Neighbour's aggressive cat

To start off with they haven’t exhausted all options all they’ve done is use a water pistol pretty much, and they haven’t done the main thing which is tell the neighbours what the cats now doing even suggesting like I said about taking the cat to the vets.

OP mentions lots of things that they've done/been forced to do to have to try to live with this animal in the neighbourhood - including co-ordinating with the cat's owner. But why should they have to spend so much of their time and energy on somebody else's pet?

You say “yet again, we see the wilful misinterpretation” yet the only one who’s misinterpreting things is you. Where did I mention about people being blood thirsty? Or where did I make anyone out to be that way? I didn’t, I just stated that it was the wrong thing to do as they hadn’t even spoken to the neighbours about it yet. By kicking or hitting the cat it would potentially make the whole situation worse, possibly even starting world war 3 with the neighbours and if an aggressive animal feels threatened chances are it won’t just shy away and could potentially hurt OP more, having dealt with aggressive animals I would know.

Nobody has actually said the phrase 'bloodthirsty', but there has been a lot of talk on this thread - not necessarily from you - about 'cat-haters' and people who want to hurt animals.

Again, it is not up to OP to have to train, psychoanalyse or seek treatment for somebody else's pet.

I am saying that, when a cat is set on aggression and violence, sometimes the only option is to fight back, using your size advantage as a human. I realise that this means the cat may end up very badly hurt as a consequence of its aggressive behaviour and maybe lack of proper care from its owners. It is not a good thing if it gets hurt, but it may be the only way that it will learn consequences and desist in its reign of terror.

As for the agenda part get a grip.

By 'agenda', I am referring to those who cannot accept that their cat could ever do anything wrong, antisocial or injurious to a person; yet, these are often the same people who will leave their cat to freely roam, ignore any complaints or negative reports and just wash their hands of any problems that their cat is causing. Rather than take any responsibility for their pet, they will insist that the fault lies with the people whose lives their cat is making a misery. Essentially, you are not allowed to complain about their cat, but you are also not allowed to do anything effective to make it stop. They love their pet and so must you too, regardless, no other option.

Chipsahoyagain
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I would actually throw something at it. Hate hate hate those creatures.”

Why? Do you hate all cats (lions, tigers, etc,) or just domestic ones?

Cat haters say some really concerning and unhinged things on here. I’m sure most are normally reasonable people but jeez, they turn into absolute weirdos on cat threads. It’s not normal to carry so much hatred for an animal doing, ya know, animal things. Hate the owners by all means….because, as with out of control dogs, it is the owners that are the issue, not the cat.

There is a reason for the behaviour of this cat and, yes, it is the owner’s responsibility to deal with appropriately, which they don’t seem to be doing currently. OP, you need to go back and be firmer with them for your and the cats sake. There is something wrong with him and he needs his owners to help him.

I would actually throw something at it. Hate hate hate those creatures.

This cat has a behavioural problem and/or a medical issue.
Have the owners circumstances changed? New baby, new other pet or something?

I agree you need to video him being aggressive to show his owners and they need to do three things…..

1. Keep him inside for the time being.
2. Take him to the vet for a thorough check up.
3. Get him seen by a feline behaviourist.

To start off with they haven’t exhausted all options all they’ve done is use a water pistol pretty much, and they haven’t done the main thing which is tell the neighbours what the cats now doing even suggesting like I said about taking the cat to the vets.

You say “yet again, we see the wilful misinterpretation” yet the only one who’s misinterpreting things is you. Where did I mention about people being blood thirsty? Or where did I make anyone out to be that way? I didn’t, I just stated that it was the wrong thing to do as they hadn’t even spoken to the neighbours about it yet. By kicking or hitting the cat it would potentially make the whole situation worse, possibly even starting world war 3 with the neighbours and if an aggressive animal feels threatened chances are it won’t just shy away and could potentially hurt OP more, having dealt with aggressive animals I would know.

As for the agenda part get a grip.

To OP: What I failed to add to my other post in my haste of posting whilst dealing with a toddler until you can chat to the neighbours try to avoid running, avoid turning your back and try to stay calm, I know you’re scared trust me I’ve been there but it only makes it worse, have a bag to block it and try to stand your ground. You can also use the bag to calmly and firmly move the cat out the way but just be cautious of your hand and arm rucksack might be best as you can hold it from behind.

I still don't see why it's down to OP to spend time, money and effort in finding a solution to somebody else's animal's extremely antisocial behaviour.

Fair enough if it were a wild animal being a pest; but this is actually somebody's pet, for whom they are simply merrily abdicating all responsibility.

OP, what about something like this? It's like the repeller things people put in their gardens, but you carry it with you and only use it when you see the cat so it won't upset your own cat.

https://amzn.eu/d/3DC3Tif

You can - or certainly you used to be able to- buy lion poo commercially. We bought some from somewhere called "Silent Roar" for this purpose when our bengal girl was being bullied and repeatedly attacked in our garden. Contrary to upthread it's not always the bengals who are the aggressors! Ours was small and timid and loving and whilst she did dislike other cats, she couldn't knock the skin off a rice pudding - she never scratched. One cat even snuck up and attacked her as she sunbathed in the living room by some open french windows.

The lion poo did initially work. Honestly though, we found the only real deterrent for bully cats is to cause them discomfort - bucket of water over them, good prod with a broom etc. We never kicked though. They have to know it's not worth their while to come back. And I say this as a cat lover. The priority was our own cat enjoying her garden.

Since nothing else seems to work, my suggestion is to post loads of pictures of him in 'the litter tray', while providing daily updates about his thuggery.
Worked for me 🤣
I'm still wondering if you live on my road...

Good suggestion about carrying a tincan with coins in and rattling it hard and with menace everytime it approaches you.
Make yourself bigger and walk towards it waving your arms. Do not accept defeat and never run OP!
It may not be a lion but it sure is trying to act like one, so don't have any of it!
Alternatively, Dreamies are your friend and so will he be!

to all those saying kick or hit the cat with something you are very much wrong, speak to the owners first.

Yet again, we see the wilful misinterpretation of what desperate people are being drawn to do, having exhausted the other options to be able to live unmauled and unharmed in their own home and garden.

We aren't bloodthirsty people who are relishing the happy opportunity to boot a cat to kingdom come, as we are being painted by those who may well have an agenda.

As with the comparison to protecting ourselves against burglars who arm themselves and decide that they will break in to innocent households; nothing would please us more than for all thieves to unilaterally make the decision that they will either save up to buy lovely items that they covet or otherwise simply do without them, just like honest poorer people already do.

Stay out of people's properties and they will very, very happily not feel any need to be forced into desperate solutions to defend themselves from intruders. It isn't somehow thwarting our keenness to whack you with a nine-iron that we keep solely for that purpose, you know; removing our need to ever have to do so is exactly what we want in the first place!

I actually can’t believe what I’m reading on this thread. Who cares whether the wretched animal has received therapy or a gluten free diet or whatever the hell, it’s coming on to your property and attacking you in the street this animal needs to be put down if they can’t keep it indoors! Fair enough on the owners’ part if you haven’t spoken to them and therefore they aren’t aware of the severity of the situation but this is ludicrous!

To start off with just bring it up with the neighbours if they’re lovely it should be easy to talk to them, to all those saying kick or hit the cat with something you are very much wrong, speak to the owners first. He probably needs checking over by the vets, we had a rescue kitty very similar to this, he ended up with basically antidepressants and it made him much better. He wasn’t on them for too long and when he eventually came off them he remained better. This poor cat may need the same. And if you “show him who’s boss” like others are saying it’ll only probably make the situation worse and make the neighbours fall out with you.

I’m sorry if this has already been suggested (I haven’t read the whole thread) but I have heard that big cat poo works very well at repelling other cats. A friend of mine managed to contact a local zoo to procure some. If you could get some and put it in your garden, it might put him off?

There was a programme on TV a few years ago where they explored how domestic cats live together in built up areas. They put trackers on cats and mapped it all out.

All cats have their own territory and in a built up area, these territories do overlap. In most cases, the cats figure out a rota themselves, or the territories adapt as new cats come in.

We certainly see this with our cats. Every so often a new cat appears and there are a few scraps, but gradually it calms down again.

Occasionally another cat will test the territory. I have one cat that is very territorial with other cats.

There are a couple of neighbourhood cats that all get along with each other. It's very strange - I've never seen it before! There are two of them and they hang out with our two a lot! They also hang out with another cat, that our cats can't stand, so it's a strange combo.

Never have I seen a cat attack people though, so there is definitely something not right with this one. I second OPs DH putting on some thick trousers and boots and seeing what happens. He can be the sacrificial lamb in this scenario so the owners can truly see what he's like.

They should then speak to their vet for suggestions and then keep him in for the protection of the neighbourhood, or build their own catio or cat proof garden.

Has the other cat's behaviour changed suddenly and is it looking skinnier? My old cat (RIP) suddenly turned totally feral when she was about 12, along with losing weight despite being fed by half the street. Turned out to be overactive thyroid, treated by some paste put on her ear daily. Within weeks she was back to her old cuddly self
She was still enough of an arsehole to look you straight in the eye and kick your cup pf coffee onto the floor though.
Seriously though, behaviour changes in cats van be signs pf serious conditions
Maybe tell your neighbour about this.

Has anyone tried the human male urine route? I have read that getting your male partner for children to pee on the garden once a week can keep out cats and foxes - I’ve never tried it myself, as I can’t persuade my male humans to cooperate! Has anyone tried this and had success?

Also, they apparently don’t like citrus, mustard, vinegar and peppermint- maybe adding some of those ingredients into your super soaker can help?

Yeah I'm not surprised - you wouldn't have started the shifts without good reason. Cat bites are really nasty and so prone to infection.

I like the bucket dunking idea, though it would be quite challenging to pick him up to do so. Chucking a bucket of water at him if not maybe?

Agree keep bringing it to the owners. I am a big believer in cats being allowed out but not if they are stalking and injuring your neighbours.

In all honesty? I'd give it a small kick. In nature, if an animal is like that to another up the food chain or stronger, it will get physically reprimanded, thats how it learns to back off.

Firstly I would tell your neighbours so they have a chance to deal with it (not let him out or get him checked by the vets for some issue that might be causing it).

But if they don't deal with it, and the cat continues to be aggressive you and your family, I would be aggressive back.

My thoughts entirely.

These type of threads always pop up here and the onus always seems to be on the non cat owners to spend time and money on a raft of conventional and not so conventional solutions in order to keep someone else's nuisance pet off their property. Do people really expect it is feasible to keep various buckets of water around the house, to be planting specific herbs or bushes around the garden, laying down spikes, to be making citrus based liquids to decant into water pistols, buying sonic repellents, installing ugly fence top deterrents. Anyone who is understandably a bit upset because the neighbours cat has just pissed on their bed, used the brand new sofa as a scratching post, shat all over the garden and attacked their toddler is rounded on for being cruel when they admit to using a broom or their foot to get the arsehole cat off their property.

There’s a cat like that round here, a bengal, we call it mad cat. It terrorises our timid girl cat if she’s sitting in the front of our garden.
I went to shoo it one day with a bottle I pulled from the recycling box when it had cornered our cat. It wasn’t backing down and was actually coming at me.
I wouldn’t say I’m scared of it but am very wary.