moved to new house and my cat is getting battered by the locals! what to do??

[LowLevelWhingeing]

We moved in about 3 weeks ago, having been at our previous house (with cat) for about 10 years, so I suppose it's a major disruption to her.

So we kept her in for a few days and she used the litter tray (usually an outside pooer, but she knows what the litter tray is for). She seemed quite settled so we had a cat flap put in and that's when the fights - and pissing around the house - started.

The poor wee thing can't go out in our garden without being battered by one of about 4 local cats.

To make it worse, our cat flap is one of those magnetic ones and one of the neighbours must have the same kind because another cat has been in the house - and had a massive scrap leaving tufts of fur and possibly blood drops on the floor. Ugh.

We've got one of those pheromone plug-ins, but is there anything else we can do? She's clearly distressed and I hate having a house that smells of cat.

[LowLevelWhingeing]

any ideas?

[hiddenhome]

Is she getting beaten up at any particular time of the day, or is it just random attacks?

[LowLevelWhingeing]

Thanks for your reply.

It seems to be pretty much constant. We were woken in the middle of the night to find them scrapping outside our bedroom. I've also seen a cat sat outside our back door, staring at the cat flap, like he's waiting for her!

DP has suggested water guns

[stinkyfluffycat]

Try and change your cat flap for a different make so that the other cat's collar won't open it? That way at least she can feel safe in her house, and hopefully then the pissing will stop if it's territorial.
I would be really pissed off if someone squirted my cat with a water pistol for no reason, but if they were squirting her because she was bullying a tiny ten year old cat then I wouldn't mind, it doesn't harm the cat after all..

[LowLevelWhingeing]

thanks stinky.

I suppose we'll have to upgrade to the cat flaps that work by recognising the cat's microchip (oh, and get her microchipped ).

Yes, any squirting would not be for sport, but to just kind of startle enough to discourage him from hanging around! Still not exactly sure whether I think this is an ok approach though.

[stinkyfluffycat]

I guess it's either that or spending a day crouched behind the cat flap, hissing at intruders which would make you look slightly odd