Can anyone help with what’s going on?

[Catpolitics]

New to having a cat! We have a nearly 1 year old male. He’s quite small but is very friendly and sweet. We have a big garden he likes playing in. He’s welcome to go anywhere but he’s not really a wanderer as I think the gardens exciting enough 😅

However - our neighbour has 2 cats. Pre getting our cat, we never saw these. Now they come into our garden, they seems to be actively seeking out our kitten. They will sit and stare at him and then occasionally run at him and sometimes attack and hurt him. It’s all the time and now we’re worried about him going out. The other cats are really brazen, if we’re in the garden they will come into our and just carry on and try and attack him in front of us. We have a water gun we squirt them with. But they’re not that fussed by it!

My friend who has had cats all her life said they’re just making friends and it’s what they do to make friends. Is that correct?! We have no idea but to us it seems like they’re wanting to claim our garden as their territory (they’ve now started going to the toilet in the same place our cat does).

Sorry for long message!

They will smell the cat and therefore come in to your garden to sus it out. Cats are territorial creatures so they will hunt each other out, have staring contests and all sorts. Not much you can do sadly! I know it’s annoying and you’re probably worried about the bigger cats picking on him but as long as you make sure you’re letting him out in the garden while you’re around, you can keep an eye (not that you can stop cats fighting that’s a whole other level)

Your friend is wrong. They are not trying to make friends! They realise there's a new cat on the block and they are trying to claim his territory - that's what cats do. They're effectively bullying him and showing him who's boss. Going to the toilet in his special place is the ultimate assertion of their "rights". There really isn't a lot you can do. I had exactly the same situation when I adopted my 1 year old cat. Various other neighbourhood cats started to congregate in my garden and bully him. Staring competitions are a favourite passtime, until one of them backs down - usually by walking backwards with their belly low to the ground. It sounds extreme, but after a very nasty fight, I started to go out shouting and aggressively chase the other cats off. That, coupled with my own cat getting older and bigger, eventually got the message through. Good luck OP.

Thanks everyone- I didn’t think it was friendly. I also don’t want to annoy my neighbour by her thinking I’m being mean to her cats by spraying water on them (she could look out and see). But I need them to bugger off 😂 hopefully my cat will get bigger soon and be able to hold his own