Neighbours cat wanting to attack my indoor cats

[Twofurrypurries]

I have 2 female indoor cats. The neighbours cat keeps coming to our door & trying to attack them through the glass. Now one of my cats (A) has attacked my other cat (B) a few times which I think may be redirected aggression as she can’t get to the neighbours cat to fight back. They are sisters, usually get along well & its only happens when the neighbours cat is nearby.

We shoo the neighbours cat away but can’t stop it from returning. I’m loathed to stop my cats having access to the room as it’s the only one that overlooks our garden and they generally love being in there. But I don’t want my cat A to attack my cat B, she is completely panicked & confused when it happens & pees herself in fright.

WWYD? Is it time to let our cats out & let them defend their territory? We only haven’t because they are quite nervous cats & because we know this cat is waiting to get them. Or is that the worst thing to do?

Bucket of cold water

A super soaker
or make your fence higher ( cat proof)
then yours could also have a pootle outside

Put some opaque window film among the bottom third of your window. Prevents them from seeing straight out. I’ve had to do this with my two as they have also had issues with redirected aggression. All okay now though! Wouldn’t let them out though. Could do more harm than good.

Soak the intruder with cold water every single time you see them. They’ll soon learn.

However is there any reason yours are kept inside? Mine used to have issues with redirected aggression until we let them out.

Mirror the glass with film so the outside cat can’t see them.

thanks all for the replies/suggestions.

Window film may possibly work but it’s a large conservatory so would need rather a lot!

The cat runs away as soon as we go outside so unlikely to hit with a bucket of water but super soaker could work if we can get it in time so will try that!

Higher fencing not really an option, our garden is huge & split level, raised above our neighbours & already partly fenced (6ft), part hedged.

@tumblingdowntherabbithole there’s probably no real justifiable reason (imo) to keep them in now. They are not pedigree, we live in a quiet area not near main roads & have a huge garden with trees which they would absolutely love. The vets initially suggested we kept them in longer than usual as they are quite petite & nervous and we had concerns with one especially that she may bolt if she gets scared. She doesn’t come running when you call her or at mealtime & is particularly scared of other people. Plus we don’t have a cat flap or anywhere to add one so need to consider how they access garden when we are at work. But I do think they are old enough now & although still petite, big enough to handle themselves. Just having a hard time convincing the rest of the family they will be ok outside.

Do they actually want to go out? Especially the one who doesn’t come back for food or Dreamies? She sounds like a flight risk

I’ve got 2 sisters that are only allowed out when I’m in. There were scraps and fights for quite a few weeks with the other cats in the neighbourhood in creating their territory

re the super soaker. I was sat in my garden with one as back up for my cats. Key is to make as much water sound as possible when you fire it. You'll only have to get it once or twice and it will associate the water with the sound going foward

@OnTheBoardwalk i don’t really know if they want to go out - they love being in the conservatory near the garden so presume so but they haven’t actively tried to get out.

Maybe we’ll have to do like you and only let them out when we are home. The scaredy one is definitely a worry - she doesn’t like being picked up much so she could be tricky to get back inside. Though she could surprise us & be fine

They really do need to have the recall for food or Dreamies to be let out

mine are 2 rescues and took a lot of time to be let out before I thought they were ready

my brother let his out after a few weeks and it got scared by another cat and ran away, thankfully through the power of facebook groups he got him back

i'm not usually a fan of catios I think cats should be either in or out but could you add one to your conservatory?

@OnTheBoardwalk re catio - not easily.

On recall - cat A will come over if offered a treat I just don’t know if it’d be enough to entice her out of a hiding place if she was outside. My last cat would come running at the tap of her food bowl but this one doesn’t. I’m not so worried about cat B - she is greedy & will come for food if called 🤣

Yesterday I heard panicked yowling & realised cat B had accidentally got shut in the conservatory with the internal door locked from the outside & external door wide open while DH popped down the garden. Cue realisation I couldn’t let her in & she could escape before I got to her - I raced round outside to find her still sat there yowling - she didn’t even try to go out.