before I capture it, I tried to see if the ginger cat could stay out of the way of the feral cat, but his injuries became too severe.
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We have similar problems here in the country. People dump cats and they find us. Our neighbor is spending her summer neutering all the strays in the neighborhood. We have two cats that were feral 15 years ago but have long since taken ownership of our home. They do a good job of warding off squirrels, gophers, and stray cats, though Scardy Kitty often has torn body parts to show for it. The only things that they let stick around are racoons and birds, both of whom love their food. The fat birds we keep, the racoons we trap in a cage like yours, and a man hauls them off to the high country about 20 miles away.
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I find it very sad about duming the cat, but I do also understand, why you tried this one out.
The only thing, as can help him is to be neutred and then feeded, because he will lose some of his talents for hunting, while neutred and he will have the risk to be the offended from other cats by same reason.
Both my old boys, now 13 years old, were neutred as big kittens. They live a good life and do hunt too, but they are not able to hunt for feeding and protecting in same way as not neutred.
Often they will become more lazy after being neutred and they will need support for food, at least.
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Please forgive my ignorance – what does “manky” mean?
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It is usually used to describe something that is old and dirty. For example an old dirty bag that you found at the back of a garage that you would rather not touch, or maybe Mrs Sensible’s manky ginger cat 😂
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