Want to get a cat - worried it'll fight with the neighbour's cat?

[LizAngharad]

Hi guys,

I'm thinking about getting a cat but my partner has some concerns - he's never lived with a cat before. I have, and so was able to address some of them, but there is one that I have no idea about:

We only have a small back garden, and live on a cul-de-sac of small terraced houses, many of whom already have cats. One of our neighbour's cats loves our back garden, and another's likes to sit out the front of our house. My partner's worried that it would be mean to introduce another cat as it would want the space outside our house for its own and would have to fight for this territory?

I've never had this problem with cars before, but that was living with my parents, where there's a bit more space between one house and the next.

Thoughts anyone?

I meant cats, not cars! Doh!

Our neighbours cat thinks our garden is her territory. She fluffs herself up and there is lots of yowling ad hissing but never any actual fights. That might be cos my cats run away from her. She's bothering them less now though, I think she's accepting that it's not her garden and I chase her off or squirt her with water whenever I see her in the garden.

What about getting an elderly rescue cat who'll be happy to stay inside?

Outside cats do fight, it's inevitable with other cats nearby. Usually they only hiss at each other and fluff themselves up but my boys have had a couple of scratches here and there over the years. They're funny about other cats coming in our garden; some are chased off and some are ignored (usually the small, pretty ones ). If male cats are neutered, they are less likely to fight.

Don't think about getting cats if you aren't going to neuter.

Ho hum, most cats work it out without undue violence in the end. I wouldn't let this concern put me off.

Well, yes, that's true. I'm sure the only reason my cats have been in proper fights is because the idiot in the next street hasn't had their tom fixed.

Yeah will definitely get any cat neutered/spayed! I only want one cat! I had thought my partner might prefer an older cat as he is a bit nervous around cats and I thought a calmer cat would be less scary for him. But no, apparently he'd prefer a kitten as he thinks he could grow fonder of it if he's known it since its a cute little kitten...

Thanks for advice though, I will try and reassure him our future kitty will just have to learn to hiss back if she/he is bullied lol!

Yeah they sort themselves out very quickly. I recently just moved house and there's a big ginger cat in the nice gardens across the way from our tiny courtyard style garden. The gardens were too temping for our big black beast of a cat who did have one clash with the other cat but it was all quickly resolved.