What to do about local aggressive cat.

[Peonperfect]

My new neighbours have a cat. It hasn’t come into my garden yet thank goodness but it does a target me and my toddler every evening when we leave the house. I don’t seem to see it during the day but in the evening it sits on our front steps and displays quite aggressive body language and arches its back. If you try and shoo it away it comes at you. It has swiped at my toddler a few times and we’re now quite scared of leaving the house as we leave it always walks towards us and follows us away. It is entire and has gone after a few local dogs.

If it were a dog I could report it. Anyone got any ideas?

Keep a spray bottle by the front door and spray it with water?

What happens if you pointedly ignore it? It's defending what it believes ( rightly or wrongly) to be it's territory against all incomers. If the hissing and arched back makes you "leave" I.e. walk away - then that behaviour has done it's job and he might not escalate to the offensive swiping etc.

Shooing him, staring at him can be seen as a threat and if he is confident and very territorial he won't back down! He is new to the area and experiencing a LOT of stress as he has no established territory.

Neighbours should have him castrated which will lessen the territorial drive.

After that...water pistol

Also..I'd probably chuck a few dreamies at him to distract him whilst I walked briskly up the garden path...but I'm a cat person.

Unless you’re a gerbil, you should be able to stand up to a cat.

Bucket of water.

The thing is by us leaving I’m reinforcing the behaviour that it can defend this territory.

It’s been going on a few weeks and my toddler is getting quite scared

What do you expect if you act like that towards the cat. Its defending itself. Try kindness and a soft voice.
Seagulls used to dive bomb everyone in our street when they had chicks.
I was the only person who could sit in my garden untouched because I showed them kindness by chucking the occasional bit of food at them.
Same with cats. If you shoo them and spray them with water they will end you and it will serve you right.
Dont look at it. Don't make any eye contact. Just walk straight past as if it doesnt exist and it will leave you alone.
To a cat staring and shooing is a direct aggressive attack.

Just ignore it. Unless it’s a lion.

Get a water pistol or nerf gun and "shoot" it.

It’s gone after local dogs and is an intact Tom cat.

Water pistol

most cats hate water

or try to charm it with treats

I’m not encouraging the bloody thing

My old cat RIP used to attack dogs and foxes even after he was "done" but he was fine with humans if they were kind or if they just ignored him.

Just try it you have nothing to lose. Ive had 10 angry feral cats to date.

Do you have stones or grass outside? You could make it smell unattractive to cats by "washing" the area with citrus

I wish I could help! Our neighbour's cat comes into our garden and worse, our house, hisses at us and scratches. I'm allergic to cats so my natural response is to get it out of the house ASAP.

So, following in case you get useful advice . . .

Water pistol. It wont hurt him and you'll only need to use it a few times, they learn quick and soon the mere sight of the water pistol will be enough

Where is the laughing reaction now 🤣.

OP do you live in Scotland and does this tiger cat look like this?

Just ignore it. You’re the one making your toddler afraid of it.

I am a cat person

Always water - we have a spray bottle because we're nice and they are ours.

For your situation, a jug of water each and every time it sits there will prevent it from coming back after a few days.

water pistol. i dont think you can ignore it as it’s getting ideas above it’s station and will attack the toddler.

It is a cat! It “displays aggressive body language and arches its back”?
You have been scared of its “body language” and have tried to shoo it away, scared your toddler in the process and the cat has given you a swipe.
Ignore it, march past, make a joke of it with your child.

Put a strong smell like olbas oil or chilli powder around your front door. It won't harm the cat but it won't like the smell as they have better noses than us so it smells much stronger to them. You'll have to keep doing it when it rains though.

Another water pistol vote.They hate it. If you spray your fences with a pet enzyme spray to remove wee smells, it erases their territorial spray marking too. We had a problem tom cat nearby and now it avoids our garden!

I had an aggressive local cat in my area once. It went for cats, people, you name it. No provocation. It attacked my cat once and when I walked towards it, it sank its claws and fangs into my leg. The bite got infected and I had to have antibiotics. So yes, an aggressive cat can do damage.