Street Cats Caterwauling

Phoneography Challenge, the Phone as your Lens: Nature – Street Cats Caterwauling

Apps used: Camera+, Snapseed, VSCOcam, Whitagram

I used to live on the 4th floor, so there would be nights when I could hear the sound of street cats carried up in the air from downstairs. But I have never seen the cats in action. They always seemed to be lying around lazily instead.

I was walking my dog, Donna, down the stairs intending to go home after our walk when a cat streaked past us and disappeared into the drains. Then I heard them. Two cats facing off from where the first cat had ran away from. One ran, the other gave chase, past us and up the flight of steps that we can just came down from.

They were too far an iPhone, so I took a video for fun.

They didn’t seem to be moving from the steps, so I grew bolder and went nearer, but not too near. The photo above has been cropped so that the cats take up more of the space and can be seen better.

I don’t know much about cat body language, but this page tells me to note their ears that are slightly pinned back defensively, and the lowered tail that curves slightly upward, a sign of defensive aggression. Unlike dogs, cats can lay down and expose their tummies, follow by an attack when they are highly defensive. Of course, the cat laying on the step is not feeling defensive towards me.

They were wary of me but reluctant to break it up. They probably would have scattered though, if I went close enough.

Mouseover and click the audio button to
unmute to hear the fighting street cats!

References:
– http://pets.webmd.com/cats/features/cat-body-language
– http://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/cat-body-language