Neighbours' bastard cat!

[jaype]

I love cats - we have a fantastic, gentle furry tabby girl ourselves and when we lived in the city I was a sucker for feeding up slightly feral, manky stray. But what I do not like is our neighbour's vicious bastard of a cat, and I am at a loss as to what to do with him.

We've just moved into an old farmhouse and he lives with the family next door, including their 4 children. But the people who used to own our place would let him have free run of the house and would feed him, so I suppose he thinks it's his territory. Since we moved in we have put up with the inevitable power struggle between our cat and him, and he seems to have largely accepted that the house is no longer his - on the first night we were here he came in through an open window and started wrestling with our cat on the living room carpet. they were ripping each other's fur out so I had to separate them using a broom (to avoid being scratched - my husband tried to separate them by towel wrapped hand and the neighbour's cat went for his chest). The cat latched onto the broom with his claws so I carried him out of the house and dump him on the drive, where he hissed and yowled at me for a bit before buggering off. The next time he came in I yelled 'shoo' at him and he ran out, but he has also been back in again since and fronted up to me in the kitchen- I opened the door and told him to get lost and waved my hand at him and he went for my leg (but I side stepped) - he wasn't cornered or anything as there was another open door behind him. He's also fronted up to me on the garden path, blocking my way by yowling and trying to go for my leg with his claws - I had to get down it so threw water in his general direction (without hitting him), and he did a runner.

Anyway, today was the last straw. I was at the gym and dh was looking after the children. 18 month old dd was roaming the garden with dh gardening when she let out a huge roar. The cat bastard had been lurking in a bush and had jumped out at her and taken a massive swipe out of her leg - it's really deep. He is used to children at home - he just hates us! So, how do I impress on him that this isn't on? Any cat behaviour experts? I do get that he's had his nose put out by us and our cat but this behaviour isn't on at all.

Get a water pistol and spray him - encourage the children to do the same (only when he is in your garden or house).

I have 3 cats and have seen off an enormous tabby hellbent on kicking the shit out of my very timid 16 year old rescue cat. It took him a week to get the message.

He now glares at me from the wall

Thanks. I don't want to be cruel but he is really overstepping the mark by fronting up to me and ambushing poor dd. I have 3 children so we have more water pistols than we know what to do with....

Get a dog?

I agree with YoungishBag on the water pistols. I would also have a word with the cat's owners and let them know about his attacks on your your cat and your famuly members and your plan to use water pistols. As you are both cat owners and parents of DCs you should be singing from the same hymn sheet.

It's a shame the previous owners of your house fed him and let him make himself at home. Cats are very territorial and people don't think about the long term consequences of this "part ownership" behaviour.

I sympathise with you, we had a problem with a neighbours cat having a go at our old boy in our garden. Another neighbour said that the cat had killed one of their rabbits too. I found that clapping and shouting while chasing said cat used to get rid for a while, but used to have to keep a close eye on mine. Unfortunately, the only thing that stopped this cat was getting run over (not by me I hasten to add)

Just to warn you that if you see any signs of redness around the wound on DD that seems to be getting worse, go to A&E because it may be infected. DO NOT IGNORE IT.

It might be worth talking to the horrid cats owner, and show them DD's wound, might make them keep the cat in more, although they can't take the same action as a dog owner would have to. They could get an outside run for the cat in their garden, but I doubt they'd go to those lengths unless a lot of local residents were complaining.

Thanks... husband is keen to give it a whack with a shovel next time he sees it, but we will stick to less drastic measures :)

I'll definitely keep an eye on dd's wound - our cat was terrorised by a rogue tom at our last house and twice had to go and have cat bite abscesses cleaned out at a cost of £60 a time, so I know how minging cat claws and mouths can be. She hasn't had much luck, really...

I can second the water pistol. The hose full on when outside, in fact keep one uncoiled and ready at back door.

Love the image of him clinging on to the broom