To not doing anything about my cat attacking neighbours cat?

[MrsW2603]

We have two 4 year old cats, 1 male, 1 female which we've had since they were 10 weeks old. They were born in a cat rescue so we know their background/history. Both cats are neutered and very much enjoy going out, they come go as they please via a cat flap but spend about 80% their time in the house sleeping on piles of freshly washed clothes or begging by the treat cupboard.
Our neighbour knocked today to say one of her cats has been attacked by our male. Said its the 3rd time she's has to take her cat to the vet because of our boy. She went on to say that she knows its our male cat because shes seen him swot her before (though didn't see any fight on this occasion).

This is the first she's mentioned this to us but we have suspected that our cat has been in fights. In the last 6 months he has come home with a small chunk of his ear missing and we've had to take him to the vets twice, once for another cats claw in his arm and a bite mark to his chest, both which led to infections. In fact he still has a chunk of hair missing from his last vet visit where he needed a drip.

Our neighbourhood is full of cats, some unneutered toms and they all tend to hang around another neighbour's garden which has a large tree that is home to many birds. We see all of the cats, including our neighbour's patrol up and down our drive via our security cameras.

We've lived here 3 years and in that time our boy has come back 4 times looking like he's been in scrap. We've just put it down to cats being cats, we always take him to the vets and make sure he has a check up to ensure he's okay at a substantial cost to us but it's just part of being a cat owner.

Our neighbour from across the road has asked us to keep our cat away from hers.

How is this possible? Its not fair to keep either cat indoors when they've been brought up with the freedom of going outside.

So AIBU to do nothing?

Not quite sure how you’re supposed to stop your cat from going near theirs?!
However I understand the frustration of cats coming into the garden.... I hate when we have neighbours with cats as they love taking a crap in my veg patches . However, I deal with it via a water pistol/hose or I’ve now installed a high frequency noise panel which is triggered by movement.
I couldn’t have imagined actually telling my neighbours to keep their cat out....because it’s a cat!

Just tell them you'll have very stern words with your cat and hope they do the same with theirs.

Cats will be cats. . .

It's difficult. My cat was attacked by a neighbours cat and had to have £1600 of vet treatment. He was too old to be insured.

It's annoying as if someone elses dog attacks your dog, the owner can be held liable for financial costs I believe?

My sister had a similar problem with her cat who was the neighbourhood bully. He mysteriously disappeared and she really thinks one of the neighbours was pissed off with him attacking one of their cats.....

SparklyLeprechaun

Other than keeping him there is not much you can do or your neighbour keeps her cat in.
They're a pain they way they roam wildly. I don't envy your neighbour with the big tree.

It's difficult, no one wants their cat to be injured. We've had to pay for cats which don't even belong to us to be treated for fight injuries. Interesting that she expects you to keep your cat away when obviously she needs to keep her cat away from yours. However she intends to do that is obviously up to her.

Tell her you've stuck him on the naughty step until he repents.

Of course you can't "keep your cat away from her cat". If both cats are out, then they'll do what they like.

If you live in a neighbourhood with a lot of cats then they will fight. It's unfortunate but it is what it is.

Our current cat comes home worse the wear sometimes. Our old boy used to be the neighbourhood bully, according to one of our neighbours. He was about 17 at the time, so I rather think it unlikely but who knows?

If they complain again, suggest they cat-proof their garden so their cat can be safe on their property.

I am a cat owner, I’ve got 3 at the moment. It is my responsibility to police their behavior. I would look into cat proof fencing or a cat run if you want to allow them outside.

@lockdownalli

It's difficult. My cat was attacked by a neighbours cat and had to have £1600 of vet treatment. He was too old to be insured.

It's annoying as if someone elses dog attacks your dog, the owner can be held liable for financial costs I believe?

My sister had a similar problem with her cat who was the neighbourhood bully. He mysteriously disappeared and she really thinks one of the neighbours was pissed off with him attacking one of their cats.....

Dogs don't have the "right to roam" that cats do though.

I would be more inclined to think that both lots of cats have been fighting with the feral Toms tbh.

An odd swot and hiss is very different from a full-on cat attack - I've had cats for over 30yrs and the only serious problem we've ever had has been with feral Toms. Neutered cats, on the whole, back away from a fight - my boys were always total wimps.

Suggest to your neighbours that it might be the feral Toms and work together to catch them and get them neutered. If nothing else they will be adding a toxic mix to the neighbourhood

We were loaned a trap by the RSPCA to catch the problematic pair we had in the garden. Once neutered they were actually rehomed by them as they turned out to be nice boys once the bits were gone!

It is my responsibility to police their behavior.

It really isn't, though. I mean, morally, if you like, but not legally. Legally, you have to ensure they don't cause 'unreasonable damage to people or property'. But that doesn't include next door's moggy. It's every cat for itself out there, I'm afraid.

Just tell her you promise you’ll speak to your cat about it. She’s batty, ignore her.

This is unfortunately what cats do. If yours has been neutered then I'm not sure what can be done about it.

Just tell her you'll sit down with the cat and have an honest and frank discussion about acceptable cat behaviour...

The local thug cat broke my neighbours cats back. Her cat dragged herself home with paralysed back legs. She had horrific injuries. Wasn’t the first time that cat had attacked others.

Owner won’t do anything. I wouldn’t be surprised if that cat disappears soon...

You can put them pigeon spikes (they're soft so wont injure him) o your garden fence and keep him in your garden

neighbour will have to keep her cat indoors, then.

She can hardly expect you to keep your tom indoors if hers roams free.

Meh, this is what happens when you let your cats out to roam. If she doesn't want her cats roaming and getting into fights, she needs to cat-proof her garden.

We've got CCTV all over our property now, and we have cat-proofed our garden and had frank discussions with the neighbours who completely neglect their 'vanity cat' Bengal.

They are under no illusion that if their cat whom they were locking out of the house for very prolonged periods, unnecessarily, damages my property (which is essentially what a cat is) again on my property, I have legal recourse to pursue vet bills from them with my video evidence.

Funnily enough, they have made an effort since then.

The local thug cat broke my neighbours cats back. Her cat dragged herself home with paralysed back legs. She had horrific injuries. Wasn’t the first time that cat had attacked others

Wow. How on earth does a cat fight end up with a broken back 😳. How do they know it was a cat and not a bigger animal or even a car?

O/p she has no way of knowing if these injuries were caused by your cat. Say you’ll do everything you can to keep yours in more, and suggest she does the same as they’re obviously injuring each other.

If she comes back tell her you’ve been keeping your cat in so it must have been one of the other cats...

If she doesn’t want her cat getting into fights she should keep her cat in her garden / house. If it’s not your cat, it will be another.

My next door neighbours asked if we could stop our cat from going into the garden as he was pooing in the gravel.

Erm no we are semi rural and he would be utterly depressed not having access to the woods/fields etc. You don’t want animals in your garden, you stop them coming in.. same principle

Tell her to prove it, it’s not up to you to prove your cat didn’t do it, it’s up to her to prove it did. I honestly wouldn’t do anything , if she wants to stop her cats going out then fine, her choice.

Thank you all for your opinions it's interesting to see others' views on the matter.
OH has suggested that we stop his Dreamies allowance as punishment.
I feel for any cat (and its owner) who requires a vet visit, our boy has been on the receiving end himself and its heartbreaking seeing your pet in pain or injured.
Its a good point raised by Catrus, the unneutered toms have previously rammed head first into our microchip cat flap to get to our cats so it could be them causing the trouble.
Our neighbour to the other side have pigeon spikes on their fence and those high pitched sensors but all of the ninja cats in the area seem to navigate over them and they seem unphased by the high pitched noise. Much to the annoyance of my neighbour as her garden is often over looked by a herd of cats (unsuccessfully) hunting magpies.