Any ideas what I can do about neighbour's horrible cat?

[Desperatecatowner]

Name changed in case my neighbour figures out that this is me.
I have two older female cats that stay mostly in our house and go occasionally into our garden, which is quite shrubby and woody. They do not hunt. They also stay in our garden and don't wander.

New neighbours moved in a couple of years ago and brought their cat. It's an African Savannah Cat, a category 5 wild animal, anything from category 4 and up should be caged (as far as I understand).
This cat has decimated the bird life in the area, which our neighbours are proud of. Their cat has also attacked other cats in our close, even leaving one so badly injured it needed surgery.

The neighbours' cat has been attacking our cats too, leading to vet visits etc with bites that need antibiotics. When we have spoken to the neighbours about it, they are dismissive. The law says you can't pursue cat owners for damages. They literally don't care.

My cat was attacked this afternoon by the neighbours cat and seriously injured. My husband witnessed the neighbour's cat attack mine. We have now run out of pet insurance owing to the previous attacks and are going to struggle with paying for more care.

Does anyone know what we can do to prevent the cats being hurt? It seems unfair to keep them inside when they don't hunt or hurt other creatures, but I will if I must. I'm just hoping others might have an idea of what we can do, please? Can I make the neighbour pay the vet fees? Help!

If this cat should be caged, can you report them to the council, @Desperatecatowner?

It is a category 5, so it doesn't have to be caged (only categories 1-4 do). But it is much 'wilder' than a regular cat, if you know what I mean? Sorry I wasn't clearer.

I would keep them inside, you know they aren’t safe, so irrespective of human arguments - keep your own cats safe of course.

Have you spoken to the RSPCA about whether you can get anyone to speak to the owners about correct ownership? If it’s roaming free illegally I wonder if they could remove the cat

I’d try taking them to small claims court?

Catio to protect your cats and major deterrent work on your garden to keep it out

The only way to keep your cats safe is to keep your cats inside / in a catio , the neighbour is obviously going to do nothing . Hope your cat gets well soon .

You'll have to cat proof your garden, so sorry.

To stop that cat from getting to yours, I mean.

Create a catio in your garden so your cats can still go outside but they can't be attacked

Sadly I think all you can do (since the neighbours clearly dont intend to do anything) is keep your cats inside and create a catio for them for when they go outside.

Would the rspca be interested in an animal hurting pets and killing so much wildlife?

Id get a super soaker and make sure it got very wet everytime it came into my garden - and I love cats! But that one sounds scary and a needs a good detterant to keep it out.

You can only keep your own cats safe, so that means cat proofing your garden. It doesn’t have to cost the earth if you are or know someone that’s good at diy.
I have four housecats and have cat proofed two gardens with angled brackets and wire mesh.

Poor you and poor cat. I think that a catio would be a good idea.

How awful for you and your cats, I'm sorry. The neighbours sound like horrible people.

I've had a similar situation. I locked my cats in at night. And if I saw the other cat during the day I sprayed it with the hose.

I wonder if their cat is neutered? I'd be tempted to hire a cat trap from the spca, trap it, and take it to the vet and pay for it to be neutered, then release it. They could never prove it was you!

But I know this is not really a good idea.

One can dream!

We have a similar problem. But I don’t know who owns the cat that visits our garden. It has scratched my daughter’s leg when she tried to scrare off - it is not scared of anyone. If we leave our patio doors open, it comes into our house. A neighbour tells me she found it lying on her sofa last week. We absolutely hate this cat - and are normally animal lovers

The internet says “In the UK, Savannah cats are legal to own, but it depends on the generation. F1 Savannah cats, which are first-generation hybrids of a Serval and domestic cat, are illegal to own without a Dangerous Wild Animal (DWA) license, which is difficult to obtain. F2 and later generations (F2, F3, F4, etc.) are generally legal to own without a DWA license.”

I think you’d be in your rights to contact the council to establish which generation of cat it is.

We had a similar problem with an entire male, who the neighbours refused to neuter. Our girls are similar to yours, and rarely leave the garden, but he’d come in and attack them (seemingly just for fun). We had £1000s of vets bills and in the end cat proofed an area of our garden so he couldn’t get in and only let our cats into that area. We were lucky in that it was possible to do so, but was another significant expense, and I always felt bad that they ended up being the ones restricted because of someone else’s negligence. It’s probably your only real option if you want to continue to let them outside.

I absolutely used to dream of doing this. Or I doubt our problem cat was chipped so I was tempted to trap him and take him to a rescue as a stray.

I was going to suggest as well a super soaker or a bucket of water but this sounds well beyond that

can your vet offer advice? It does sound unfortunately you need to keep them in or a catio

Catio for your cats and also cat proof your garden.
Also ❤️😻❤️ for your cat to get better soon.

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions. It looks like I'll have to keep them in while I save up for the bits to build a catio.
I loved the idea of getting the neighbours' cat neutered, but he is chipped and wears a GPS collar because he is supposedly very valuable.
We have a super soaker expressly to use on the marauding cat, but as one of the other posters said, he seems to attack my cats just for fun and will happily come into our house to do that.
I wish I had the money to move so that my cats can enjoy their senior years in peace.

Those cats are stunning but wild! We lived near one once and like you said, it decimated the local bird and wildlife. They shouldn’t be pets really. I feel sorry for the cat itself and your poor cats. Catio sounds best, your girls could still go out and bumble about but would be safer. hope your cat is ok x

Neutering wouldn't do anything for the behaviour of a cat being 6 months. There behaviour is set.

I own a pair of F3 Savannah cats and only F1 have to be caged (and licensed) so if I wanted mine out they could. However they cost me thousands so they have a catio! The neighbours aren't doing anything wrong but I appreciate how frustrating it is. My two love their catio and it wasn't horrifically expensive either.
Pic for cat tax