Nightmare neighbour cat

[kirinm]

We live in an area with lots of cats. Most get on with each other / tolerate but there is one that is super aggressive and attacks other cats. I'm taking my cat to the vet for the 3rd time (we've only had her 18 months) due to a bite and a consequent abscess. My neighbours kitten was attacked yesterday too so she's also going to the vets.

We know it is the same cat doing the attacking but what can we do? Is it reasonable to ask the owner to keep him inside? I don't know what I would do if I was approached to say my cat is aggressive or how I'd stop it?

I mean, you can ask but you can't make them.

If my cat was repeatedly getting attacked I would keep them indoors or cat-proof my garden.

My cat and the other 6 or 7 cats that are being attacked should be locked inside? That seems fair

You need to keep your cat inside.

Do you know who the owner is?

if you feel comfortable approaching them then I think it’s worth saying something to them. If it were mine being aggressive I would certainly want to know and would try and work out what to do to stop harming all the other animals.

has the aggressive one been neutered? you could ask for this to happen.

But yes, I think you have an indoor cat now - it sounds like too many cats in a small area, they might well never get along

@kirinm to me, it's not about what's fair, it's about keeping my cat safe.

None of mine go off my property because I don't want them to get trapped in buildings, injured in fights or hit by cars.

If you choose to let your cat out to roam then unfortunately you have to take the risks that come along with that. There's no law that says aggressive cats have to be kept inside so asking the owners to do that is unlikely to change anything.

It isn't about being fair it is simply about keeping your cat safe. Why wouldn't you cat proof your garden to protect your cat?

The bully cat is the least of the dangers for cats out there.

There is only one cat causing problems.

I genuinely can't get over the suggestion that cats that love the outside and playing with each other should be kept inside for the rest of their life.

The aggressive cat probably loves the outside but you suggested he should stay in for life. What’s the difference?

It can’t be that this cat is aggressive and yours isn’t because your cat and the others will still be harmful to wildlife.

I'm sure the owners of the aggressive cat feel the same way.

The point is you can't control other people's cats. If you don't want your cat getting in fights (or getting run over or trapped somewhere) then you need to keep it on your property. There's no other solution.

Some people think the benefits of being allowed to roam outweigh the risks but that's a decision only you can make.

Mine have a lovely, safe garden to explore but can't go outside of that. Best of both worlds IMO.

We had the same issue. We kept a big bucket of water outside both front and back doors and each time we saw it checked water over it. It stopped coming anywhere near our house after that a couple of times.

Try speaking to the owner and suggest neutering if the cat hasn’t been done. Although some people become precious about their cats balls, so I would tell them neutered pets are healthier, get in less fights and less likely to be roaming and getting run over looking for females.
If that doesn’t work, water gun to keep him out of your garden, so at least your cats get to enjoy that.

Some vets have leaflets explaining the health advantages of pets being neutered. If you don't feel able to approach the owner, and you don't think this aggressive cat has been done yet, you could try putting one through his door? Or print out an article off the internet from a reputable organisation.

We had similar round my way some years ago, big ginger and white tom who sent a number of neighbours cats to the vets. In one case, he actually came into their house through the open back door (hot summer day), went upstairs and attacked their little girl while she was asleep on the bed! He was one of the reasons why I decided I would get cats who needed to be indoor only.

He would come into my garden and spray everything, and when I got my own cats & had the French doors open in summer he would try to break through the mesh (put there to keep my cats IN) to get to mine. He vanished for 3-4 months shortly after that, and when he appeared again clearly no longer had large furry pompoms. Total behaviour change - no spraying, no aggression to other cats.

It's not about whatcha fair as others have said. It's about reality. If you speak with the owners and they don't keep their cat in it what, euthanise their cat(???) then you don't have any other options other than to keep yours in.

What actually are you hoping will happen?

Catch it and take to vets and get it neutered. We did that to agrees ive neighbours cat.

Why would they need to stay inside, cat proof the garden. I am assuming you have one and then your cat has outside time and is safe 🤷‍♀️

When we first moved into our house 20 odd years ago there was a cat like this next door. It terrorised our cats and broke our cat flap repeatedly.
We tried everything but eventually we had to send our male cat to live with the inlaws as he was more of a target for bully cat than our 3 females.
Our vet even suggested (only part joking) that we drive bully cat out into the middle of nowhere and leave him as the only solution.

There's a cat round our way that is a nasty agresssive little shit , my own two are the type to stay in their own patch ( male will sit on NDN fence ) I have n idea who owns the agressive one .

My only option is to get in first if I see it in the garden, I will shout , knock two objects together and if I'm quick enough , throw water .
None of these things will harm it and I've told my neighbours if they don;t want my cats then scare them out of their garden.

The agressive cat is out all hours , if I hear our female growling at 3am , this cat will be at the back door .

Next month is the cut-off date for all cats to be micro chipped so if he needs to be chipped then the vet might advice for him to be neutered if he isn't .

I would hope in such a scenario that the owners are receptive to getting their pet neutered, if it hasn’t already happened.
Why should the op have to cat proof her garden, when the solution is simple for the owner of the aggressive cat.
That would be my starting point, not turning my garden into a prison camp.

Plenty of neutered cats are aggressive too - so what happens if the neutering changes nothing?

@crumbledog you can't enforce them to cat proof their garden , so you protect your cat.

I have been cat proofing for about 20 years, plenty of attractive solutions that give complete peace of mind and happy cats.

It isn't about fairness it is about how to keep your pet safe.

Bully cat next door to us was neutered

@Hoppinggreen exactly. The most aggressive cat I've ever met was a spayed female 🙈

I get it's hugely frustrating when your cat is getting hurt but ultimately the law is that all cats have the right to roam, not that only friendly, good tempered cats have the right to roam.

If you want your cats to roam then you have to take the good with the bad unfortunately, or else you cat-proof and keep them on your property. There's not really any other option.

I didn’t say the aggressive cats owner should cat proof their garden. I suggested a starting point being conversation with the owner to state the problem and establish if the cat is neutered and if the owner is receptive to getting it done.
I appreciate that

1. not all cats owners care, or want to get their pets neutered. Which is why I said in an earlier post explaining some of the benefits, to encourage them.
2. the cat maybe already neutered and is just aggressive.

My main point being, speak to the owner first, before starting potentially expensive work on your garden.

Unfortunately the cats will have to learn not to stand up to me meanie cat.

I'm picturing the cat wearing a leather jacket and having a matchstick hanging out of one side of his mouth and walking with a swagger through the neighbourhood.