Neighbour's cat coming in the house and cornering ours

[Albadross]

We rescued a gorgeous soppy kitten who is almost fully grown, and has settled wonderfully with us.

Next door's bigger boy used to come up and peer into the cat flap and occasionally sneak in and steal some food when nobody was in the kitchen.

Yesterday I heard a big commotion up the stairs and he had our cat cornered in our bedroom hissing - I had to chase him out and thought he'd know not to come back.

I was just in bed tonight with my boy on the bed curled up and almost asleep when I felt him suddenly tense and the bastard neighbour's cat was on my bed standing over us! I didn't hear him at all and it actually creeped me out because I don't know what he was going to do, he was just poised on the bed staring at me.

Now I'm wondering if I should shut my boy in tonight because I don't want to wake up in the middle of two fighting cats!

How do I keep him out until I can install a magnet access flap?

A microchip cat flaps better, what you save on initial outlay you'll save on lost magnetic collars & collars aren't really very safe.

We have this problem and installed a microchip activated cat flap. Neighbours cat still attacks ours in the garden but at least they can come inside to safety. It's definitely worth the investment.

As above - microchip cat flap is the way to go. Magnetic car flaps rely on them keeping a collar on and ours never stayed on for longer than a day.

I'd be shooting him with a water pistol whilst chasing him out of the house. He'll get the message.

The neighbourhood cats now walk along all the front gardens, get to mine, go back on the path and walk right around the outside!

You could try the water pistol....but efficacy depends on the cat. I tried one on the Snow Bengal tom whom Bibi was terrified of. He's unneutered and looks like a small snow lynx. Full jowls, enormous, and muscled like a wild animal. If I didn't know he's friendly and actually submissive to their other, old cat (a regular Bengal) I'd be intimidated by him myself. I regretted having to spray him as he's a sweet boy, but I couldn't have Bibi terrified and he wasn't taking shoo for an answer. Result - I sprayed water. He moved out of the path of the spray, then reapproached, maintaining eye contact with me the whole time. No deterrence in the slightest.

Keep vigilant for the other cat and throw water over him every time he comes in your garden. I had a similar problem but, after a few times of being drenched, he never comes in my garden now.

Get a microchip cat flap. He will start peeing in your house which is revolting.
I was sitting quietly in the kitchen one day - heard the cat flap go (hadn't switched on the microchip access by that point) and turned to see which of my cats was coming in.

The horrible Tom who keeps attacking my cats was halfway through the flap. He looked at me and backed out again. I activated the microchip access only at that point.

Microchip cat flap is the way to go. Mine were always loosing the magnets, plus they have to wear a collar which is a strangulation risk if it gets caught on something.
We currently have a Sureflap, which is battery powered. In our old place we had a Petporte, which was mains powered with a light sensor that opened at dawn and closed at dusk. Excellent for keeping the neighbours aggressive cat from terrorising my pair and spraying in my house when we moved.

Ours is sureflap too.

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youall You have made my day. I googled Zooplus and they have a Belgian site. I have found the cat food their imperiousnesses prefer, and it is comparable to the price at Sainsbury and pets at Home. My dh thanks you as this means we don't have to go back to the UK to buy the Iams wet pouches, as they are really outrageously expensive in what passes for a pet store near us in Flanders.

Ok the battery microchip flap is ordered - is there any chance of he's following mine in he'll just be able to get through because the flap won't close between?

I bought the one with the plug but I couldn't work out how it would plug in when the only socket is on the side the door opens...

I've locked us in tonight and I heard him try the flap a few times. I guess he's just wondering why this grade that was his domain suddenly has another Tom cat all moved in, I think I'd worry about the neighbour's seeing me spraying him though since their upstairs overlooks our garden.

He have to be very close behind to get through - so close the flap didn't have chance to close so unlikely. We've had a sureflap for 5 years now and never had this happen

I've had this, horrid huge shit of a cat used to do this and mine are feisty and rarely take any shit from another cat but he was HUGE. only thing that worked was a water pistol. We had two in the house and one outside. If I was in the garden and saw him in my garden or near the back door he got sprayed with it, if he came in the house he got the same treatment. He soon learnt to keep away from my kitties when I was around.

Microchip cat flap. And a water sprayer. Your home is your cats safe haven.

I am a huge fan of the microchip cat flaps but have to warn you that we currently have a problem with our neighbour's cat 'tail-gating' my two. Problem is he is best friends with my cats and they don't mind his nose stuck up their backsides as they go through so assume it would probably be different with an intruder cat! Luckily he doesn't spray but he does eat all their food! I was thinking of giving Sureflap a ring to see if there is anything we can do to prevent this. We have had the Sureflap (we are on our 2nd one) for a good 6 or 7 years and this is the first problem we have had.