Hypothetically, if an indoor cat escaped and had to face a fight with a stray/feral cat, who would have an advantage?

Submitted ⁨⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works⁩ to ⁨nostupidquestions@lemmy.world⁩

Just morbid curiosity. I’ve had neighbors whose cat escaped before. And now I hear stray cats meowing in the middle of the night, screaming and fighting with other cats, and I just got curious… what if one of them is my neighbor’s cat? 🤔 (hopefully not)

I mean, I would think that cats who get regulary fed should have a better chance? But then, they never had a fight before so they would never have experience…

Like, I imagine this scenario is equvalent of a human getting lost and then there is a homeless person who wants to fight you (not that they would, just an example). I think a person who’ve had proper food is gonna win against a homeless person. So with this logic, the indoor cat should win against the stray/feral cat? Am I right?

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ogmios@sh.itjust.works ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
An indoor cat wouldn’t stand a chance. The lack of experience is an absolutely enormous barrier to overcome, and indoor cats really struggle a lot if they ever get lost outside.

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- s38b35M5@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  
  An indoor cat wouldn’t stand a chance.
  
  Curious by what you mean about struggling. Not trying to be simply contrary.
  
  My (then) 16 month old, seven pounds wet with rocks in her pockets indoor cat escaped in 2018 and lived wild in rural Maine for 18 months before being trapped and returned to us (thanks to microchipping). She was 9 miles from home and had a broken paw (something fell on it and crushed her toes), but was otherwise healthy and in good spirits.
  
  I tend to agree that a feral has an advantage based on common sense, but also that my tamed feral is a beast when he fights.
  
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  - ogmios@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    I hope you can understand how extenuating circumstances such as yours aren’t the norm.
    
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Dasus@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

I think a person who’ve had proper food is gonna win against a homeless person.

No, what you’re saying is “I believe a guy who’s been eating twinkies on his couch with no stress whatsoever would, in a fight, beat a guy who’s been fighting the elements and hunting for a living”.

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- Kalothar@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Where do you live that homeless people are hunting?
  
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  - Dasus@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    In this metaphor, the homeless person is the outside cat, and cats are little murder machines.
    
    Whereas inside cats get lazy enough that they can barely catch a fake mouse on a string.
    
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  - cecilkorik@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    That’s the point of the comment. It’s pointing out why the analogy doesn’t work. A stray feral cat, with few exceptions, MUST hunt to survive. A homeless person can use a food bank or scavenge or beg. They are not in the same situation and cannot be directly compared in potential fighting effectiveness.
    
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Libra@lemmy.ml ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Depends on the cat. Strays fight on the regular so they’re probably pretty good at it. On the other hand one of my entirely-indoor-from-birth cat routinely wrestles with a 100lb dog for fun and takes no shit, so I’d give him fair odds. The other is a big lazy puddle who doesn’t stand a chance.

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Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

scenario is equvalent of a human getting lost and then there is a homeless person who wants to fight you (not that they would, just an example). I think a person who’ve had proper food

You should consider one of them fights every day, and needs to survive all the fights every day, and actually has survived every fight so far - and the other one never…

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- desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  however the other likely has a material advantage…
  
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  - Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    In humans, this would rather add to the disadvantage.
    
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qyron@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
A couple that lived near me had a little thai cat, a sweet of an animal. They would let the cat out daily.

At some point, they just decided to leave the country and abandoned the cat.

The creature became the neighbourhood boss. Killed several males in fights, some even larger, fought off dogs, became a ferouscious hunter and never agaim entered a house.

That cat was king of the street for three years until one of his own blood dethrowned him.

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- throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Damn, this sounds so badass and yet so sad at the same time.
  
  I don’t know how someone could abandon a cat.
  
  Like I could never abandon a pet that I claimed. Once I made the claim, that’s mine forever.
  
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  - qyron@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Unfortunately, stupid heartless people are a dime a dozen.
    
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Goltbrook@lemm.ee ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I would find it hard to make a general judgement here.

The human-analogies some people make are rather unconvincing. I’d think physiologically cats are less diverse than humans are. In both species size translates to weight, force, reach.

There are outliers, but most house cats are still “fit” enough not to suffer massive disadvantages.

So it would be more a matter of size and stature than lifestyle. A Main Coon with their voluminous fur might enjoy a form of natural armor. But the same fur would exist if it was a street cat (bar any diseases).

And they also possess natural weapons that are not related to their grooming and lifestyle (much). If some jerk has their house cats declawed, maybe. But usually claw is claw and tooth is tooth.

What will probably be the most decisive factor, just as it is in humans, is aggression and killer instinct. That is where a street cat might be better conditioned. On the other hand, animals lean heavier on instinct and even the gentlest house cat can become vicious when exposed to the right stimulus.

tl;dr I am not sure

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