Aggressive tabby visitor

[Bubblecat]

An aggressive tabby tom-cat (Bengal or similar breed, I think) has been visiting my garden recently and beating up my two cats - particularly the smaller, more outdoorsy one - and spraying by the door. He looks too sleek and well-fed to be a stray so I'm fairly certain he has an owner elsewhere in the village, but as he has no collar there's no way of knowing who - otherwise I'd politely ask them that they get him neutered to help reduce his aggression.

My parents and I have started pouring water on him when he turns up now and it's got to a point where he runs away when he sees one of us, but he still keeps visiting and attacking our cats when he gets the chance. We've taken to shutting the cats indoors at night time or when none of us are in the house, but even then, he will often turn up at night and start hissing and banging on the locked cat flap. Are there any other ways we can protect our cats and deter the tabby?

There is the option of taking a photo and putting a poster up on the village noticeboard to ask his owners to neuter him (as he's been causing trouble for other cat owners in our street too) but we don't really want to make any enemies and are worried it could come across as passive-aggressive.

[Kay]

I think taking a photo and posting it around is a good one, but I would word it as a 'possible stray cat found' and just ask if he has an owner

if the owner then contacts you you might get the chance to have a friendly word re the problems he is causing, and the best/obvious solution

if no one claims to own him after a month (have to allow for holidays) I would be tempted to whisk him off to the vet - he may not be owned just because he's well fed - I feed an unneutered tom who lives in my garden, and he is sleek and well nourished, but happily is small and causes no bother

if someone nippier than me managed to trap him and get him seen to I would be delighted though

[Ruth B]

Another option if you can get close to him would be to put a paper collar on him asking the owners to contact you, again you could word it so it sounds like you are worried he is a stray. Alternatively if you could catch him, a trip to the vets to check for a microchip might be an option of finding out where he lives.

To help deter him, i would suggest water pistols rather than just throwing water over him as they have better range, just aim for the back or a flank to make sure you don't hit the head. You can also get water sprays on sensors for deterring herons and such from ponds, one of those might work to keep him away from the cat flap at night, just remember to turn it off when you let your cats out.

I would also suggest keeping a diary of how often he visits and what occurred, hopefully you would not need it, but some owners can be hard pressed to believe that their little angel is causing trouble elsewhere.

[booktigger]

Do you know he is definitely un-neutered? unfortunately spraying and beating cats up doesn't mean he isn't