Meow was now a fully-grown tomcat with lots of outdoor experiences. Several times in the morning he came back home with minor injuries which I treated myself. But one day he returned with a nasty bite on his lower back, I guess caused by a face off with a dog. I had to take him to the vet, who had to put him under general anesthesia to facilitate surgery.
Meow's favorite enemy was the big, fat, neutered tomcat of my Norwegian landlord Rick. Rick lived two houses away and our both rooftop-terraces were easily accessible from either house. Rick's cat and Meow loved to intrude the others territory with the result that confrontation and fighting were daily fare.
One day I did what I know now I shouldn't have done. Meow and the fat cat confronted each other toe to toe on our terrace, hissing and growling at each other. In order to prevent an imminent attack from either side I stepped in between the two of them, and at this very moment Meow decided to attack his opponent but instead of teaching him a lesson he sank his teeth into my calf, which started bleeding heavily.
I never thought that a cat’s bite could be so bad, and that Meow could open his mouth that wide. The bite wounds caused by upper and lower teeth were two and a half inches apart. I decided to see a doctor and he gave me a couple of rabies shots.
Usually Meow came back from excursions into the neighborhoods every single morning, every now and then he didn't show up for 2 days but never longer. However, in early July 2009 I didn't see him for several days and started to worry. Pussy also suffered from his absence and got friendly with another tom cat which I haven't seen before. He started to visit us every day to take Meow's place and I contacted the vet to get Pussy spayed.
Two weeks had already passed when I saw one morning a ragged and starving cat sitting in front of my balcony door. As soon as I opened the door I realized that is was Meow who pounced on the food bowls. I was so happy to see him again but life away from home did not fail to leave its mark on Meow. It took him a couple of days to adapt again and to regain his old relationship to Pussy.
That was only the time after Meow put things straight, chasing Pussy's new companion out of the apartment who showed up for a date, unaware of Meow's return.