Is my neighbour harming my cat

[AndrewThornton]

We moved into a new house about one year ago. The neighbour was concerned about our cat coming into her garden as she says cats kill songbirds.

So weve kept her in most of the time except for about one hour a day. She never kills anything as far as Im aware and she uses our litter tray for toileting.

About 2 weeks ago she came in limping with a sore front paw, she was still limping a couple of days later so I took her to the vets who said it was irritated and we put her on a course of antibiotics and some anti inflammatory/pain killer medication. She slowly got better.

The thing is Ive let her out again and she has come back again this time her two back paws are hurting her.

My question is is my neighbour putting anything down that would cause this to happen. Im concerned she is poisoning my cat or at very least causing her pain.

Is there any product that could do this? Ive done a google search but couldnt realy find anything

Could she be scaling a fence with rough bits? Or fighting?

possibly but I cant see any splinters and nor could the vet

Cat deterrent spikes?

Cat proof your garden or build a catio .

Definitely this!
A vet friend (six cats) cat proofed his garden keeping his in - and others out , by using sloped barriers on the top of the walled garden

It keeps his cats safe from roads too.

@AndrewThornton One would assume if neighbors had put a rough or corrosive substance down than all four paws would be affected- plus her mouth ( cats lick ) edit all four paws at same time …
I’d definitely make your garden cat proof as can spare a lot of worry and expense ( if cat attacked by dog or hit by car&c)

Such a pretty cat
looks like a Bengal type?

`yes shes a bengal, shes a little sweetheart, really gentle

Yes its really weird, its never been all 4 paws at the same time and she licks them quite happily without foaming at the mouth etc.

Anyway she seems to have recovered quite quickly this time

I love cats and they do kill birds. Could your gorgeous cat have a collar with a bell?

The fencing ideas sound good as well. Ours needed coaxing to get outdoors so not something I’d heard of before.

Bengals are so nosey as well as athletic. Ours have a catio - so no dead birds (apart from when a tiny wren got in!) and no worries about them getting run over on the road. You can also get pretty good fencing that stops them getting out of your garden, depending on the shape of your garden and whether there are overhanging trees etc. Protectapet and Sanctuary sos are companies discussed on Bengal cat groups that I've seen.

@AndrewThornton She really did look Bengal like in her pic- but she was hidden by her Igloo-

A cat proof garden will keep her safe if you can do it-
My friend had a lovely Bengal ( neutered) but he did like to wander out of their garden- thankfully he was always safe from traffic, which is the worry with cats.

He died in his teens.
They are lovely cats.
Hopefully no nutter will be harming her, but keeping your garden safe would be best.

I had another friend who lived in a very built up part of Bristol- their cats were confined to a small Catio til they moved to Normandy with a couple of hectares of land- Cats were so pleased!