Should I help my cat protect her space?

[Gangof4]

A bold cat in the neighbourhood spends a lot of time in my garden and has even come into the house. Neighbours have reported it coming into their houses, too. My cat and it have eyed each other up and had a scrap or two. A couple of days ago, it came into my house and a catfight took place in the house. I got them out and they continued eyeing each other up. Should I leave it to my cat to look after herself or should I intervene by shooing off the other? I don't want to do anything that might undermine my cat nor do I want either to think I'm OK with the other one to lay claim to my cat's space?

[Lilith]

Hi there, before I secured my garden and supervised my cats' outings, I used to have a lot of visitors, especially when the little gits realised there was a bowl of biscuits in the living room lol.

I didn't mind; they were well behaved and didn't foul; my cats weren't fazed by them...until Mork arrived.

At that time I had a tomcat (retired) and 3 spayed girls; Mork too was neutered and had an excellent home of his own (shared with his friend Mindy of course) but his mission in life was to take over our garden and house, challenge my boy Finn for the possession of the girls and generally make life hell for us all. He even swore at me!

I wasn't having any! As soon as I realised what he was up to I told him to scram. I growled at him and ordered him off the premises...there's a high wall at the bottom of the garden and Mork used to get up on it and eye me. 'Mork!' I'd say warningly, and Mork would be off.

I don't like to be unfriendly to a cat but in this sort of case I think you do have to defend your cat's rights; I don't think it's undermining your cat to defend her, especially after the other one has come into the house and beaten her up; it could have injured her and she would have had the distress of having to go to the vet - and you would have had a hefty bill.

Could be an idea to note, does it look prosperous or is it thin or neglected looking, and to ask about to find if it has a home or seems to be a stray or feral; if the latter then might be a good thing to contact such as the CPL to see if it could be rescued - but there's every chance it's got a good home and is just playing power games as Mork did.

Whatever the circumstances, for your own girl's sake, I'm all in agreement with shooing this pesky intruder away if it comes bothering again. Good luck.

[Crewella]

I agree, I'd do all I could to warn him off my cat's patch too. Especially from coming into the house.

I would also try to find out if the cat does have a home. It might just be bold, but it might be desperation as it could be a stray or a cat that has been left behind when its owners moved. Either way you don't want it in your house, but it would be awful to be chasing off a cat in need of help.

[Jan]

I've no hesitation in protecting Blackie's space which is our (and his) garden.

We have a bully cat who lives opposite. For some reason the owners never let their cat out into their own garden so it has to wander across the road into someone else's garden). They were in this neighbour's garden at the same time on one occasion, and I can still picture the terror in Blackie's eyes as he cowered against the shed at the end of our garden after he'd raced back to it. Murphy had chased Blackie all the way and fortunately I got there in time as he was preparing to launch himself at Blackie.

I thought this cat had died when we returned from NSomerset after being away for 4 months, but caught sight of it today, spraying its way round our front garden, - presumably to mark it as its territory. My OH went outside to shoo it off, but this cat isn't afraid of anything or anyone ... he just stood there waiting for my OH to stroke him!

Last year Blackie was involved in another fight with 2 cats who had strayed up near the back of our house and had cornered him. The noise of screeching was terrible to hear and I rushed from the lounge to the back of the house to see what was going on. I found black hair strewn all over the lawn - the 2 cats ran off when they saw me and I eventually found Blackie sitting high up on the side gate post - frightened out of his life. He came limping through the front door and up the stairs with ragged fur on his hind quarters and didn't move until 1pm the following day. A subsequent vet examination found no real damage - except probably to his pride.

I also found Blackie once cowering under the patio table cover not long after we adopted him from my mother because Murphy had come up to the back of the house and was threatening him.

Unfortunately, my mother, in the latter years of caring for Blackie, encouraged another cat into her house, and when I told her how unfair this was to Blackie, she said this other cat was a stray. It most definitely wasn't (the owners must have wondered why the cat was getting so fat!) - but I think the encouraged invasion of Blackie's home, and being the weakest kitten of a litter, has left its mark on him.

So do I protect Blackie? Yes, I do - and I don't care how I do it when his safety is at stake.

[Gangof4]

Thank you Lilith, Crewella & Jan for your responses.

My cat, Daisy, has taken the matter into her own hands. She sees off the bold one on sight, chases it into neighbouring gardens and gives it something to go on with for good measure. Hasn't stopped it from coming back for more, though. It is obviously well cared for and a very striking and attractive thing, I must say. Bigger than Daisy, but that hasn't stopped her from going for it.

[Crewella]

That's good to know, on both counts. Well done Daisy!

[Lilith]

Ha, nice one! Good on yer Daisy!

[lilynmitz]

to stop them coming into your house, go for a microchip cat flap like PetPorte or Sureflap. I'm about to get one, and I know friends who had this problem said it worked for them. No more intruders.

Get a supersoaker for the garden as well! That should see him off, and won't do him any harm.