To think that if you let your cats outside...

[LST]

..you should get then spayed and neutered!!

My poor cats are being terrorised by an un neutered (humungous) Tom!

I heard cries of pain last night and ran outside to find one of my poor Toms being pinned to the floor and beaten up!

He was covered in cuts and scratches and it looks like a bite has pieced his ear :( He won't go out to play today!

I guess it's because they breed like rabbits and can have large litters that people get them neutered, I couldn't look after (or part with) a litter so after a few years I would end up with about 20 cats!

Animal shelters are already overrun so there is definite problem, years ago I went to Spain and there were feral cats and kittens everywhere

YANBU. My boys had their nuts off when they were about five months old. it calmed their behaviour down indoors and tehy don't seem to have any territorial battles. They are BFF with the cat ND but one.
Can you kidnap the cat and have him done. The neighbour may object but you can plead ignorance and claim an out break of knacker offtis in the neighbourhood.

First thing we did when we caught our stray Tom was to pack him off to the vets to have his bits chopped off!!

He was blatantly a stray, and had a manky armpit collar wound. He just to get into our house via the old catflap (we didn't have a cat, but our neighbours two used to come round to chill out away from the dog and to use it as a route down off the roof) He sprayed in our house and it stank. so we made friends and on the advice of our neighbour vet, caught him and took him to her surgery where he was neutered and eventually got his wound patched up too (v. expensive stray ). He was quite the celeb in the vets because his operation to fix the wound was quite complex.

He stopped spraying with two weeks of being 'done' and 8 years later is a lovely fat fluffy tummed boy he even puts up with dd trying to dress him up...daft animal!!

YANBU

But it's true that spaying and neutering doesnt always stop fighting. My 2 old cats (both deceased now at 17 and 19 yrs) were both 'done' as kittens and were free to roam. The male used to take on anything which came within 3 meters of our garden inculding, once, a massive dog, but was a softie indoors.

My 2 new cats are both done too, however i keep them within our garden boundary as they are 'posh' kitties and could get nicked

Misty I'd love a Bengal kitten, most adorable thing ever!

Pinkie, Bengal's are lovely! My 2 are Ragdolls. Wanted one ever since i read about them in a cat book as a little girl. They are 18 months now, and they're a delight

I agree most cats should be neutered/spayed. Mine still have a scrap with a tabby who comes in the garden, a most gorgeous cat. I think he isn't a full tom either, just about twice the size of my cats. Very little physical though, mostly noise.

We got our kittens from an acquaintance who I know was not breeding kittens for profit, she didn't charge us anything for them and the mum was neutered after having a couple of litters, and didn't have the first until she was 2 years old herself. We knew who the mum and dad was, that they were well looked after, healthy cats and the kittens were used to children and other cats, and they were both used to using a litter tray before we brought them home. I know local shelters usually have no problem rehoming kittens, it's the older cats with specific requirements that are more difficult. We couldn't provide those specific requirements such as "no other cat in the house, no children, no dogs".

We have a un-neutered ginger tom who comes through the cat flap at the bottom of our stairs he sprays everywhere and it stinks, is there anything we can do to stop it?
We have to leave that flap open for our cats but there is a door at the top which has another flap which is only set to open for them to go out.The other day the door wasn't shut properly so the tom got in during the night,yuk.
Sometimes he sits on the other side of the door so my cats are too scared to go out. They used to have magnetic collars but we had to give up with them after they lost so many.

lollilou A very effective (but slightly expensive) solution is to get your own cat(s) microchipped, then get a cat flap which reads their microchip so doesn't let any other cats in. We have this and it's brilliant, ours can't keep a collar on to save their lives so none of the collar tag ones would work.

Also very satisfying when you've just had it fitted and there is a cat chase, your own cats dash through the cat flap then you hear a "BAFF!" as the pursuing tom is refused entry :)

YANBU
I breed siamese, and when my queen is calling there are always lots of toms outside. I usually trap them with the help of the Cats' Protection League, who neuter and rehome or if they have FIV/FIp put them down. We've got 11 over the past two years, not one was chipped, and they were all underfed and in poor condition. These toms can give your cats FIV/FIP too, through biting. It's really sad that owners buy a kitten and instead of neutering and vaccinating him, throw him out once he starts spraying, especially as neutered boys are so especially friendly.
The microchip catflaps are good, Marysbeard.

Thanks off to google them now.

Shouldn't laugh but living the image of all the feisty strays round Mary's house walking away with wrinkled-up concertina faces like something out of a Tom & Jerry cartoon.

loving the image. Sigh.

Our nwighbout's Labrador often gets his head stuck in our cat flap. I think the cats do it on purpose- and he never learns!

My boy is neutered too, was done when he was very young, but didn't stop him scrapping with bully boy cat next door all the time (and wailing at him through the patio doors and windows - my god what a racket!)

It's very frustrating when it costs you money at the vets and you worry about your poor little ones taking a beating when they go out but I think that's just cats I'm afraid.

That's hilarious Mary!!

Incaminka - that's exactly why I wont let my girl out till she's been done, it's a shame that so many irresponsible people get a cat/kitten and let them roam to impregnate the neighbourhood, it's not a huge expense and must save long term when you consider the cost of several litters

We have an balls-n-all Tom roaming our street. Nightmare bloody cat. Grrrr.

He fights and sprays my shed - little sod.

I did see my spayed and very small cat picking a fight with an elderly cat this morning, I was not happy!

My beloved cat (died in feb) was neutered and used to attack everything. He attacked a staffy once and another time a fox. He used to go into neighbours cat flaps terrorise their moggies, eat their food, sleep on their beds and once pissed all over a neighbours hob! He also used to steal one little girls hair bobbles.

All very embarrassing, we bought everyone water pistols.

He also regularly brought in pigeons, rats and other creatures.

spuddy, he sounds like a real character. You must miss him hugely.

All cats will fight if necessary - many will run away from a scrap if possible but if cornered will stand their ground. My childhood Siamese once taught my neighbour's bulldog a lesson he didn't forget!

YANBU :)