A little spitting is one thing, but this rivalry has been getting ugly. Now Larry, the Number 10 cat, and the Foreign Office’s Chief Mouser, Palmerston, can’t go out unless the other is in.
The cats’ alma mater, the Battersea Dogs and Cats home, said enough is enough, and recommended the Government staff keep the two cats apart by staggering their trips outside, according to a report in The Telegraph.
Larry and Palmerston were separated after a nasty dustup earlier this month. News photographer Steve Back captured the fight, and described it as “utterly appalling.” Palmerston is a Tuxedo and Larry is a white-and-brown tabby. Both are neutered males.
Back was outside the Foreign Office on a recent morning when war broke out. “Suddenly these two were at each other hammer and tongs. First they were hissing at each other and we didn’t think they were going to fight, so we walked off. The next thing we heard there was this terrible screaming. We turned around and they were fighting outside number 11, literally ripping fur off each other. Palmerston’s ear is in a terrible mess and Larry has lost his collar.”
“I went and broke them up, and as I broke them up I got scratched on the leg. I was wearing long trousers but the claws went through to my skin.” Palmerston is known to lie in wait under cars for Larry, or launch aerial attacks.
A spokesman for Battersea told The Telegraph: “These cats were chosen to be chief mousers to 10 Downing Street and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office based on their sociable, bold and confident nature. The only downside to these behavior traits is that aggression can sometimes occur when the territories of two cats overlap.”
