Cat apparently aggressive to other cat - what can we do?

[Unsurecatowner]

A neighbours (young adult) son has just knocked on our door and aggressively verbally berated us as he says our cat has attacked their cat 4 times.

We know the parents to say chat to (I don't think the son lives there) and they have been to parties at our house and they have never previously mentioned any problems at all so we were previously unaware of this. Of course I understand his upset - we would never want an animal to be hurt and if it is our cat (there are lots of cats in the road so I can't be certain and no other neighbour has ever told us of a problem although that doesn't mean there isn't one) He says they are going to call the RSPCA. - We will be happy to take advice from the RSPCA but the cat is already well looked after, goes to the vet regularly etc so not sure what the advice will be.

Our cat is about 3 years old, has been neutered and is due to have an operation on his teeth this week (so possibly in a bit of pain) but had a full vet check last week and that was the only problem.

It was difficult to get full details although it sounds like our cat has been going into their house and he wants us to keep the cat in all the time, which I don't think would be possible - he would be so unhappy it would be unfair to keep him.

He was extremely aggressive and I asked him to tone it down a bit (because it felt quite threatening) and when he insisted he was being assertive not aggressive (which was not how it was coming across) I asked him to leave. He left swearing as he went down the street.

He is a big hunter and will kill squirrels etc. Can anyone suggest any solutions that don't involve keeping him in all the time?

He needs to keep his doors shut and windows open a sliver only.

I’d also offer to let him come and have a chat to your cat: explain fighting isn’t nice, and tell him firmly he’s not welcome in their house.
🙄

He’s an idiot, clearly.

He’s a big hunter? Cat proof your garden to limit that. I would be pissed off if your cat attacked mine.

How is the cat getting in their house? Are the attacks only happening when both cats are in his house or outside as well? Its not fair to suggest neighbours have to keep their doors and windows shut all the time but its also not fair for your cat to be kept inside all the time.

If this is happening in their house then they need to install a chip operated cat flap, just like the rest of us do when we have a cat plus a flap and annoying intruder cats.

There isn't really a lot you can do. My cat is a bit of a wimp and often got cornered and occasionally hurt. It has settled down over time as territories have been established but will occasionally happen if a new cat moves into the neighborhood. It's just part of having a cat which roams.

The Dad has just come round to apologise for the son - he says our cat is lovely and all cats fight. He doesn't seem to think it is a huge problem and is horrified by his son's report of what he said to me. We offered to pay for a chipped cat flap for their house and will ask the vets advice on any other measures.

We would struggle to cat proof our garden I think although I will do some further research but it is a very large garden so would take a lot of proofing and the cat is an extremely good climber - climbs trees to catch birds sometimes :-(

I think the attacks are only happening in the house but the Dad was more concerned about how the son behaved towards us than the cat situation. We have asked them to come and let us know if there are future problems. We have given them full permission to deter him by spraying him with the hose or a water pistol etc whenever he comes into their garden.

We've agreed we don't want to fall out with each other.

Thats a good result OP I was going to say if your cat was getting in through their cat flap you should maybe offer to pay to get a magnet/microchip cat flap. If its getting through the doors/windows then I think it's only fair they chase it back out again. I'm glad your neighbours are more reasonable than their son.

Am looking at cat proofing now - there is about 20 m of fence we don't own so am unsure whether we could add to that. We would need to move a (garden) building to put in another fence alongside that one.