Newer cat in building bullying my neutered cat.

[FZ2000]

Hi everyone,

I live in an apartment complex of a few units. It has a big garden at the back and a garden at the front.

In the building there's three male cats.

My cat (first floor)
A ginger cat and a new cat (third floor to different residents that live next to each other)

My cat was neutered young. The ginger cat is not neutered. They are friends and virtually grew up together despite living with different owners.

The new cat is uneutered, and the one that's bullying my cat.

My cat is a softy, he loves the outdoors and is the least bit territorial. If there's an intruder cat from neighbouring areas, the ginger cat would be the one to hold the fort, whereas my cat avoids confrontation, he would watch from afar, chill with ginger cat in the front to show intruders not to step inside, or just come inside the house.

Before the new cat. The same owners had another male uneutered cat who would slide under the gate just to attack my cat. We did not see him for several years thereafter, apparently he passed (I'm unsure of the reason).

The new cat came in the beginning of the year. He was already an adult. Possibly a stray.
At first he tried to force himself into our house. I thought he confused our house for his own. But it happened too many times. Before this there was some hostility between the two cats when they coincidentally met (my cat is a caring one, but this was different as he low growled at the other cat.).
Then after the many times I realised he wanted to get to my cat.
Then once he actually did manage to get inside the house.
He tried to roam around, my cat followed behind in confusion.
He suddenly attacked my cat. And I grabbed the cat and took him outside.
He kept trying to get inside the house. However because of our efforts to chase him away, he stopped. He still stalked the front by the stairway for my cat.
And in the stairway he would try to attack my cat when my cat would want us to let himself outside.

I couldn't understand why the cat was so adamant to bullying my cat. I then hypothesised that the new cat was targeting my cat because of its failed attempts to attack the ginger cat.
It turned out to be true as I witnessed the new cat wanting to attack the ginger cat, but had no bravado in doing so. Unlike his behaviour with my cat, he was hesitant.
It's definitely a one sided turf war here, as both live next to each other and uneutered.

For a good few month nothing seemed to happen. My cat was getting braver. However recently I felt tiny scabs on his body.
And a week ago there was a sudden loud fight in front of our stairway. The new cats owner witnessed it and scolded her cat in surprise. She also apologised.

Then today my cat was behaving strange. He was very vocal.
He's a quiet cat. However when I picked him up or touched him he would make a loud noise.
Thereafter I realised he had a large bare patch on his side. It was wet and it looked like the hair was ripped off. There was no bleeding.
It definitely hurt. When we attempted to clean it he was very vocal and growled, like the time we picked him up.

The issue is. The two cats are uneutered. However I wonder if it's too late for behavioural issues to change as it has already set in. The ginger cat was never the problem. Only the new one. And my one is bearing the brunt of it.

I'm attempting to keep my cat inside for as long as possible. But that in itself is a feat as he love the outdoors. But I don't want his wound to get worse.
Keeping him indoors permanently seems like an unlikely option too. We tried it once during COVID and it resulted in him hating us.

If there's any way for a solution please send me advise.

The only issue is the owners doing anything about it.

[susand]

Try cat proofing your garden so your cat can’t get out and other cats can’t get in. Special fencing is available online. Or build a ‘catio’, which is an enclosed outdoor space. Those are the only options I can think of. Whisking someone else’s cat off the the vet to get neutered is a no no - unless it’s a stray, then it’s a possibility and you might even get a charity to do it for free. Talking to the owners of the unneutered cat is probably a waste of time but it might help if you point out the cost of vets bills from their cat getting injured through fighting may be more than the cost of neutering. You never know, it might make a difference.

[susand]

Try cat proofing your garden so your cat can’t get out and other cats can’t get in. Special fencing is available online. Or build a ‘catio’, which is an enclosed outdoor space. Those are the only options I can think of. Whisking someone else’s cat off the the vet to get neutered is a no no - unless it’s a stray, then it’s a possibility and you might even get a charity to do it for free. Talking to the owners of the unneutered cat is probably a waste of time but it might help if you point out the cost of vets bills from their cat getting injured through fighting may be more than the cost of neutering. You never know, it might make a difference.