Tom cat trouble-any ideas?

[retainertrainer]

Our lovely little rescue kitty is being terrorised by 2 Tom's. She's 2 years old now,still small. She was found in a log shed when she was a kitten. She's affectionate but has a feral side to her so she loves playing out in the fields that back on to our house.

The trouble started last year. We have 2 toms near us. One started coming in through the cat flap and spraying all over our kitchen chairs! We quickly changed to a micro chip cat flap so that fixed that problem. He now sprays on the outer door of the cat flap and sits there,in wait for our girl to come out. He swipes her head with his paw as she exits. I've seen the other Tom physically pin her down and she's constantly being chased back inside,sometimes she flies in so fast she knocks the flap off its frame.

The latest is that she came in the other day limping. She then developed gunky eyes and was panting. Bet confirmed a bite and gave antibiotics. She suggested catching the Tom and bringing it in t be neutered.

I really can't afford that plus both Tom's are causing the trouble. I don't know the owners although one's got a collar but I'd have a job catching it. I can't imagine they'd agree to pay for that anyway-it's not there problem is it.

The only other thing is to keep her inside but she loves going out.

Any ideas?

Cat proof your garden?
Contact rescue and get a trap to catch cat?

I should add that our cat has been neutered already.

How can I cat proof the garden?

contact your local cats protection & explain the problem - they may be able to help. What is your garden like? Ours is mainly fenced but we then had a gap for our cat to come in through and a hedge - we ended up putting some mesh fence all the way along the hedge and blocked the gap in as well so she was confined to the garden only - the cats seemed to then just stop coming in after they realised they couldn't make a quick escape through the gap - I did also keep the hosepipe switched on and a couple of times I managed to get them good style with a squirt

Google cat proof fencing.

It'll keep the Toms out of your garden. As long as your kitty doesnt mind that she wont be able to get over the fence out of your garden.

www.catnips.co.uk/cat-proof-fencing.html

www.primrose.co.uk/-p-365.html?adtype=pla&kwd=&gclid=CjwKEAiAuc_FBRD7_JCM3NSY92wSJABbVoxB6FsdMNUY67lxNIP720ZKiAx5rvPlrYqZm-rxP30QhBoCynbw_wcB

I know it looks a bit harsh on the Toms, but unless you can persuade the neighbors to have them neutered it might be your only option for keeping her safe.

My cat is a bit of a big bully Tom. And he's been neutered.

It would be impossible to fence it off. We do have a water pistol at the ready and I've launched a few tangerines at the bastards before now. It does piss me off that the onus is on the female cat owners to get their pets neutered while the owners of these Tom's leave their cats over-sexed and aggressive.

Thanks for the links reow.

Could you get pictures of the cats and put up a few politely worded signs with photos of them asking the owners to get in touch with you?

They might be lovely friendly people happy to have a chat about it, and they might not know their boys are little shits.

How long has the bullying been going on for? My big Tom spent about 2 months fighting all of the other cats, I believe to establish their territory/pecking order. They've all settled down to a truce now.

Hose pipe and soak tom cat. Or run outside hissing and shouting at him like a mad crazy woman I have found both of these effective but my neighbours now think I'm mad

You'll also need to use pet cleaner to try to get rid of the wee smell or he'll be using your back door as a toilet for life.

Do they come into your garden, or chase her out of theirs?

Scatter some of her used litter around your garden, and also her hair from the hoover bag. Marking your garden as definitively HER territory might help keep them away, if they know it already belongs to a cat.

If she's not able/willing to fight them back they might think your garden is fair game and might be trying to win her territory from her.

Thanks everyone,it's being going on for about 12months. We've got the cleaning stuff which helps get rid of the smell. I'll try and track down the owners. There's no magic solution is there,hopefully they'll get bored.

Reow-they chase her into our garden,wait by her cat flap or sit on the fence waiting. I'll definitely do those suggestions,thank you.

Yeah it's worth trying.

Or else sit at the back window with a super soaker and keep squirting them until they get the message that they're not welcome in your garden!

If you're inside the M25, vets will neuter stray cats free of charge under the C4 scheme (www.cats.org.uk/c4/home.asp?url=c4)

So, if these toms turn out not to be chipped and the one with a collar was to lose his collar, you might reasonably think that they are strays and take them to be neutered.
Your local Cats Protection or other rescues might be able to help you catch them

If it isn't chipped, and doesn't have a collar with address on, I would pay to get it neutered. costs like £50.

Cat proofing your garden to keep her in and the toms out would be MUCH more expensive!

Good point about the fencing costing more. It's already cost me £60 in antibiotics this week alone!

Can you actually do that though? Cat-nap someone's cat and pay to have its balls chopped it's definitely got a home somewhere,it certainly looks well cared for.

Can you actually do that though? Cat-nap someone's cat and pay to have its balls chopped. it's definitely got a home somewhere,it certainly looks well cared for.

Um, probably not if you think it has a home. I was thinking more along the lines of it being at least semi-stray.

Can you catch it, attach a note to its collar asking the owner to call you?

I could try!

Can you get cat deterrent for your garden? It won't put your girl off but might them. Lion poo or something?!

Or borrow a dog for a week?

Our ( spayed) boy is terrorised by an un neutered tom who happily sprays all over our front and back doors and inside if he can get in ( we recently changed to a microchip flap which has stopped this at least). Our cat pisses inside through fear and spray marks his "territory" so we are constantly wiping up after him with enzyme spray. They fight all the time : as soon as our cat goes out, Shitbag ™ leaps on him. We have taken our cat to the vet umpteen times from abscesses etc as a result of fights. The last round of antibiotics/ treatment set us back £1K. Got most of it back through insurance but still.
I have had cats all my life and go absolutely stupid over them. However, If I could get near the little bastard that does this to my cat I would happily drive him to the coast and leave him there. and boot him into the sea
Owners not getting their free roaming cats neutered is the most selfish, aggressive act IMO.

Sorry, no help to you OP but it makes me so cross when responsible owners have to deal with this shit.

I wouldn't care less if these unneutered toms were owned. I'd catch them up and get them done.

Borrow a cat trap from the cats protection to catch the two "feral" cats. (Say you know they're feral)
They will hopefully issue a voucher for neutering and the cats can be released to sod off home with no balls and the tip cut off their ear.

I would also suggest setting up a little standing order for a few quid every month for a while to repay the CPL for their help.