Making friends with neighbourhood cats

[CloudNinetyNine]

Have recently got a cat (1 year old). She seems to know that our garden is her patch and chases every other neighbourhood cat off. One cat is prowling around a lot and I think is making the point that he was here first.
Another seems a nice enough cat but gets chased away too. I'm wondering - is there a way to get your cat to be friends with another?
I used to have a cat when I was young and he seemed to befriend all the cats in the neighbourhood and bring them back for play dates! Were we just lucky in having a friendly cat or can you encourage friendships?

I don't think there's anything you can do. It's down to the personalities of the individual cats.

IME male cats are more inclined to make friends with neighbourhood cats; females less so. There isn't anything you can do other than let them work it out (so long as there's no biting/proper violence).

Leave them to it - do you really want more cat shit on your garden??
Or 'presents'?

I'd love a garden full of kitty cats. I think it is lovely when they have friends :).

Ernie chases all cats off his patch and theirs. He especially has contempt for next doors cat.

He tolerates a stray that comes round occasionally

Oh well. Hopefully they'll all learn to tolerate each other soon. Kind of wish we'd got two at the same time that way they could play and chase each other - rather than me having to play chase and hide - I'm not as nimble as a cat!

I've had a male cat who had a friend. He would peer through the patio doors looking for him and they would sit on the path together, about a foot apart though.

When I got my two rescue cats I was worried they would fight tooth and nail with the neighbour's young male cat who had had free run of our garden for a while. Luckily my two gingers are a couple of scaredy boys and are not cat aggressive. I took this photo of them with my neighbour's cat a couple of months after they arrived and they were already the best of friends.

However, the little cat from the other side is a spunky, defensive thing and they are petrified of her. My second photo is the two of them too scared to go out the cat flap because she is peeping in at them from the other side. She is the tiniest little thing ever but they are too scared of her to ever be her friend😀

Mine had friends once, a big black Tom with excellent manners who was allowed in the garden & a long hair ginger Tom.

They'd go off on adventures with mine devotedly following them like a groupie.

The black one would miaow at the Windows if ours was in due to illness & ours would jump up to miaow back.

He hated the B&W girl next door though. I bet she was glad to move.

Since then we've moved twice & he hates all other cats now.

DCat hates the roving black tom cat that takes a short cut through the garden and yells at him every time. He has the temerity to use her fence you see. I don't think he's that scared of her as he slinks off. She seems to tolerate next door's elderly female cat.

I think when it comes to cats they do whatever the hell they want. They are cats after all!

The cats on either side of us seem to get along OK yet one of them despises another neighbours (non-threatening) cat.

Our 2 boys can keep our rotty and husky in check with a quick right hook with a claw -
but one shriek from the tortie queen round the back and they come running in the house!!

MCat had friends before we moved. A Bengal who would stick his head through the window and summon him with a gutteral miaow. His tortie girlfriend broke his heart though. She'd hop in through the window for a bit of rough and tumble then head to his food bowl then go upstairs for a kip. She cut out the niceties after a while and would come in, cuff him round the head, ignore him, then eat and snooze. He spent the weekend sulking and wouldn't come downstairs.

After a few years they usually get to tolerate each other.

Leroy has a nose booping friendship with the local "stray" (best kept "stray" I've ever seen). I think he'd like to be friends with other cats and will go towards them but if they're arsey he goes ballistic. He's on a lead though so I can hold him back. They keep away from him after that .

I think you just have to let them find their own way. It can happen, but only naturally.