Aggressive cat making my cats lives hell.

[kyz1981]

Hi, just looking for advice and to see if anyone has any experience of what we are going through.

We have two female neutered cats and we have a cat from the local area that is them constantly.

I have no idea who owns him or if it is indeed a him but it's none of our neighbours.

He will chase them inside and then sit in front of the cat flap for hrs at a time, ( mainly at night)' he has now broken the magnetic cat flap and can get in and has chased them all over the house. ( we block it now, at night and have ordered a chip one).

He now will wait at the French doors causing my cats to hiss and scream.

He will wait until one of the cars is going to the loo and then pounce and generally stalks them and Attacks them, one cat has already been on antibiotics from this cats bite.

We have never managed to get close enough to it to spray water as it runs off quickly but it seems to spend the majority of the evening/night stalking my cats.

I have owned cats for years and have never encountered one as aggressive and persistent as this, so I have no clue apart from changing the cat flap as to what I can do, my husband has taken to sleeping down stairs as the cat will sit at the French doors terrorising my cats.

I would just really like it to loose interest in freaking my cats out constantly as even when they are safe inside, it's there at the window.

It does not look feral as its a big fluffy white thing and the feral cats around here tend to stay away from gardens and hang out near the farms, but can't find out who owns it despite putting it on local Facebook groups.

I would appreciate any advice.

Hi OP. My first response was to say "get a dog", but I appreciate how flippant that sounds.

Some of the following may help.

1. If you can, cat proof your garden - you can buy over railings online for the fences to stop him getting in. 2)If your cats cannot see him or smell him, they will not feel threatened by him. Can you put curtains across the french doors or block their sight lines? 3)Buy a long range water pistol (super soaker) that you can fire from another window or upstairs. He sounds fairly predictable in sitting outside the cat flap, so if you know his pattern, you know when to target him.
2. If he broke your first cat flap, he may break the second. Hopefully he won't! If this is the case, consider permanently blocking it up and letting your cats out on demand. It's not a bad thing to do anyway in the meantime as you can build up their confidence again to enjoy the garden by "supervising" them as their family back up.

Both my parents and myself have had problems with a bully cat. They solved it by (unintentionally) adopting a stray dog who loves their cats. We solved ours the first time around by supervised access and the super soaker method. Recently, we moved and the problem started up again with an outdoor cat adopted by our lovely neighbours. It stopped as soon as our new maine coon hit eight months and steamrollered over the neighbours cat.

You have my sympathy - trying to arrange a peaceful existence for your pets with independent creatures like cats is a nightmare.

Thanks, we can't cat proof the garden sadly as we have hedges and sheds at the back.

Will order a water gun and get some curtains they are great ideas.

I hope he doesn't break the new cat flap the old one was very old and was here when we brought the house.

One cat never really ventures out much anyway but our other is still going out during the day, although looks very stressed.

Not sure if getting a dog would also stress the cats out, we are not opposed to a dog, however we wanted to ideally wait until our youngest is at least 7. But may see if I can borrow one for a few days.

I just wish I knew who owned him so I could see if he has had the snip, as I am sure he would be less aggressive if he had it ( I would even offer to pay).

I have never disliked a cat so much as this one.

My neighbours had this issue and humanely trapped the cat, who was fairly obviously an entire male, took him to the vets and had him done. They then adopted him as he turned into a little cutie once his nads had gone.

No hard questions from vet about whose he was, they just snipped him and took the money.

Think I am also going to ask around and then get one of my friends who works for the cat protection league to consider helping me catch it and get it scanned and go from there.

Yes, catch him and get his balls off. It may not change him totally, but he will be less aggressive.

We had the same situation, and the chip cat flap helped a lot too. He is not round all the time now, although will randomly appear now and again. But he has learned he can't get in. If we see him we shoo him away out of the garden, and he actually squares up to us!

Wipe down the cat flap and windows daily to get rid of his smell.

We had the same thing where I used to live.
Massive black and white bastard cat used to terrorise my poor girl he used to get her cornered in our garden and swipe at her and bite her! He also used to sit outside our cat flap and spray all over my back door!!
A friend told me to put orange peel near the cat flap....no idea why, but it worked! It's something to do with the smell I think. But he stopped stalking round the cat flap. He decided he would instead sit under my kitchen window and wait for my cat to come outside.....so I sprayed him with water which didn't make a difference. So I put fairy liquid in the water on my dads advice. The fairy liquid sticks to their fur, and tastes awful when they try to lick it off! He didn't come back after that

Thanks will get some oranges and will order a nerf gun from prime. I have spoken to a vet who has told me to try and catch it so they can scan and see if it is a Tom. If it has a chip they will call the owners in and persuade them to get the snip, if it's not and looks feral they can refer to get netured and put back.

I am going to contact the cats protection league and ask about the best way to trap it, as we could easily trap it in our utility area but would then have to handle it to get it in to a basket.

I was talking to someone recently who had a similar problem. She put posters up bit nobody claimed him just complained he was a menace.
Cats Protection lent them a trap, cat was caught without any injuries to cat or humans. They took him to vet checked for chip and neutered him. CP now have him and he will be rehomed as he's not feral and must have had a home at some point.

I think Cats Protection is your best bet. They helped my sister out when she had a similar problem.

The best thing you can do in the meantime is boost your cats' confidence. Giving them safe hiding places, especially up high where they feel most safe, will send the message that home is safe. Please try to have at least one litter tray per cat, plus an extra one and put them in different places. If they like affection, that will help too. Putting food bowls, with dried food, in different places will give the message that there is plenty to go around. If you could get a couple of cat water fountains, that would encourage them to drink, as cats that feel stressed can develop a horrible form of cystitis.

Above all, try to make time for a couple of play sessions, every day. If you can get hold of a toy like the Flying Frenzy from Purrs in Our Hearts then that will encourage them to forget their troubles and feel more confident. When I adopted my cat, he was really, really nervous, but when I started waving the Frenzy about, he was soon springing about, trying to catch the toys on this item. It helped him feel better and also helped cement our bond. The Flying Frenzy has interchangable toys on the end, so you can keep the cat's interest by varying the toy. Given the punishment my cat inflicts on the feather toy, it's just as well it can be replaced!

If Cats Protection can't help, then try reading one of the books by Vicky Halls, she's a cat behaviourist and she's written about problems with aggressive cats.

There is a cat near where I live that is very aggressive. He isn't just having a scrap, he seems to go for the kill, even pouncing on the necks of cats that aren't trying to fight him. He even attacked a local stray (a lovely cat) and gave him a huge wound on his face and dislocated his hip. I moved here a few months ago and thankfully that cat isn't coming here so much, possibly because I own a huge, fluffy ginger cat. He is massive, there is a family joke that I've adopted a cat/tiger hybrid, especially as my mother has an allergic reaction to my cat but tests show she isn't allergic to cats

I've no idea what the many cats in the communal garden at my flat think of the arrival of my cat discouraging their tormentor, given that my cat tries to chase them away. However, at least he is a total coward if they don't run, the aforementioned stray just sits there and my cat doesn't know what to do. Given that the stray is 10 years old, has arthritis, a bust hip, is completely deaf and is going blind, it doesn't say much for my cat.