How can I stop my poor cat from being attacked

[whatsmybabysname]

We moved house a couple of years ago, my cat used to be very confident, stay out all night hunting in the woods nearby, bring home "presents" and was generally very healthy and happy.
She is 11 so I know she is getting older but she has seriously gone downhill since we moved, very nervous, doesn't venture out of the garden, started toileting in the house so now has a litter tray (think she does prefer to toilet outside given the chance). But worst of all she is constantly being attacked and injured by a local cat who I assume used to claim our garden as his. Since the most recent attack she stands at the door hissing before attempting to go out. Is there anything I can do to stop this cat from coming into our garden. I'm sure she would be happy to just safely go in the garden and not necessarily roam anymore but she can't even do that now. Just sits in the window all day sad 😞

You could cat proof your garden.

You can get fencing, wire, all sorts.
www.google.com/search?q=cat+proof+garden&oq=cat+proof&aqs=chrome.2.0i433j69i57j0l3.3044j0j4&client=ms-android-ee-uk-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

We live in the same sort of situation

My cat used to be an outdoor cat and now she’s fully indoor (most of the time) because next door cats are bullies. I can’t cat proof the garden because it’s a rented house

It helps that we have dogs who will chase of their cats and I will chase them away every time I see them too. They don’t come in as much but still my cat can’t go out as much as she would like either

She’s happy though

To be honest, I'm not sure you can. If you see it you could spray it with water, or something similar to discourage it (but not hurt it). Cats are territorial. Your garden belongs to another cat! Could you build a safe pen that linked to a cat flap so she could go out to an enclosed, safe space?
My older cat used to love our garden until next door got a cat. She's changed the times she goes out though to avoid them. So rarely goes out in the daytime. Our younger cats aren't bothered by next doors cat and come and go as they please!

The problem is that although you bought the garden noone told the cats that so they think it's still theirs. Its easy to fall into the trap of thinking cats see boundaries in terms of our fences but they dont. I would go for cat proofing your garden.

Do the attacks happen at a similar time of day, or is it random?

Our cat used to get into fierce fights around teatime (just as it was getting dark in winter) and early morning with a neighbourhood cat.

We now shut the cat flap at 3pm and don't reopen it until 8.30am (with our cat inside, obviously).

It has cut down on the fierce fights, though there is still the odd scrap with different cats.

You could try and see if there is a particular time this cat is coming into your garden.

We cat proofed our garden to keep out the neighbour's bengal cat and other neighbour's spray-cray-cray tom. Six feet high fences, plus four feet struts and see-though wire mesh on top (so doesn't block neighbours' light) and strategic legal plastic bird spikes.

It obviously keeps our cat in as well, but tbh at age 17 she wasn't going anywhere anyway. She needs safety and peace. And she has a litter tray.

I notice another neighbour has started letting her dog out more to chase these cats away from her plants and garden furniture. It's not nice having your patio chairs stinking of cat pee and your garden shat in daily.

Those cat proof things look like they are supposed to keep my cat in, not other cats out?
The spikes won't work as there are buildings that can be used as access.
I don't think there is an answer, I do plan to sit in wait with a water gun, but that's mean and probably won't work.
I've seen the cat at all times throughout the day but the attacks seem to be at night.

I'd look into a catio, in that case.

Cat-proof your garden or get a catio.

Cat proofing keeps them out and yours in.

Cats don’t like walking on things that aren’t stable especially when slanted like that. So they won’t go on the wires

They work both ways.

I’d catproof too, unless you’ve got a particularly agile cat the wire and bracket system is enough.

Thanks everyone I will look into the wire and bracket, wouldn't have stopped her in her hey day but she's definitely not as nimble as she used to be.

I'm on the other side of this. My cat has been the only Tom in town for 10 years until a new neighbour moved in with their own cat.

We hoped they'd eventually get along but it's not happening. The fights have been awful, mostly noise at the moment but I'm dreading one of the cats getting injured.

At the moment we're managing it by keeping the cats local as much as we can and keeping them inside at night especially.

Hopefully they will sort out their own territories but it's stressful.

I'd add, keep your cat in at night until you have a secure space for her.

If you have an outside tap and could keep her inside for a couple days (or turn off when she's out) you could try one of the motion activated water sprinklers until it gets the message your garden isn't safe for it and stops coming.

Anytime you see it come into the garden when you're around drench it just to hammer the message home.