Hard Decision to Make about a Feral Cat
Actually I think I've made it but I still feel a tinge of guilt and reluctance about it.
There is an aggressive male feral cat on the property. He was here through the winter and didn't bother the others and seemed calm enough but he has become increasingly a bully since March.
I contacted the feral cat rescue group in my area, who has been slowly and surely helping me get the Ferals here spayed and neutered. The list is a long one because there is only one such group in our county and the Humane Society has made it clear they want to deal with cats as little as possible. They take relatively few and will tell you when you call they have their quota, and their mission is primarily dogs. So I still end up with kittens sometimes too.
The feral group got me an emergency appointment with one of the vets that is trying to help them out, and neutered the bully. We all hoped it would help with the aggression. They told me to wait two weeks for the hormones to settle and then if he was still brawling they would come and take him away.
Well last evening when I was feeding the one cat I can pet, I heard a pretty bad cat fight. just outside the milk house. I yelled and it stopped. When I got around the corner to see who was involved I saw one of the females clearly unruffled just looking around really curiously, and then slinking around the other corner comes the big bully looking quite satisfied with himself. I call him Uggo because of his nasty side.
While I didn't see the actual fight I suspect him of attacking one of the smaller males that sought shelter here last winter and keeps trying to move back in. I have seen the bully attack him twice before, with Uggo clearly the instigator, and it wasn't pretty. Though I managed to break it up, I felt sorry for the other cat I call Probie.
Also I saw Uggo drive off another male and the female that used to hang out with that male that were actually born here. He also tries to start fights with the two spayed females, and though I didn't see him do it, I suspect him of killing three kittens who were fathered by Probie. they matched his coloring. The spayed females won't even go in the barn anymore because they know Uggo hangs out in there. They choose the milk house with a leaky roof even when its pouring over being in the same place with Uggo.
The vet who neutered him told the Not For Profit lady who took him to the appointment that he could tell Uggo is a brawler because he had bites and claw marks all over him, some that were infected. He gave him an antibiotic.
I know for the other cats sake and for peace I need to contact the group and have them come and remove Uggo, but I know that will probably means curtains for him. It's just hard for me to not feel guilty that its an otherwise healthy cat that will end up probably being put down because really who else is going to want him and its like I am the one passing sentence. But its unfair to the other cats to have to live in terror of him all the time too and I don't see any other alternative. This sucks. 
Thanks for letting me vent.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Liberalann
I agree with the poster who said it takes a couple months for the testosterone levels to drop significantly.
Give it a little longer. If it continues after a few months, than do what you need to do. You have no reason to feel guilty. You have a huge heart and are giving him far more chances at life than the vast majority would. If it comes down to it, his leaving will be peaceful and painfree, and he won't be able to inflict harm on anyone else again.
I want to do what is best for them all including him.
Response to Liberalynn (Original post)
Response to kurtzapril4 (Reply #8)
The coyotes hear a late night cat fight and one or both of the fighting cats are eaten.
Please everyone, spay and neuter your cats and dogs. "Indoor cats" are preferable to "outdoor cats," if possible. It's a dangerous world for outdoor cats and they often hunt birds that ought to be left alone.
Just recently my kid rescued two dogs from a busy street, one a larger female in heat, the other a smaller un-neutered male of coyote-meal size. The dogs both jumped into the car so they were obviously pets, but they might have been road kill or coyote food. We took them to our local animal shelter which is very good, but they'll not release a dog or cat that's not been spayed or neutered. These dogs' breeding days were over whoever took them home, original owners or not.
We usually have three shelter dogs, the most our city allows without a special permit. My wife tends to favor the unadoptable dogs -- elderly dogs, and dogs with behavior or health problems.
Our current threesome is the most trouble we've ever had. That's saying a lot considering the Catahoula Leopard Dog we once adopted. She was scary intelligent, like a youtube border collie but with a fiercely independent streak. In dog school her teachers thought she was perfect. Well mannered and instant comprehension of any command. Why are you here? But she could open unlocked doors or yard gates and vanish for hours. She was the worst food thief I ever met. Blink and the dinner roast was gone and she'd be sitting there looking innocent. Twice she stole our kid's dental retainers and buried them in the back yard, about $350 each. We didn't find the stolen retainers until later. She'd play gently with our pet rats, rabbits, and birds, or neighborhood cats, but she'd also play with wild rats and wild rabbits in the garden. She did eat gophers, grasshoppers, and flies, so she wasn't entirely useless as vermin control.
We were very sad when she died.
Our current dogs are misfits too. One was used as a fashion accessory. She learned how to be an ordinary dog from the Catahoula, but it took a few years. One of our dogs was feral. She still has a lot of feral traits but my wife is master of feral dog's universe so full domestication is likely. Our most recent dog was kept chained in a back yard and neglected because his owners couldn't control him. Now he's a very happy creature because he gets to sleep on the sofa, and he loves all people but he's still got many bad habits. He can't walk past the vacuum cleaner without peeing on it and he's an escape artist like our Catahoula was but without the fierce loyalty. He'd be happy to sleep on anyone's sofa. One friendly human as good as any other.
that's exactly how it feels. I want to give him time to calm down but I am also afraid for the other cats in the meantime.
peace now. between him and your other cats.
I have been able to tame a few of the ferals that have lived in the barn over the years. Some have since either moved on or unfortunately been hit because traffic is really bad out here. It breaks my heart every time a cat gets hit, even when its not one from the colony I care for.
I wish people wouldn't just drop cats off just because they see a barn and other cats around it. It's not fair to the cat they are dropping off or the exsisting colony.
There have been agressive males that have come through before but none thats as mean as Uggo. I have never seen a male cat go after spayed females the way this one does. Its like he wants to drive them off, and with the other males it is the worrisome kind of figthts. The way he goes after Probie I am afraid he might kill him.
The only tame one right now is Bumpkin. I sit out with her on the steps every morning. She sleeps in my lap although she still struggles against being held. I would bring her in but my German Shepherd loathes cats and I had her(the dog) before someone dropped the first two cats here, nine years ago.
The female was pregnant and before I knew it I had a whole colony of cats, before I found the one not for profit group who was willing to help me get them spayed and neutered and even now litters are still born because they have a waiting list a mile long. There is no way I could afford it without them and I am so grateful for their help.
Hopefully they are going to be able to help me with Uggo in a way that is best for him and the others.
In the meantime I will try getting a super soaker. Thanks for taking care of kitties too.
so I could look for one of those. It might be away to protect the other cats from him in the meantime.
Thanks.