Terror cat terrorising street and my cat

[Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain]

As it says in title.

In past week my cat has suddenly refused to go out, I posted about it here. In her soft bed upstairs, only out now for 15 mins max whereas before it was 2-3 hours at a time.

On posting about this on our WhatsApp apparently a big ginger and white tomcat think unneutered, has been terrorising the street cats, fighting, trying to get through others cat flaps. He’s well fed and clean so thought is he’s not a stray or feral.

What can we do? My cat is female about 12 and quite streetwise. She was out at all hours before as her previous owners didn’t have a cat flap and she adopted me, all above board with previous owners. Who’d got a dog which scared her and her sister who also moved out. Sister moved away think got on a bus! She tried to do this with a friend of mine, get on a bus. Old owners got a call from vet about 30 mins away saying they had her but she’d found a new home.

My cat is hiding inside now, but fine with me. Purring away, liking cuddles and eating well. I saw this beast cat for the first time yesterday at the back of the garden.

oh my cat is “hiding” in her cat igloo is what I meant to say. Poor love.

I can’t sympathise! We have a black and white thug who keeps coming into our kitchen. Our cat hates him with a passion. It’s tricky as we inherited a large cat flat when we bought the house, and the cat is too old now for a collar, so it’s difficult to stop him. We have to make sure there is no food lying around and keep noisily chasing him out.

How do you know he is unneutered, have you seen him close up enough to tell? People may be assuming he is unneutered because he is dominant and aggressive but neutered cats can be dominant and aggressive too.

Either way, you can’t kidnap a neighbour’s cat and have it neutered. So you need to establish if he does have a home before you do anything.

He hasn’t fought with your cat, she is just wisely avoiding him. And you haven’t got a cat flap for him to come through so you don’t need to worry about that aspect.

So I am not sure why you feel you need to ‘do’ anything?

An unneutered tom is much more likely to spray and be territorial. I would suspect he is a stray as responsible owners neuter and chip before allowing cats out. I'd definitely scan and neuter him and make sure he is provided with a shelter and food. Neutering will calm everything down. A rescue should help with this.

If it has a microchip the vet will read it and if it's not registered to you I don't think they would perform surgery without contacting the real owner. And you have to give medicine afterwards for a few days, or at least we had to (just had one done a few weeks ago). So you shouldn't just let it go, but keep it until fully recovered. Even if he is neutered now he may be too old for it to prevent him being a dominant male it needs to be done as a kitten really to stop the worst male characteristics.

@DoAWheeliei did once manage to stroke our unwelcome visitor but then after my husband sprayed water at it it hit me on the hand and left a bruise for weeks. He had warned me but I thought it had had an off day previously 😂

‘Ours’ is definitely unneutered. I got an eyeful the other day lol

My cats were terrorised by a neighbour's neutered ginger male cat for years. He used to lurk outside our cat flap and beat them up. He couldn't get in because we had a microchip flap. He had decided our garden was his territory, and was unshakeable in that belief.

His owner refused to believe he was anything other than adorable fluffy cuteness. Fortunately for my cats, the ginger grew old and finally died.

I agree with the first part of this but asserting its dominance will include taking over your cat’s territory too. Also, neutering is not always a fix if it’s not done when young.

Sorry, we’ve had this happen too and it’s stressful.

I think you can get cat flaps that activate with cat’s microchip? No collar required.

I’m 99.9% certain he’s not neutered. In fact neighbour who saw him go through cat flap am sure said they could see balls. Not sure how close they got.

You absolutely can, they're inexpensive and easily available. We've had one for about 15 years. I'm amazed anyone would fit any other kind of cat flap these days.

He hasn’t attacked her yet. She loves going out, why should she be forced to stay inside because of him? He’s a bully. Nasty creature. Bet as pp said he’s a softie at home who wouldn’t harm a fly! To them.

I might do that. Like I said I don’t want her bringing in mice. Or rats as she upped her game and caught 2 outside recently. I certainly don’t want rats somehow breeding in my house like the mice did!

Didn’t someone mention a cat flap with a camera that detects prey they catch and if prey doesn’t allow them in? Or am I dreaming? Might be a good investment.

On another thread I mean. Bloody animals! Almost tempted to get a dachshund as that would see beast cat off but as my cat and her sister moved out of their house when her owners got a Schnauzer not sure how that would work. Or would it? My friend breeds standard dachshunds. Says they’re lovely.

My boyfriend when he comes over would use the hose but I saw it’s broken. Need to fix it. Do have one of DNephew’s water pistols he brought here. Thank god boyfriend hasn’t got an air rifle. Though I do have a catapult DM took off DNephew and I somehow winded up with it! Jokes guys, I wouldn’t attack a harmless little puddy cat! Though tempted.

He might be friendly with people! I ended up owning (he was unwanted) neutered male cat years ago who was very dominant with other cats but a complete softy with people & very friendly.

Not sure I dare getting that close to him. I value my hands.

Not sure why you quoted me, none of those possibilities changes the fact that it's legal and responsible.

If you value your hands, Marigold gloves won't go anywhere near to protecting them. You need big gauntlets if the big lad is a fighter.

Actually there are several laws.

Theft Act 1968 — Under UK law, a cat is considered a person’s property. No individual or organisation can remove or be complicit in removing a cat without the owner’s consent — it is theft.

1. Criminal Damage Act 1971 — Taking somebody else’s cat and having it neutered is a criminal offense, and people can be prosecuted for criminal damage to property.

1. Animal Welfare Act 2006 — performing or arranging an unnecessary surgical procedure on someone else’s animal without consent could also fall under causing unnecessary suffering.

as there is no evidence the cat is a stray and the OP themselves acknowledge the cat isn’t stray, both they and the vet performing surgery would be liable for prosecution

I need to find my gardening gloves.

I do not know if he’s stray, feral or a pet. He can’t talk.

Ok I will see if it has a collar and put a paper message in it.

Cats Protection has paper collars you can print out and add your details to. I had to do this recently with a visiting tomcat and, just to be aware, his neck was so thick that the collar barely fitted so I was very glad I'd cut it out longer than the cut-out lines.

I'd already posted him on local FB and had no response, so started to befriend him with treats so I'd have a chance at paper collaring him. He ended up returning 2 days after the paper collar, with a horrible paw injury, and after getting him sorted at the vets, and finding no chip, I kept him safe indoors for a couple of days before Cats Protection took him in.