Next door neighbours cats!!!!

I understand that being the general case but it wasn't with Oscar the cat. He was the most gentle cat you could imagine, loved people and children, let the pheasant chicks run all over him - BUT - any dog that came into the garden would be out of there like a shot!

He didn't sit still for them, he actively chased them, claws out, hissing and spitting. I've seen Alsatians run from him in terror. The same thing with foxes. I saw him chase a very large fox out of his greenhouse and through the glass of the door!

Dogs were definitely not allowed in his garden!!!

 

With our Burmese it wasn't just his territory he defended, as I said before he went into neighbour's houses to eat the dog's food whilst the dogs were there. It was quite funny to watch as one particular dog was not happy, he would wait for our cat to finish and saunter home, the dog timed it's run and barking session to be just behind our cat as he hopped back over the fence.

 

It was both of them. He was certainly protective of what was in the garden as he guarded and looked after all the birds (chased hawks away, sat alongside any baby birds that had fallen from their nests, to keep the magpies away, until the parents - who were used to him - came for the babies) but was not keen on four legged animals.

I think he misread Animal Farm and worked on the premise of "Four legs bad, two legs good". This was only tempered by his allowance of black cats in the garden. Any other cats were not allowed. Even the fearless Sarafi wouldn't come into the garden (he spends most of his time here, now).

I met a few of those when I was in the Merchant Navy