Neighbourhood cat won’t leave us alone!

[atleastmycatlovesme]

A new cat has moved into the neighbourhood and seems to have become obsessed with our house and cat. It sits outside the kitchen door staring in for sometimes hours on end, and if I so much as open the door it tries to get in. My poor little cat, who’s nervous by nature anyway, is becoming traumatised. I’m also worried about the summer when I like to have the back door open. I’ve tried scaring it off, squirting it repeatedly with water, and just ignoring. It runs away, but then comes straight back. Any ideas on anything else I can try?

Any idea who the cat belongs to?

I’m assuming you haven’t given it any food at any point?

be nasty.
don't squirt with water, full on hose and shout at it etc.
of catch him and drop him in a bucket of water.

It sounds mean, but you have to make your house unattractive. No cat ever actually got hurt by getting very wet, but they certainly don't want to return.

What it is actually doing is waiting for your cat to come out so that he can establish himself in the neighbourhood pecking order. So you may end up with a cat fight before it is resolved. But if your cat is nervous, then the new cat will end up with your garden as his territory.

Maybe post on the local Facebook group to try to find out whose cat it is? Then at least you know who to talk to if things escalate.

Does your cat not go outside at all?

You can’t really do anything unless you cat proof your garden to keep yours in and other cats out.

If your cat is an indoor cat then the intruder will claim your garden as their territory - don’t be surprised if they try and fight through the glass for a bit either!

I have a sneaking suspicion that this cat has decided you are The Chosen One.

Which ordinarily would not be an issue. Cats have a habit of deciding where and with whom they want to live, and there's not much you can do about it. Your issue is that you already have a cat which is rather scared of the interloper. Which gives you only one alternative and that is to persuade that cat that you are not The Chosen One after all, and that involves the Strategic Bucket of Water.

We had a cat like that once, it terrorised my cat, who is a house cat, however does like to potter about in our garden.

I got mean with a water pistol. It stopped coming around and my cat can enjoy its own garden in the summer again.

You need to shoo the cat away and spray with a water pistol if necessary. We've got one just like that and he bullied the crap out of my smaller cat. He even got himself trapped in my house by sneaking in last summer.
Horrible little fucker he is. I think he's got the message now though.
Go outside with your little cat and shoo the other one off, that way your cat will have your protection behind him. But the new one needs to feel a bit scared of you else he'll carry on for ages. Our cat wars lasted about a year!

I can testify that the Bucket of Water trick works first time. It just so happened one day that I'd filled a bucket full of lovely warm bubbly water to wash my car and was making my way down the back garden when my cat came flying over the fence into our garden with Terrorist Tabby in hot pursuit. Terrorist Tabby stopped dead when he saw me and sat defiantly on the fence. I glared, he glared back. I shooed him and he sat fast. So I flung the entire bucketful of water over him and scored a direct hit. He was absolutely soaked to the skin and sat there for a couple of seconds in total shock, then shot off at high speed. He never came anywhere near our garden again.

I'm glad to hear cat people talking about how to manage this. We don't have cats, and we no longer have dogs, and there are some very "friendly" cats in the neighbourhood. I worry about them coming into the house in summer scratching furniture, doing a wee or poo or scent marking, etc. I shall get a cat bucket.

As a cat lover who tripped and accidentally threw a measuring jug of cold water over a visiting cat, I can confirm that it results in them never coming again.

I have the exact same problem going on for a few months except my cat has had fights with the intruder and once ended up with a huge abscess on his face and has become more nervous about going outside. The visitor cat also sits and looks through the cat flap which luckily is chip activated, but there are some awful screaming matches at times.
I have a jug of water ready by the back door, but the visitor cat runs away as soon as it hears the door open and is out of range before I can throw it.

Please ignore that ‘advice’ to dunk a cat in a bucket of car shampoo OP.

@NeilDiamondsBlowDry Who said car shampoo? Someone said a bucket of water and it does work. Hosepipes are better as you can 'chase' the cat with it as it runs away. It sounds mean / cruel but it is not. Its about making your garden unwelcoming for them so they get the message and leave it alone.

of catch him and drop him in a bucket of water

That's absolutely vile. Suggesting someone catch a cat and drop it in a bucket of water?

I can't believe you even thought it was okay to write that on the Internet.

@Billionthtimeivenamechanged2025 agreed, there are some very nasty people around

Agreed. You can’t go around ducking cats in buckets of water!! wtf!

In my experience your only option is to continue this thread with regular updates and photos.
And after 5 years banish him to Scotland
You may find the attached helpful 🤣

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/3564597-Next-doors-thug-cat

It's water.

The cat gets wet, gets a nasty shock, and leaves you alone.

The cat isn't hurt, just given a fright, which is what you have to do to get it to leave your garden alone.
I really can't see the difference between throwing a bucket of water, or using a super soaker water gun, or garden hose, and this.

I have just been nursing my cat through the most horrendous abscess on his face from a neighbourhood scrap. I would rather he had got wet that got bitten. The point is an effective deterrent.

'very nasty people' and 'absolutely vile'
dear me, overreacting much?

I really can't see the difference between throwing a bucket of water, or using a super soaker water gun, or garden hose, and this

Yeah you can. There's clearly a big difference. But by all means, try and pretend it's not an abusive thing to do

Bet you wouldn't dare do that in front of it's owners, hence knowing it's not okay and if you truly felt like that, next time your child annoys someone advise them to fill a wheelie bin up and go and drop your child in it?

nope, not seeing it.
wet cat is a wet cat.

But by all means throw around words like abuse and compare a cat and a bucket with a child and a wheelie bin, because they are totally similar.

It's factual, throwing a cat in a bucket of water, or dunking it, to teach it a lesson is abusive. And it's similar in terms of size,

It's a good job this is anonymous because I'd actually send what you've said to your workplace. It's really vile and speaks volumes about the way you think l. I genuinely hope you don't have any care roles

@Billionthtimeivenamechanged2025💯 it is abusive, and easily manageable if you are that way inclined to do to a small creature, and for all the people saying it is just water, a PP clearly said ‘nice bubbly water for cleaning my car’ so I’m assuming that was some kind of shampoo which could cause sickness, allergies and damaged eyes.

you do know how big a bucket is don't you?

So a domestic cat sitting in a normal bucket has its head and shoulders out of the bucket. Its feet are on the bottom and with one small push it can jump out.
So, no not even vaguely comparable to the size of a child and a wheelie bin.

I did not say throwing, or dunking. I said to drop it into a bucket of water. You had no problem with all the people who said throw a bucket of water over the cat, but you have a problem with a cat being dropped into the same water.

I think the issue here is what your imagination conjured up, some picture of a drowning cat in a huge deep bucket where it couldn't touch the bottom, or a person holding it down under water etc etc.
When you see a youtube video of a cat falling into a bath, do you think that cat is being abused and write hate comments underneath? No. Because the cat is fine, just wet.
And dropping a cat into a normal bucket of water gets them less wet, and is easier to get out of than a cat falling into the bath.

No, my issue is someone advocating animal abuse.

be nasty.
don't squirt with water, full on hose and shout at it etc.
of catch him and drop him in a bucket of water

If you genuinely think it's an okay thing to do, then video it, if it happens and put it online?

do you think that cat is being abused and write hate comments underneath? No. Because the cat is fine, just wet

Do you even know what hate comments are? Definetly not any of my posts 🤦‍♀️

The fact your doubling down is astounding.

Anyone who suggested spraying a cat or throwing water at it ...... Didn't suggest to get hold of the cat and then drop it into a bucket of water. You'd either have to pretend to be nice to get it to come over or youd have to chase it. Neither are nice scenarios to imagine

I won't continue this conversation as we both clearly disagree on what's abusive or not.

Suspect you wouldn't of dared say that publicly if this wasn't an anonymous site.