Thread: When neighborhood strays become a problem

well, I think that the only ones to be able to make him go away are your fluffies - once he understands that this territory is taken he'll go away on his own. Is he very big? Sampson seems to be taking care of business, even though Merlin might be a bit old?

This being said if you want to enter the fight and make sure he goes, keep an eye out and have a spray bottle handy and spray him every time you see him... ?

We also have a stray coming to ours (the famous Trespasser AKA Trez) - I started feeding him - I figured, if you can't beat them, join them. Now he doesn't come any more. This being said, he can't touch the pirate (and vice versa, not sure who would win on this one) because she's behind a glass window, so ....

The stray is a smaller cat, but he is not neutered and thus is a raging testosterone bomb on four legs. Sampson is 20lbs or more and is not afraid to confront him. He is our guard cat and is known by all in the neighborhood, even dogs will not approach him. The local shelters charge $30 or more to rent a trap and then additional money to neuter strays. I would do this but I just cannot afford it right now. We had been feeding the stray and trying to build trust, but get too close and the stray vocalizes loudly and is aggressive. I don't believe he is feral because he does not flee at the sight of humans, but he's been on the streets too long and can't escape his alley cat mentality.
Merlin will no longer go in the back yard and limits his outdoor time to the front yard and driveway. This stray was also harassing Bengal Brat on the same morning but she is too fierce for him. Mandy is our only strictly indoor cat, mainly because she has zero street smarts and no capacity to defend herself in these situations. The boys have sprayed their yard many times and you'd think this would deter the strays, but not this one. We are not feeding him anymore, so maybe the lack of a free lunch will send him packing!

awww poor Merlin - traumatized!
Well, when he is around, get both Samson and Bengal Brat out - he'll get it in the end...
Also, name him. I notice that has a tendency to make them go away. Works for me anyway.

Our previous Maine Coon, Casey, sadly no longer with us due to kidney failure, was originally the neighbor's cat when I lived in town. Since they also owned three large, obnoxious dogs who were never walked or disciplined, he was pretty well relegated to their front yard. A huge and ferocious tom cat began to terrorize the neighborhood cats, including Casey. At the time I had no cats, only a sweet pit bull named Nellie who had gotten to know Casey somewhat. The first and second time she heard sounds of serious fighting next door I let her out and she chased the tom away. The third time, in the middle of the night, I let her out and she chased him so seriously that he never came back. I know she didn't hurt him but to have 80 pounds of pit bull hurtling after you would make even the meanest cat think twice. Casey was fully aware of what Nellie had done for him and began to adore her! She didn't quite know what to make of a cat that was rubbing himself against her (she was a rescue who had been raised without cats), but I praised her to high heaven and Casey would even come on walks with us after that, although I wouldn't let him get too far and always made sure he was back home safely. When I moved to a home in the hills the neighbors allowed us to adopt Casey and take him along, and he absolutely loved his new, large place where no one bothered him, although we only allowed him outside under supervision because of coyotes and other "cat-loving" creatures. Sadly by that time Nellie had passed away from a tumor but she will never leave my heart, having been a most special dog.

This story won't help you unless you're thinking of getting a "protection dog" for your kitties but I wanted to share this experience with you.

Thank you for sharing, Ingrid. Pit bulls are wonderful dogs and get a bad reputation for no reason. Our neighbors across the street have two pit bulls that play with the kids and are the least aggressive dogs I've ever seen. Actually we are one of only three families on the street that don't own a dog (a fact pointed out by police after our second break in). The people next to us have a huge German boxer, the others directly across have a huge and vicious Chow, then the even more enormous Great Dane that lives next to the pit bulls. With all these big dogs around you'd think cats would steer clear but the feral/stray colony is quite large.
We have considered a protection dog for us humans LOL, and our cats have adjusted well to my mom's small dogs when they visit. Even Sampson doesn't bat an eye when the Boxer strolls by on his walk, barking and jumping. Besides the time commitment a dog requires I am wary of them, being bitten by one of my parents' English springer spaniels as a child. I've gotten better but I would really need to spend time working with large dogs to overcome my fear of them. :-/ My best friend has two Huskies that love to jump and wrestle, and they will "play bite" which is more like rubbing their mouth all over you LOL, but it still freaks me out.

Mandy, in regard to protection against break-ins, I've read that the police recommend small, yappy dogs which will make thieves look for a quieter house to burgle. I read of one horrible case where burglars broke in and stabbed the two German Shepherds in the house to death.

I once had a large, black stray cat in the yard and I also happened to be outside in a place where he didn't see me. He was focusing so hard on the dogs next door that he didn't see or hear me approach. I picked up a rock to throw near him and accidentally hit him on his side, and I could hear the rock connecting with his body. I don't think he ever came back but to this day I regret the fact that I hurt this animal.

We have three feral cats who are eking out a miserable existence here in the hills where the drought has made mice, roof rats and almost every other prey disappear. We've tried to scare them off because we feed some of the wild bunnies here, but they cannot be deterred. Twice we've found bunny intestines on our doorstep as a "gift", which is a very strange thing for feral cats to do, but there are no domestic cats in the neighborhood that leave their property.

I've heard many similar and tragic stories. Many thieves here will shoot a dog, then again even the cops will shoot your dog. Local police were chasing a suspect that ran into a random house. The homeowners were there and the family dog naturally became alarmed and protective. The cops shot and killed the dog and tried to say it was justified because they were "threatened" by it growling.
There's a pregnant feral that just showed up a few weeks ago, she's tiny and probably not a year old yet herself. She shows up around midnight and I leave some food on the sidewalk for her, while my spoiled rotten brats watch out the window in disbelief "OMG Mom why are you giving our food away we're going to starve!!" She has a fluffy buddy with her sometimes, God only knows where they come from. :-(

We don't tend to get many strays or feral cats here in the UK. It's probably a good job, because I'd want to adopt them all! Beau & Dixie only have supervised access to our garden, but I must admit watching with interest when a little black and white female from up the street decided to come and say hello a few weeks ago! They put up a good show with much back arching and hissing, but in the end decided it was safer indoors, despite them both being twice it's size! Wusses lol.

Oliver's allowed outside now, and he's made friends with several of the neighborhood cats. One doesn't seem to have a home; he was very nervous around me at first, but now he loves cuddles and never seems to leave my garden. I don't let Sterling out unattended because I don't think she'd last long out there, and she unfortunately doesn't seem to have any understanding of social cues. Despite being with her breeder for two years in a house full of cats, she goes up to the outside cats like the Honey Monster and eagerly sniffs them with such a lack of grace they end up getting irritated with her and hiss and/or swipe (meanwhile, Oliver's looking on with an "I don't know you" expression).
There's at least one cat that doesn't get along with Oliver, but I haven't seen who it is, I've just heard deep growing sounds and seen little scratches on his skin. I think, like Alekto said, that once the territorial boundaries are established the fighting should stop. I understand cats usually are very respectful once it's clearly understood what belongs to whom.