Am I my feline's keeper?

To slightly paraphrase a well known quotation from the Book of Genesis. It is a question I find myself asking a lot these days. Tora just can't resist the temptation to get into fights with 'The Enemy', seen prowling past the window here as Tora happily cat-naps on his favourite 'foot-warmer' cushion.

This has been going on for nearly a year now. At first this big grey male seemed to be a passing stray but someone nearby has given him a home and he's recently even got a white collar. Neither of them seems to get a decisive 'upper hand' in terms of territory but I think in the frequent fights Tora is increasingly loosing ground. A few days ago he even came home covered in mud - he must have slipped into the rice field ditch behind the houses here in the course of an encounter.

It worries me because Tora is no young cat, I'd guess fifteen already. I'm amazed that he fights like he does and perhaps the excitement and rush of adrenalin is one of the things that keeps him so fit and active for his age. He'll come back in after a battle, eat and sleep for an hour and then he wants to be back out there. But there must always be a risk of injury.

I heard a 'set-to' in the neighbourhood this morning and it was four hours before he turned up again. I think he's getting chased off now and then has to hide awhile and take the 'long way home' when the coast is clear.

Hard to know what to do. My instinct is to protect him, keep him inside as much as possible. And it is surely right to keep him out of harm's way when I can. But at the same time it is his choice too, he's not a prisoner. If her really wants to go out, then he can. And if he wants a refuge, then he has one. A 'middle way' seems to be the only way.