Neighbour’s vicious cat

[Firsttimetrier]

Our neighbour bought a bengal cat which they started letting out this summer. It’s caused us and our other neighbours nothing but grief by attacking our cats resulting in vet visits due to bite wounds, coming into our houses, spraying urine everywhere in gardens and on back doors etc.

This afternoon, I had our backdoor ajar and our baby in the bouncer in the kitchen. Next thing I know, their cat comes flying into the kitchen trying to attack our cat right by our baby in the bouncer. I manage to break up the fight and their cat then goes towards the baby still in attack mode.

This has completely shaken me up and my husband has messaged the neighbour to discuss as their cat is starting to become nuisance.

We’ve offered them solutions in the past such as alternating days/times when each cat goes out, but they never hold their side.

Are we being unreasonable asking them to stick to a timetable?

Any tips welcome and greatly appreciated.

This situation is actually imo WORSE than a dangerous dog situation as they are mostly on a lead and largely the owner’s problem.

Have you tried a Pet Corrector Spray? See Pets at Home or Amazon. They issue an unpleasant sharp blast of air and a loud hiss like a goose. Might b worth a try and u can carry it around in your pocket. I really recommend giving this a go.

We had a problem bengal near us. He was sufficiently scared by my three boys (who made every effort to collectively scare him) , rounded in on him in a pincer move, and was fired near with a pellet gun. Had a football chucked at it! Got caught in the fence trying to escape.
He never came back…to my house anyway.

If a bengal came into my house, yea I would do the above if my baby was there.

FFS - who wouldn’t.

This dangerous animal has tried to attack your baby.

If it was a dog, wouldn't you automatically call the police? So give them a ring. You've tried being reasonable, but the owners are being twats. A knock from the police might change that.

That is nasty and wouldn’t solve the problem as the owner would just be devastated and then go and get another

Them cat proofing their garden so it can’t get out or having it neutered /spayed would calm it down.

I knew a couple of bengal cats. Their owners would take them for walks on a lead. They were predominantly house cats
They were never let out to roam

That cat needs reporting to the police. A dog doing that would have been put to sleep by now.

If cat owners don't want people kicking their aggressive pets, maybe they should take responsibility. OP is perfectly within her rights to defend her child and animal as she feels is needed.

PetSafe?

My parents used to have the system for their Siamese to stop them going near the roads. Wire runs round the perimeter of the garden, cat wears a collar... go near the wire and they get a warning beep and if they don't move back then a mild shock.

Had one cat who worked out how to sit near enough to run the batteries down with the beeps but without getting the shock and would then escape. The others all just kept well clear and never left the garden.

There's an unneutered Tom recently arrived on our street. Not a Bengal, just a very large cat with shitty owners who don't want to take any responsibility for their pet by having him snipped as a youngster. Apparently they're okay with him getting into fights? I suppose they can afford to throw money at his own vets bills or don't feel the need to get him treatment for any injuries he gets? They must like the eye watering stink of unneutered Tom cat piss? I guess are fine with him going missing for days and that they don't mind him being aggressive and more difficult to control?
One thing though that I am certain of: they don't mind him being the whole neighbourhood's problem.
He's now attacked a toddler he doesn't know twice. Maybe more times now as I've not chatted with the mum for a while. The child's mum had to literally tear the cat off her son. Claws and teeth sunk in the poor child for daring to be in his own garden and on the street beside his mum and baby sibling in a pram. The cat has been breaking into the house to attack their kitten.
If that were my child I wouldn't hesitate to end the beast myself and I love cats. I dread to think how much worse it would be with a breed like Bengals. My cousin has one who's usually a sweetie but even then you admire him from a distance just in case he's not being a sweetie that day.

I am a Bengal owner. It’s true they get more worked up and aggressive the less they go out. He sounds young. And at that age they haven’t quite perfected there hunting so take out their aggression elsewhere.

Also cats usually work out a timetable between themselves. By altering this (keeping/ them in/ out can cause the whole timetable to have to be renegotiated again which is more fights, and more aggression).

I would focus on defending your house. Make it somewhere the cat does not go! And have a really loud hoover on standby ready to go. If the cat arrives stick the hoover straight on and then run towards the cat aggressively with something to bat it away, pillows, your feet. Anything. The absolute chaos will catch it off guard and the noise will startle it enough to put it on the back foot.

I knew someone who had a bengal, they built an outdoor space for the cat as they lived in a really built up area, they also walked the cat via a harness and built some indoor platforms/climbing frames etc as the cat had so much energy to burn but he was beautiful and very friendly.
Too many people buy animals without researching them and don’t realise what they are getting themselves into, bengals definitely need to be with someone who hi has experience or has time to learn and turn dedicate to the cat.

Might be worth having security cameras set up to record any incidents. More likely to get cooperation from the police etc

Exactly what my brother did with his. Beautiful girl she was.

Whilst i am not going to condone or suggest any harm to animals you are correct. A cat is like any other creature, if it knows it is dangerous to go to a particular place, it will avoid it. You just need to convince the cat that it is dangerous enough to not consider going there.

We had a cat for 21yrs. It once made the mistake of damaging a brand new stair carpet. It didnt enjoy the shower it took for a few minutes (I was covered in scratches). It never touched another carpet in its life and i inflicted zero pain on it.

This bengal is obviously not scared of people, other cats or even dogs. Well then you need to find something else that makes it uncomfortable. This may boil down to regular set toos so that it just cant be bothered or something physical. Trust me i have been around enough cats in my time to know a cat can be kicked, it can be thrown and it can be dominated. You just have to be ultra confident and not scared of a few cuts.

If that cat came in my house, it would be leaving through an upstairs window.

@Dontaskdontget I know, I’m gutted that they’ve not stuck to their suggestion on the first day. I’ve messaged them now saying maybe I misunderstood, so they can confirm how this is going to work going forward. However, their cat wasn’t in and they are out again most of today! I’ve asked for tips on keeping him out of the house by reiterating that our baby was nearly caught in the middle of the fight and their cat going for him, so hopefully they realise the seriousness of this situation.

The super soaker is a great idea in theory, however, very difficult to continue doing when I’ve got a 3 month old baby either in my arms or hanging off my boob.

Unlike dogs, cats are free spirits in law l, and I'm afraid the owner holds no responsibility for the cats actions.
It's up to you to prevent unwanted animals entering your home.

If you have a Henry you can flick it with a toe hands free. Hoovers are extremely good at terrifying cats as I think they sound like cars.

Have you considered a staffy?

Our was low maintenance, wonderful with people, especially children, and other dogs.

But she would shred any cat that came into the house/garden.

(If you do want one, make sure you go to proper breeder. There has been a few people that thought they were getting a traditional staffy, that are actually small dogs, and ending up with one of those American cross monstrosities).

We had a cat for 21yrs. It once made the mistake of damaging a brand new stair carpet. It didnt enjoy the shower it took for a few minutes (I was covered in scratches). It never touched another carpet in its life and i inflicted zero pain on it.
What a shitty, cruel thing to do to an old cat.
Fucking hell, I'd have phoned the RSPCA if you'd told me you done that.
Angry just thinking about it. I sincerely hope you don't have any more pets. Poor cat.

@Quincythequince .
So you didn't actually approach it and give it a swift kick then ?