# Terrorised by neighbours cat



## SezM (May 22, 2018)

I’m coming on here in the hope that someone can offer us some advice, help, a sanity check...! There’s a bit of a novel coming up... but I need to rant, I need to brain dump. I need someone to understand as its driving me insane!

Up until 2.5 years ago, we had a peaceful garden existence, our kitten Gatsby, a gentle tall tabby who is a joy in our life, was a very happy, content, healthy, stocky 11.5 year old who had free reign and enjoyed the surrounding fields. We had zero issues with any of the many surrounding cats, zero fights, despite even immediate feline neighbours, and he had a wonderful life.

Then the shit hit the fan.

My neighbours, who moved in a few years after us, but who we became fast friends, sent me a text. A picture of a fluffy white and grey rescue cat in a box with the line ‘I hope this isn’t going to be a problem’. Despite hopes to the contrary, its become nothing but that, and we are reaching a point where I fear our ‘friendship’ is at risk if its not already somewhat broken! We are at boiling point. And while I don’t doubt they find it frustrating, we feel that the balance of that frustration is completely off given the level of disruption this cat has brought to our lives and continues to bring!

The presence of Thomas, the menace cat from hell, started from day one. He appeared at the window staring in. My cat went nuts. From there it just escalated, Thomas peering in the windows, sitting outside his flap, calling him out, he would poo outside his cat flap and spray all over it - my poor cat was getting is arse kicked over and over again. Fights would explode at all hours, through the flap. This cat was once observed (by a contractor) basically stalking the back of the house antagonising my cat to come out - this one apparently went on for an hour and I assume when we weren’t here that was a regular thing! It was and has been awful. Gatsby has suffered several terrible bites, one of the worst was a huge bite wound on his face and top of his head. He’s had claws removed from his body and deep scratches and a claw ripped out. The list is endless to the wounds he’s experienced by this cat. Never had issues before like it! This went on and on and my cat became more and more afraid of going out, he lost hair on his tummy, we had to seek anti anxiety medicine, we got plug ins, we put film on our downstairs windows, we installed prickstrips and high pitch sensors around the garden, we put up mesh, we bought all manor of cat deterrents, we cleaned constantly - this was all btw in advance of any ‘professional’ advice. But nothings helped long term.

It also doesn’t end with my cat, as he’s gone to attack me on multiple occasions, once succeeding and leaving me with a ghastly deep scratch on my leg which has resulted in a very permanent scar. He also pounced and clawed my other leg on another occasion, on both of this occasions I did nothing to antagonise him and, in a nut, I am terrified of him! Even though I try and assert dominance, I in fact have such anxiety of him now, I shake every time I see him. I was attacked by dogs when I was little, which apparently might have some bearing, but still I feel intense threat from him which no matter what I say, I don’t feel heard on this at all. I just have to put up and shut up on that, not even leave my own home or venture into my own garden when he’s home!! My fear is very real and I live in a constant state of high alert whenever he is out! I also have a blood disorder, which means getting any sort of cut or scratch could potentially be very bad for me as I am at risk of sepsis, and on that note I’m not even meant to be anywhere near cat poo and because of this issue we are forced to have a litter box - which we have incidentally had to give up a room for in our house for as nowhere else for it to go. So now I have the added expense and ball ache of disposable gloves! My neighbours know all this and still they say and do nothing.

So, anyway, around maybe 9 months ago we had a major situation, Thomas came in the house through an open back door and attacked my cat as he’d just finished using his litter, he chased him upstairs. This cat pee’d and poo’d in our bedroom. The rug was ruined and I spent two hours removing the smells. My poor cat was utterly traumatised and sustained 5 cat bites to his rear. He was fleeing and this cat just went into kill mode.

After that, our level of upset was suddenly taken notice of, we wanted him gone, but our neighbours employed suggested a cat behaviourist, which was something at least and which we were very grateful for. The result was the identification that Thomas is a despotic Tom (and neutered very late), and our only option was the establishment of a time share. At the time I was so beside myself I would have accepted anything, I would have taken 5 minutes. As it stands my cat gets around 8–9 hours of time to ‘enjoy’ and Thomas gets the rest. Meaning my poor cat can be cooped up for up to 16 hours depending on when Thomas decides to come in and it’s insanely frustrating - for us and Gatsby! I haven’t had a good nights kip in months coz Gatsby wakes us up at 6am crying! It’s getting rather maddening!

But it’s moot really - my cat can’t enjoy his time anyway. Thomas sprays constantly and our garden has turned into a cat pee smelling battle ground. I used to clean/hose it every day, but I just couldn’t keep on top of it. Gatsby has never really recovered from his attacks and won’t so long as Thomas continues to make his mark, as it serves as a constant reminder that there is a threat. It’s like living next door to the attacker who assaulted you, who keeps spraying his cologne on your doorway just to remind you he’s still there to cause you pain.

Over the last 7 months we observed Gatsby getting lower and lower, looking shabby and wasting away, he started suffering terrible diarrhoea, his back leg muscles have wasted to nothing as he’s not able to exercise - he will go out for a bit, spray, and run back in the house. As the day goes on, he might get more confident, but its like his own personal Groundhog Day. I had hoped that perhaps his mood was down to age, he’s 14 now and maybe that means he wants to sleep more, he would sleep all day, I took him to the vet and they found nothing over this time until a very recent diagnose did show he now has Hyperthyroidism - but I also think a lot of this is down to stress and the inability to recover from this due to T’s constant ‘presence’. This became very apparent in the last couple of weeks. Outside of responding to his treatment, the biggest change in him was seen when Thomas suffered a massive injury and was house bound for two weeks. Within a few days and scents disappearing, Gatsby was out, he in fact had hardly come in, he was getting adventurous and going out over the fence he was hunting again and he was happy. It was the happiest we have seen him in nearly maybe two years and it was like having our cat back. Thomas was released this morning and appeared shortly after in the garden. I let Gatsby out maybe two hours later. He sniffed the air walked about and came in the house and that was that, sleeping all day. Listless, tail down, very unhappy. It’s breaking my heart. I tried to encourage him out, going into the garden with him and such, but he wouldn’t stay out long at all. It’s very sad.

This evening, besides todays morning visit, Thomas came around 4 times. The first time I chased him off and he went, eventually. The second I caught him spraying the bushes, but ran off when he heard the back door, then the third time I caught him spraying my damned furniture cushions, so I lost it and went to chase him out, he turned and instead of running off, ran for me. I had to grab one of the cushions off the rattan to protect myself. I ran back in the house and got my husband, who came out. This cat would not leave! He just would not go. We hosed him, and we threw stones against the fence next to him (I don’t want to hurt him) but he stayed put being very vocal. We left hoping he would go. Two seconds later he’s back at the window. My husband went out and he ran to the corner of the garden, my husband approached him and tried to shoo him off. The cat went for him, some of which we caught on film. I had some terrible family news today and just wasn’t able to cope with all this, and even my husband - who is a lot calmer on this issue usually - was furious.

We are at the end of our rope and this is a summary! There’s loads more!

Whenever we complain we feel like the turn around is that they are doing us a favour and we should be appreciative, we feel like we are a hassle, and that we just need to ‘live with it’. They have offered time in the evening for ‘extra time’ but it doesn’t matter when he’s already been over and sprayed, Gatsby is just too scared to go out after that, and will just counter spray and come in, so its a pointless offering. They say they can’t extend the time because Thomas cries - but look at everything WE have to deal with... I mean, I just wouldn’t put someone through this, I wouldn’t put their pet through it. This animal attacks everything, he’s even chased the other neighbours dogs though they won’t say anything! I dread to think of the vet bills he causes other people who don’t have insurance for their pets. It’s just a terrible situation and I really need help... we have looked at Katzecure as an option, but its SO expensive and I don’t know if it would work. We have looked at microchip flaps, but they aren’t reliable and I worry that if Gatsby gets caught out, say if Thomas slips out (which happened earlier on in our arrangement and ended up with Gatsby getting an abscess on his tail) and if the flap fails, that he will be stuck. At the moment we lock our current flap (which we have had to replace as Thomas has destroyed it twice now trying to get in since this arrangement - our fault for installing it in the wrong place - even tho it was put in wayyy before they even moved in - and it not being sturdy enough apparently!!) and put a sturdy board across it. 

All in all... I need someone to tell me if they have experienced anything like this, if they found a solution. I am even thinking about moving! I can’t sleep, I am constantly worried. The only respite we have had is those two weeks, and the peace has literally been undone over night. I just don’t know what to do... we don’t know what to do 

Thanks in advance.


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## ChaosCat (Dec 7, 2017)

Oh dear, this sounds like a nightmare indeed. The only permanent solution I can see is cat proofing your garden so that Thomas can’t get inside anymore. 
That would restrict Gatsby’s territory, too, but at least he can go into the garden. Is there a chance of making your garden cat proof?


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## SezM (May 22, 2018)

My garden is fairly large, but yes it is something that we are looking into. I have looked at Katzecure - I just can’t cope with this anymore.


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## ChaosCat (Dec 7, 2017)

Here is a thread all about cat proof gardens and runs, maybe you might like a look:
https://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/cat-runs-cat-proofed-gardens.211361/


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Agree with @ChaosCat cat proofing the garden is your best option but from what you have said it perhaps would be an idea for your neighbour to do the same .


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@SezM - I am so sorry you and poor Gatsby are going through such an awful time!  Disagreements between neighbouring cats who don't get along can be vicious. I have had some experience of this in the past, and it can be very, very stressful. I was lucky that in my case my near neighbour was willing to work out a fair time share of outdoor access for our two cats.

The problem with having outdoor free roaming cats is that things can never be guaranteed to stay the same. The 'safety' aspect of allowing one's cat such freedom needs to be frequently reviewed and reassessed, and changes may need to be made.

Gatsby has had over 11 wonderful years of freedom to roam without being attacked or harassed by an aggressive highly territorial cat. I understand it would be great for him if this freedom could continue, but unless you move to somewhere with no neighbours you can't guarantee that, and in any case, wherever you moved to may cause you safety concerns of a different kind.

I agree with the others, cat proofing your garden is the answer for Gatsby, so he can safely have some outdoor time in his own garden. The cat proofing need not be massively expensive, I have Purrfect Fence in my garden which I attached to the top of existing fences.

http://www.purrfectfence.co.uk/

This would stop Gatsby getting out, but (as Buffie has said), your neighbour may also need to cat proof her side of the boundary fence too, to make sure her cat can not get over into your garden.

Meanwhile I highly recommend you to fit a Sureflap Pet Door to your back door or exterior wall. I have 4 of these around my property and they are all very reliable. The Pet Door has 2 locks on it, so is stronger than the Standard Sureflap. It is essential for Gatsby's peace of mind that his home is not invaded by the neighbour's cat. He is not a young cat and stress will be harmful to his health.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sureflap-5...8&sr=8-1&keywords=sureflap+microchip+pet+door


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## SezM (May 22, 2018)

Thank you! I am making a plan  Monday he arrived and went for both me and my husband as we tried to chase him away. Would not be deterred! I went around that night laying mesh on all acces points. Yesterday no over night smells, no sightings this evening. So yeah, fencing is the way forward! Thanks again! And we have a sureflap, updating his chip soon so we can install it!


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Excellent news @SezM.


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