not sure what to do with cat fighting situation

[Schooldramabannana]

We've lived here 5 years and had an ongoing problem ever since we got our cat 2 years ago
He loves to be outside although does come in every evening to sleep
We have a next door neighbour with 2 cats, one male and one female who generally stay outside even at night unless very cold.
They generally sit on her shed.
Our cat will go into their garden and then a cat fight breaks out.
Neighbour has made it clear she feels we are responsible and as he's aggressive and goes into their garden so her cats territory it is his fault and sent us the bill after the first fight they had.
I knocked and explained I wouldn't be paying a bill for a cat fight, that mine too gets injuries from being outside and I can't expect people to pay for that as they are wild animals really.
She wasn't happy and hasn't spoken to us since but we don't see her much anyway so no massive issue!
I've just heard a cat fight so looked out the window and there he is in their garden fighting with her male cat, she comes out and throws a jug of water over them and gets her cats in calling ours a ginger cunt as she is doing it
What am I meant to do?
I don't get why he still goes into the bloody garden; he

[MrsBertBibby]

Did your cat mind being called a ginger cunt?

Not a lot you can do, I fear.

[Schooldramabannana]

Clearly doesn't give a shit even though he gets injured having these scuffles but I am worried he will actually really hurt one of her cats
We've never had a cat like this, our old one would never have gone into another cats garden and just lurked around our home / garden so this is all a big shock.
We did try to keep him in over Xmas as the fighting had got really regular but he just cried by the door and then became quite aggressive with us which he isn't normally

[19lottie82]

As you explained to your neighbour there is nothing you can do. Has your cat been neutered? If not then that might make it less aggressive. But apart from that, nothing.
Your neighbour is deluded if she thinks it's entirely down to your cat.

Just ignore her.

[MrsBertBibby]

Has your cat been neutered?

Some cats are just fighty fuckers.

[Schooldramabannana]

No I'm sure he didn't mind lol!!
Was just trying to get across how angry she is
Yes neutered and generally a nice natured cat but clearly not a fan of other cats
She just kept saying how unusual and weird it is for a cat not to back off out of another cats territory and said he will even go in her back door ( this was in the summer ) and into her house if left open!!

[Wishiwasmoiradingle2017]

Isn't she being racist calling him a ginger cunt??

[Onegreatday]

Is he neutered? You can also get plug ins that are meant to sooth cats. There's not much more you can do except maybe out orange peel on the boundary hedge or fence between the two gardens, or spray it with something the don't like (I think you can probably buy something on internet ir make your own with essential oils and a water mist spray bottle.

Other than that, there's nothing you can actually do. We have Aggressive cats

[Onegreatday]

Coming into our garden and driveways and fighting our cats, but we accept it as part of the nature of owning cats. There's nothing you can really do about them fighting.

[Wolfiefan]

Can you cat proof your garden?

[HermioneJeanGranger]

I don't think there's much you can do, tbh. Cats roam and unless you keep them indoors/in cat-proofed garden, they're going to meet other cats and fight.

[Schooldramabannana]

I don't know what you mean by cat proof?
We have tried the spraying the hedge but he just walks along the roof to get there anyway mainly!
He is a little shit really - completely fearless.
He even jumps into the next doors garden who owns 4 Rottweilers and doesn't care!
I don't know why he's like it!!

[MrsBertBibby]

You could try feliway at home, see if that chills him out a bit. Does he get plenty of play at home? Might tire him out a bit.

[ItShouldHaveBeenJingleJess]

I'm so sorry, I know you are upset but the image of some bonkers woman calling a cat a 'ginger cunt' has me in stitches!

[Nomorechickens]

Your cat sounds like the neighbour from hell! We had one like that near us, had to get a magnet operated cat flap to keep him out of our house. Not your fault though, cats will be cats.
Did you watch the Secret Life of Cats last year, tracked all cats in the street, mostly they had their own territory and their own time of day to go out to avoid conflict with other cats, but some of them didn't bother avoiding the other cats and were up for a scrap. Sounds as if your cat and the cat next door are the second type.
Sorry that's not much help. Supersoaker?

[Schooldramabannana]

Honestly it would be funny if it wasn't my bloody cat so laugh away 😂😂😂 Yes he plays lots and isn't alone much but prefers to be outside during the day even if I'm here
I'll look into fellaway as haven't heard of that

[Schooldramabannana]

Yep told her to feel free to use water but it's almost like he's immune now and just shakes it off and carries on!
To be fair hers do fight him off but they never come into our garden - it is him going into their territory

[Cheby]

My cat is a bit of a bastard as well OP. There is basically not much you can do, except ensure they are neutered and have all their needs met at home so they are not out fighting for resources.

We have apologised to neighbours (and everyone is fine about it) but as you say, your cat gets injured too so you can't pay every bill. When we moved house our cat was at the vet 5/6 times in a year for fighting injuries. All has settled down now, he appears to have succeeded in taking over the neighbourhood and the rest of the local cat population see him as some sort of mobster. I like to imagine him running a protection racket and collecting Dreamies in return for not beating the crap out of other cats.

[Reow]

My boy is a fighty little fucker. He's a ginger Tom. I've been worried about other cats, especially when he's come home with fur and blood in his claws from another cat!

He seemed to settle a bit after a while. I second feliway.

And - not saying I agree with this - my cousin had v similar with her tomcat, and she over fed him some put on a couple kilos. He seemed to be more chilled lazy as a fatty Not ethical but he fought less.

[Reow]

Ha, Cheby same here.

I think my boy has fought every single other cat in our road to establish himself as king. He even beat up the other ginger tom.

I felt really bad, but they sit on the shed together now, so I think there's a truce

[Miniwookie]

I did chuckle a bit at the ginger cunt comment too I'm afraid! My ginger boy is pretty chilled but we did have a big, black fluffy cat coming in from over the road and attacking my two (they were only young at the time)but after a bit of persistence with chasing him off, spraying with water, he seems to have stopped bothering. Perhaps your neighbour could be a bit more proactive.

[CherryDrop24]

I'm having similar problems. We've lived here about 4 years and had our cat for three of them. Never had a problem with him fighting until a new ginger tom moved in opposite us about 3 months ago. Ginger Tom likes to come into our garden and walk about our driveway...... Its like he is purposely antagonising our cat! The two have had a fair few fights now and often ours comes back with an injury (not sure about the other cat). I thought about mentioning it to the neighbour but realistically there is nothing that can be done to stop them so what is the point. We keep out cat in in the evenings now or if we spot the other cat lurking outside. It just seems unfair as our cat definitely loves being outdoors, but it seems to be one of the few ways we can protect him. The joy of being a cat owner!

[Schooldramabannana]

This is the thing, aside from one of us keeping them in altogether there's not much that can actually be done but I do feel bad as it is their garden he is going into so does feel like he's taking the Mickey

[TweedAddict]

You need to cat proof your garden, there's loads of things that you can do. Our next door has done that to the fence as we have 3 dogs and them 2 cats who would loved coming into our garden. We've had no issues since, not that it was an issue anyway apart from a bit of barking (our dogs are too scared of the cats) but it's given them piece of mind

[Schooldramabannana]

How do you cat proof a garden?!

[Schooldramabannana]

n?!