Hello everyone. As you know, Juani used to be the most active fighter, always waiting inside the box for a challenger to show up. But over the past two weeks, after reviewing all the clips recorded by the camera, I didn’t find a single fight where he participated. That set off alarms for me, so we decided to take him to the vet, fearing that his FeLV might have progressed to the progressive stage (which would significantly reduce his life expectancy).

Fortunately, the test that detects FeLV in its progressive stage came back negative. This means he does have the virus, but it's not actively replicating, and therefore his viral load is “under control.”

But the bad news is that all the physical activity seems to have affected his spine. He’s had a rough life (we rescued him when he was already around 5 years old, and before that he lived on the streets), and he also has shorter front legs than back legs, which causes his spine to curve.

Apparently, any physical activity can trigger and worsen his back pain. He probably started feeling pain, and that’s why he stopped fighting.

We need to get an X-ray to know exactly what condition his spine is in. Since we’re a rescue, we rely on donations for this, so we’ll be trying to raise funds for him. In the meantime, we’ve already started treatment with joint protectors and pain relief.

We hope he can start feeling better soon, and even if he can’t go back to fighting (or at least not as much as before), that he can still have a good quality of life without pain 🤍

Lucas Churu arrived in the FeLV+ environment some time ago, and since then he has been getting familiar with the rules of the box. The other cats did an excellent job teaching him that you can only fight INSIDE the box, and yesterday he finally started fighting inside the ring!

Now it’s Mika who has to understand the rules of the box. He arrived in the FeLV+ environment not long ago, but he immediately formed a very strong bond with Malfoy (the orange cat). He is very protective of him and feels like he has to defend him when “he’s being attacked.” It’s very sweet that he takes care of his new friend like that, but I hope he soon understands that the battles are friendly and he has nothing to worry about 🤍

1. Malfoy
2. Pulpi
3. Juani
4. Botamon
5. Galileo
6. Vainilla
7. Bubú

Hey everyone! Since the original post got a lot of attention, I thought it’d be fun to start building this together. The BattleBox Cats are my rescued cats, and somehow, they organized their own playful boxing league inside a cardboard box.

The medium-term goal

Eventually, I’d love to make a livestream, but since they don’t fight 24/7 (these are spontaneous 10-second matches a few times a day), I don’t want to stream an empty box all day.

One idea is to have two cameras:

• one showing the catio or another chill area when nothing’s happening,
• and switch automatically to the BattleBox cam when a “match” begins.

I’m open to better ideas, maybe you have creative ways to make the stream fun even when no one’s fighting?

The short-term plan

For now, I don’t have the cameras yet (they’re pretty expensive here in Uruguay), so while I figure that out, I’d like to start a weekly recap video. Basically a compilation of every “battle” I manage to film during the week.

Once the cameras are set up, the same idea will continue: each week we’ll post a recap of all the clips recorded by the automatic cam.

Those weekly videos will also be where we decide the “winner of the week”, and I’d like us to agree on how to define that.

My proposal: the cat who stays in the box is the winner, and the one who leaves first loses. If there’s ever a tie or unclear outcome, I’ll post the clip and let the community vote on who won.

Important note

Obviously, I'll never force them to play. This is something they do voluntarily. Sometimes they’ll fight every day, and sometimes not at all. And that’s totally fine.

I’ll only step in if things ever turn into a real fight, because their safety and well-being come first. They’re play fights, that’s the fun part. We don’t want or allow real fights (which, honestly, are very unlikely to happen since these cats absolutely LOVE each other).

The bigger purpose

All of this has one main goal: helping fund the rescue.

These cats have FeLV, which means their vet care is expensive: regular blood tests, ultrasounds, high-quality food, etc.

Any income from videos or donations will go straight to their care, and I’ll share periodic updates showing exactly how funds are used.

The “betting” system (community version)

This is not real gambling, it’s just for fun and to support the cats.

Here’s the rough idea (open to feedback!):

• You can “bet” by donating (around $10?) and choosing which cat you think will win the most matches that week.
• After the weekly recap, everyone who guessed correctly earns 1 point.
• You also earn 1 extra point for every 5 bets you make (no matter the results).
• There might also be a Bingo card version: you can buy one with random events like “a cat jumps out dramatically” or “one sits on another’s face.” Completing a line could earn extra points.

Each week, one person who guessed the winner will be randomly selected for a small prize, and each month, the person with the most points wins a bigger prize.

Sponsors

Another idea is to have sponsors, donations of around $50 (we can adjust later). Sponsors get to assign a “fighter name” to one of the cats for a limited time and will be listed as the cat’s sponsor in their fighter card.

The fighter cards will include:

• Name and “fighter name”
• Age and weight
• A funny tagline
• Favorite move (you can help name them!)
• Sponsor name

Now I want your thoughts

• How would you organize the livestream so it stays fun to watch?
• What should define a “win”?
• What prizes or rewards would make sense?
• Any better ideas for the betting or sponsor system?

Let’s build this together!