Ideas needed to stop determined intruder coming in the house.

[MissisBoote]

A new cat has arrived in the neighbourhood and is trying to claim our garden and house as it's own.

My two placid easy going cats are terrified of it.

We have a lockable cat flap but a few times it's forced its way through in the night. Have been putting the covered litter tray in front of it to act as another barrier, but last night the cat was determined and pushed this out of the way to get in. Girlcat was so terrified she wee'd herself.

Both cats are now too scared to go outside once or gets past about 8pm. We used to have the cat flap as entry only when we went to bed and then they'd be locked in for the night when they came in. Can't do this anymore as the intruder cat can't get out and just smashes through the cat flap.

Cats are normally locked in the kitchen at night and have spent the last week pressed up against the window looking out nervously for the cat.

My plan of action is now to:

Wipe the outside step with orange essential oil to deter it.
Block catflap from the outside with a physical barrier.
Keep the cats in a different room overnight so they can't look out into the garden.

Whenever the cat is in the garden dh runs chasing it clapping his hands to scare it away.

Any other ideas?

I think I would be looking into this cat flaps operated by microchip in your position. I don't know how effective they actually are though.

Stake out at the cat flap and nerd gun it?

Hose!!! My dad used to do this with a cat that bullied our very placid fat Siamese. They won't tolerate more than a couple of times

Microchip catflaps are (in my experience) very good - expensive but worth it.

I bought a microchip cat flap recently, was £44 with a first purchase discount from Fetch
Our intruder no longer intrudes 👍🏻

I'm very surprised that the cat can get through a locked cat flap!! Maybe upgrade your cat flap to one which is stronger? I'm also a huge fan of the microchip ones but no idea whether they'll work against the brute your describing if he just barges in even when locked.

I guess the key thing is to make sure there's no incentive for him to come in by moving the food into another room as well!!

Won't the orange essential oils also affect your own cats?

Not a nerf. Can injure cat.
Hose or bloody great water pistol
You can get film to go over the window so yours can't see out.
Cat proof your garden?

Will look into the microchip flaps and fingers crossed they'll work.

This one is a brute. He's a really big cat and the first time I came down in the middle of the night he ran at the flap with such force it smashed into three pieces.

Tempted to get dh to stake it out with a plan of water on standby :o

lemon juice in water will be a more eefective deterent sprayed round the outside of the door and lemon peel under your fences too as ive found cats dont seem to mind orange but really dont like lemon, and yes a barrier outside the cat flap at night will stop him coming in something heavy that he cant shift, and a bucket of water with a scoop in it outside in the garden so when one of you see him scoop of water and fling it at him wont hurt him but he will become wary of coming in your garden

Could your partner pee around the perimeter? You could, but it'll be easier for him, and I think that male wee works better.

And yes to water pistol, hose, or water from a cup chucked on the marauder.

And barriers to the cat door.

Are your cats neutered?

I would get feliway stuff to calm your cats. Stop them feeling so upset.

And stakeout garden with supersoaker for brutecat. Get him a couple of times and he'll never come back!

Or there is an sensor automated water sprayer you can buy. This would work very well in your situation I think if you turned it on after your cats were at home.

Ooh, maybe a tray of water in front of the cat flap entrance at night?

Also why is he come into your house? Do you have food down? Move it or pick it up at night?

Love all of these suggestions.

Will do a tray of water tonight too.

Would citronella help put him off?

Will see what dh says about peeing round the garden. Suspect he be OK under the cover of darkness to stop the neighbours spotting him :o

Our cats are both neutered. Boycat doesn't seem as bothered about him. Girlcat is desperately trying to defend her home (she's much more of a home body whereas boy cat treats this place much like a hotel) - although he's been in the garden much more since the new cat arrived on the scene.

Intruder cat doesn't seem to be after food. Boy cat mostly scoffs what's left when he comes in but will remove from the floor when we're not about in case that's what he's after.

Is he hungry ie stray or just greedy?.

Ours can break out of cat flaps, I have to put the spin dryer over it at night.

Don't use citronella unless you want to kill him or your own cats!!!

We have a similar issue. New
Neighbourhood cat terrorising my small cat. We throw water at it bur it is quick. He once but her neck so badly she needed to see the vet. The vet said i need to help them defend their territory. Hose pipe, water guns and water pistols. We yell and chase it if no water to hand But by god it is bold.

not citronella as its toxic to cats proper lemon juice as in jif lemon or similar bottled lemon juice in a spray bottle watered down about 1/4 lemon to 3/4 water

We had same problem, a giant black cat discovered eating our cat's food then meandering upstairs. A microchip cat flap, Sureflap, sorted it out immediately. They are great.

We had opposite problem with our cats getting out the catflap at night, despite it being locked!

We took to filling a bucket of water and placing it in front of the flap. 10L weight 10kg so is far too heavy for them to shove out of the way, and after one dunking there was no trying to get on top and sneak down the back!

If you do this outside you can fill with hose then just tip the water away in the morning - no lugging heavy weights around

I don't know if this is daft, but we had a hostile cat show up on our patch scaring my kitties. I growled and hissed and generally made out that I was a very big and pissed off cat. No sign of Badcat since.

Fitting a microchip cat flap is a lot less hassle than cleaning out a "sprayed" hallway twice. Your cats can go in and out as usual we don't lock ours.

We survived the night.

Intruder cat seems to make an appearance as it gets dark.
Dh was sorting out the water tray when we heard this almighty row in the side alley - it sounded like a cat fight, but it was just the intruder cat. Sounded like he was trying to scare dh off. Managed to get a pan of water over the gate so hopefully that will have scared him off a bit.

Girl cat was petrified whilst this was going on but took her upstairs and she calmed down.

Both mogs asleep on my bed till boy cat woke us all up at 4am so took them back downstairs then and all seemed fine this morning.

Will get dh to ambush intruder cat tonight :o