Cat keeps getting attacked :(

[DaisySteiner]

Our lovely 5 year old neutered male cat is constantly in the wars! There is another male cat nearby who is a real bully and we have seen him stalking our cat and interrupted a number of fights between the two of them. Lots of our neighbours who have cats have had problems with this other cat, but it's got to the stage now that our cat is coming in every day bleeding and with wounds to his head and neck.

I hate seeing him like this, but I just don't know what to do. I don't want to force him to become a house cat as he's a very outdoorsy boy and spends most of his time out and about! I know other people have approached the owners of Bully-cat but they are unable or unwilling to do anything about it (to be fair, I'm not sure what they can do). I'm now starting to wonder whether we should re-home our cat for his own safety - he must be pretty sore most of the time

Does anyone have any suggestions????

Oh Daisy that's awful, poor puss!

I am not sure I have any suggestions other than the obvious, like trying to make your garden as protected as possible etc etc. One thing our vet suggested to us when our little female moggy was beaten up by big bully tom cats was to spend more time in the garden with her and to put up spiky plants or trellises to stop the mean cats coming in.

We also have a dog and got him to go out more with her as the bully tomcats were less cocky with a 45kg hound in the garden protecting his moggy friend.

Big hugs to you and your cat - hope you get it sorted

Thanks for your reply gardenpixie. Our cat doesn't really stay in the garden but likes to roam around the fields, and can easily scale a 6 foot fence, so I think he's probably coming into contact with Bully-cat in places other than our garden.

Sounds horrible, but Bully-cat must be quite old and I just keep hoping he won't be around too much longer....

Is the bully cat neutered? If not then that could go some way to reducing the fighting, but it is certainly not a "cure all" either. Chances are he is already done though. A "cat proof" garden that your cat can access safely is probably about the only option you really have and even that is pretty difficult to do. You can try spraying the bully cat with a water spray whenever he comes near your garden/house even if your cat is not about. Just make him think this is not a good area to want as his territory.