Bullying Cat

[TheCatsWhisker]

My cat is being bullied by a local farm cat who is visiting our garden and chasing her, cornering and swiping at the poor girl.

No bites yet, but it is getting more frequent and aggressive.

We have CCTV so I can see that mine isn't fighting back, just cowering or running inside. It also visits at night when she is locked in and sniffs/sprays around the cat flap.

She spends most of the time scared and looking out the window but not going out.

Would AIBU to buy a sonar cat repeller to put outside at night where it come into the garden?

It would be quite far from the house, I can't think of anything else to do which won't adversely affect my cat.

If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it, she means the world to me and I hate seeing her so unhappy.

If that made no sense, I was thinking the cat may be put off visiting eventually if the sonar thing repels it a night, but this may be a bit stupid of me as cats are probably more intelligent than that!

How big is your garden and does your cat go outside of it? You could get the rolling thing on top of femce which would stop the other one coming. Also, a curry plant, Helichrysum italicum, seems to deter them so maybe something to spread around the perimetr of the garden

Like this thing, but it stops yours going out of the garden too

Cat proof the tops of fences if you can. Cat repellant will just stress your cat out more.

Thanks for responding, our garden is fairly large. She does go over the fence as we are back onto fields, also she visits a few different neighbours who feed her treats.

She is a well liked cat on our road as she must be the only cat who goes to the toilet in her own garden!

Water pistol? Scares them but doesn’t hurt them.

We can't use fence guards as the sides are all hedges, I really want to repel the other cat rather than keep ours locked in if possible, although that may not be an option.

I wouldn't use cat repellent as I know this would upset our cat. I was thinking of one of those electronic things which give out a sound which cats only can hear. Would only have it on from 10pm til 6am. I would also check with neighbours but there are no other dogs or cats for at least 6 houses away.

@Suzi888

Water pistol? Scares them but doesn’t hurt them.

I've got one ready but the bloody thing seems to know when we are at work so never visits when we are around. Or visits when we are asleep. It's very quick too!

I find that a super soaker helps keep bullying cats at bay.

Could you speak to the neighbour, could farm cat stay inside whilst yours goes outside? Or does farm cat live outside?
What about some outside structures for your cat (only room for one cat) to perch on?

Could you move some plant pots by the cat flap?or would that scare your cat?
I’d be quite hostile/shout/squirt water at bully farm cat to keep it away whenever I saw it in my garden - should you see it coming over.

@Suzi888

Could you speak to the neighbour, could farm cat stay inside whilst yours goes outside? Or does farm cat live outside? What about some outside structures for your cat (only room for one cat) to perch on? Could you move some plant pots by the cat flap?or would that scare your cat? I’d be quite hostile/shout/squirt water at bully farm cat to keep it away whenever I saw it in my garden - should you see it coming over.

Talking to the farmer won't get anywhere, he is of the belief that animals are there to help farms and shouldn't be kept as pets. Cats are mousers, dogs herd sheep etc, even though he has a dog but no sheep 🤷‍♀️

I've seen this cat around for the last 2 years, it has never been a problem until lately so I'm not sure why it has changed.

It lives about 1/4 mile away so not like it is just next door, but seems to want to expand his horizons.

Get a dog 😁

As upsetting as it is, if you have cats you kinda have to accept this sort of thing and there isn't that much you can do about it.

Cats will fight over territory. Your cat will learn where the farm cat goes and will start to avoid it, and it will settle down again.

Aside from keeping your cat in when you aren’t there, I don’t know what else you can do. The only other option is remove hedges and replace with a fence and use fence guards- which is a bit extreme!
Farm cat isn’t coming in to yours to eat, is it?
As neighbours are giving your cat treats/making a fuss I think farm cat is seeing yours off...

We've had similar problems. Our cat was bitten in it's pelvic area and lost power in both legs. It was miraculous that it was found lying in a ditch. It was x-rayed, wound cleaned and eventually drained under a general anaesthetic. Lots of antibiotics later and it has recovered well but it's an ex feral cat who we now have to keep in the house so it's not happy. Nighttime seemed the most dangerous time for our cat fights so maybe you need to keep it in. Neutering didn't help in the slightest for us, it's been genuinely shocking to go outside at night and see how many strange cats were there.

I second the dog. Mine took a little while to become besties but in the end the cat would groom herself by the fire - then turn around and groom him. He continued to attempt to chase every other cat. It really is a very special dynamic!

We had this problem and keeping super-soakers at various windows ready to get the cat eventually worked, but obviously you need to be incognito which is difficult with cats!

It sounds grim but I’ve heard that smearing your cats faeces at various points on your fence etc can deter other cats as they identify from it that it’s another cat’s territory.

There are also cat repellent sprays you’d an buy but I have no idea how effective they are.

The farm cat sounds like a Tom cat and he's bullying your poor girl. I'm at a loss as to what you can do to "plant" things in your garden to discourage the farm cat but not discourage your cat from happily and safely going outside. I'd go with the repeller idea. Good luck x

Every time you see this cat, make loud shhhhing noises, throw water, clap loudly, etc. show that you support your cat in her garden. We had a similar problem with our elderly cat getting bullied by teenage interlopers. He had to be put to sleep after a very short illness, and we now have an 11-week-old kitten who we will have to support until he reaches something approaching his full size (Maine coon)!

@Ludo19

The farm cat sounds like a Tom cat and he's bullying your poor girl. I'm at a loss as to what you can do to "plant" things in your garden to discourage the farm cat but not discourage your cat from happily and safely going outside. I'd go with the repeller idea. Good luck x

Same, I've bought an electronic cat repeller so we will see.

The Tom cat can't help who he is, so I just want him to go away and leave my DCat alone.

@MadKittenWoman

Every time you see this cat, make loud shhhhing noises, throw water, clap loudly, etc. show that you support your cat in her garden. We had a similar problem with our elderly cat getting bullied by teenage interlopers. He had to be put to sleep after a very short illness, and we now have an 11-week-old kitten who we will have to support until he reaches something approaching his full size (Maine coon)!

You sound like a lovely cat owner, your cats are very lucky to have such an awesome owner

I 'met' the cat once (and only) time while it was sat on our fence intimidating mine.

I clapped hands, shouted and chased it but the bloody thing kept running ahead and stopping to look at me! Chased it all the way home

It is not scared of me, it has balls of steel!

I would worry that your cat would be able to hear it in the house and be stressed.

Can you get motion activated sprinklers?

Yes, I thi

Is it a fully functioning tom? You could approach the farmer about neutering it which should calm it down a little bit and make it less aggressive. If the farmer won't do it then I'd offer to sort it. I used to live rurally and big farm cat toms are bruisers!

@Godimabitch

I would worry that your cat would be able to hear it in the house and be stressed.

Can you get motion activated sprinklers?

Yes, I thought about that too, I was going to check the range and make sure my cat is ok before I left it on.

I worry that as a farm cat if he got soaking wet from sprinklers he would get wet and cold and get ill as he wouldn't be able to dry off? I know my priority is my cat but I also don't want to cause harm to him.