Urgh. I'm after a bit of advice (it's a long one, sorry).
A Facebook post on our local community page has identified our cat as attacking others on the street. The post says that the cat is "vicious" and that next time the OP's cat comes in injured, she'll be "pretty sure which cat she'll need to look at" and that we need to keep him in.
Our old dearly departed boy (not the cat in question) came home injured a few times before and it is awful to see them in pain (not to mention the vet bills) so I completely understand that she's upset, but it is what cats do and we're doing everything we can to be responsible cat owners.
I phoned the vets for advice this morning and they've said that there's very little we can do beyond what we're already doing, which is:
- He's neutered – we got him neutered as soon as he was old enough (around 2 years ago)
- We have a Feliway plugin at home
- He wears a tracking collar so we can see where he is and has been (more on this below)
- He is locked in from 6pm to 6am (and incidentally, I hear a lot of cat fights and yowling on the street overnight, when he isn't out!)
- And we've never actually witnessed him be aggressive to any neighbourhood cats, even those who regularly come into our garden (and, on occasion, house).
He's also about 3kg, very small and timid, and he has never come home with scratches, bites, scabs or chunks of fur missing.
About the tracking collar – I can see he passes through the area mentioned in the Facebook post to get to where he likes to spend the day wandering around. He's in that area for maybe 5-10 minutes at a time, usually twice a day – on his way out and on his way home. I feel like this isn't really enough time for him to be terrorising multiple neighbourhood cats, but that's just a hunch and a lot can happen in 5-10 mins. Obviously I don't know.
I feel a bit beside myself! I know is a stupid thing to get upset over – I don't want this to turn into a conflict with neighbours but also don't want to have someone banging on my door demanding vet bills get paid when as far as I can see, there's no proof that it's actually him and we're already doing what we can. Plus I don't want to transition him into being an indoor cat when he's healthy, happy and adventurous and, again, I don't have proof that this is him.
I am 99% sure this is the woman who accused our old boy of attacking her cat before a few years ago (before current cat's time) and claiming he wasn't neutered (he was neutered!). We just shrugged and let it go, and we never heard about it again. But this time feels a bit nasty as she's essentially threatening to come and land us with her vet bills on a public Facebook group.
Anyway, does anyone have any advice for me? He's on house arrest while I figure out what to do, but he will be miserable without getting some time outside in the next few days.
Thanks!