# Neighbour's cat upsetting mine.



## Cleopatra73 (May 27, 2012)

Hello I'm wondering if anyone can help me with their opinion on the best way to keep my neighbour's cat out of my yard at night? I have a 2 year old cat of my own (Moses) whom I keep in at night. I have lost cats on the road overnight and I don't need to tell you horrible that is. I adopted him at 12 weeks from Cats Protection and have always kept him in from before it gets dark. He is black and I don't want him to wear a reflective collar so there is no way I wouldn't worry if he were out at night. He has always been a very home-orientated little chap and comes home every couple of hours. Moses has catflaps front and back which I close down in the evenings. He comes running when I call him or he hears my dog and I in the backyard and follows us up and down the backlane which runs behind my house. He and my dog (Amber) have a lovely relationship where they seek each other out. 

Amber's presence intimidates my neighbour's cat but obviously I'm not going to leave her out in the yard all night which is when the other cat comes into my yard spraying his scent about. First thing in the morning my neighbour's cat perches on the fence at the end of my yard and stresses out my cat so I want to stop him doing this in Moses' space. The cat never tries to come into the house which I put down to the presence of my dog. I let Amber out when Moses goes and the cat shoots away but he is there the next morning so I really want him to realise that my yard is not a good place to be.

My neighbours adopted their cat about 2 months ago (he's about a year old). The man informed me that they had a cat now at their childrens' request, in case I saw the cat about and wondered if he had a home. I started to say that, given my experience, I would urge them to keep their cat in at night, but he was uninterested in the idea and said it was less bother to let the cat come and go as it pleased. Thats obviously their choice.

We live in a Victorian mid-terrace so have quite small yards. I considered a water-spray cat deterrent to set up at night which I could link to my waterbutt. Does anyone have any opinions on these? I also considered the ultra-sonic deterrents but I have rabbits and I wonder if it would upset them? The rabbit hutch is right outside the end kitchen window where I let Moses out in the morning (he has catflaps front and back but now the neighbour's cat is about I thought Moses might prefer going out higher up to scan the yard first). I thought if I put something on top of the hutch I could reach out and deactivate it before letting Moses out.

So if anyone is still reading after my lengthy essay then I would be glad to hear what you say!!


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@Cleopatra73 - you could first try a water pistol as a deterrent. They are cheap to buy. As soon as you see the neighbour's cat in your yard spray him with water. It won't hurt him and he may get the message to stay away.

However it's possible he might still come back at night when you are not around and all is quiet and spray your yard. In which case a sensor operated water spray which you switch on every night would be a great idea. They are effective. You do need an outdoor tap to fit it to.

You would need to get a good quality model for it to be reliable. There are several cheap models on the market which are fairly useless. The best one I know of is the Contech Scarecrow Animal Deterrent.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Contech-Sc...=1494351369&sr=1-1&keywords=contech+scarecrow

I wouldn't use a sonic scarer as you have rabbits outside, as it will scare them too!

Do you know if the neighbour's cat was adopted from a Rescue btw? If so he will have been neutered (as Rescues always neuter their cats prior to rehoming) but the operation may have been fairly recent. If so, it may take a while for his hormone levels to drop enough to influence his behaviour.


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## Cleopatra73 (May 27, 2012)

Thankyou for your words Chillminx- much appreciated. I'm glad I asked about the water spray Cat Deterrents because now I know not to waste money on them as I haven't got an outside tap. But I have noted down the model you suggest because if the problem can't be solved then ultimately I will need to get one of those taps put in so I can get a "Scarecrow". You've confirmed what I suspected about an Ultrasonic device upsetting my rabbits so that's off the cards now too. However I have a fabulous excuse for getting a water-pistol !!! Haven't had one of them for years lol..... 

Yes I am almost certain that my neighbours got their cat from a rescue centre. I get what you say about the entire tomcat spraying and the hormones, however I have definitely seen Moses spraying up against the fence in the backlane and he was neutered by Cats Protection before I even met him!! (They said that they operate on them real early now). At least one of the boys I had in previous years did it too, on occasion, but it didn't stink like entire toms'. Perhaps they still spray, of a fashion, if they feel a bit threatened by another cat moving in on their patch? But from what you say my neighbour's cat should stop having stinky sprays soon thank goodness. However I still don't want him in the yard because Moses can still smell whatever that cat has done overnight when he goes out in the morning. The other reason I know for sure that cat has sprayed is that I can see wee down the front of the thick plastic sheeting I cover my hutch with at night- not nice. It only started when that cat moved here so I am pretty certain he's to blame.

I let my dog out at the same time as Moses this morning so I think that will be something else that should put that cat off coming into my yard, at least first thing and during the afternoons/evenings when I'm home from work. She races to the back gate which must send any intruder cat racing away. Moses isn't fazed by anything Amber does though which is very very cute.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

You are right - neutered cats do spray to scent mark, but perhaps not with as much frequency or volume as an un-neutered cat. Though I often witnessed two of my previous cats, a male and a female, both neutered, spraying arcs of urine over the shrubs in my garden, to such an extent I often doubted my poor plants would survive such an onslaught (they did btw.)

But as a broad generalisation I've found that neutered males as new inhabitants of a neighbourhood may be a bit more laid back about the intensity with which they spread their scent around, than an entire male cat may be. There will always be exceptions of course, LOL. 

One thing I have noticed is that cats love spraying sheets of plastic or perspex. There is a theory that some of the chemicals used in making the plastic may smell like cat urine to a cat, so they spray it to cover up the scent of what they believe to be another cat.

Good luck with the water pistol.


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## Cleopatra73 (May 27, 2012)

Its good to hear back from you. 

I will be getting myself a water-pistol toy in town tomorrow lol. If I leave my bathroom window open I can scoosh the neighbours cat without him having any prior warning......

I was surprised to read that you've had a girl cat spray with such professionalism!! I suppose its the same thing as the fact that my neutered girl dog Amber squats to pee in the backlane but prefers to tip one of her back legs to some degree when we are out. I've seen her tip her backleg higher than her head, presumably because she feels the need to scent mark above another dogs pee!! Its interesting what you say about the smell of plastic sheeting being an enticement to scent mark. I've heard the same thing about electrical "entertainment" devices like tvs and dvd players which, in view of what you say, makes sense since they're plastic cased?

So I will report back on the effect of the water-pistol!! I'd like the 2 cats to just co-exist without Moses being intimidated. I hope that the other cat will be less bolshy when his hormones fade off. I did wonder if letting Moses out 24hrs would solve the problem, because his scent wouldn't get chance to fade, but I just can't bring myself to do that. I know cats are built for nightime but I honestly wouldn't rest....... What's your opinion on that?


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

I'm the same as you, I couldn't possibly rest if I let my cats out at all night. My girls are trained to come in at dusk as one of them is mostly black so I don't like her out in the dark, even though she is restricted to the garden and also there is almost no traffic after dark in the quiet cul-de-sac where I live. But one never knows....she might manage to get out of the garden somehow.

The boys are allowed out until 10.30 pm because they are sensible, don't go far (my garden or my neighbour's garden) and are very obedient at coming home when called. If they were not good at recall I wouldn't allow them out after dark.

I adopted a senior rescue (neutered) male cat , aged 15, some years ago. His owner had died, and the Rescue told me the owners family said the cat had always been allowed to come and go as he pleased 24/7 . I wasn't keen on the idea, as the cat had CKD so was not in great health. I tried to keep him in overnight, but he got very stressed and sprayed all the doors. The vet said it would be a kindness to allow him out 24/7 so I did so and he never went far. Those would be the only kind of circumstances I would let a cat of mine go out 24/7 tbh.


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## Cleopatra73 (May 27, 2012)

Your thoughts could be mine Chillminx!! Its nice to know I'm not the only one who feels that way. I have had rescue cats (always more than one at a time) ever since I moved here 20 years ago. I am also in a cul-de-sac but have a road running a fair distance, parallel to, but behind the backlane which goes behind these houses, if that makes sense. It is traffic on that road which has claimed a few of mine over night and given 2 others horrible injuries which they managed to drag home with.  I'm not risking that with Moses and, to be honest, he doesn't seem bothered about not going out. I make sure we have a playtime in the evenings and, after all, I took in him in because I enjoy wanted to spend time with him!! He does his own thing til early afternoon when I get home from work then he's in and out as he pleases until taking himself off to sleep on my bed after his supper. His recall isn't as trustworthy as your cats so although I'm tempted to let him back out for a bit at about 9pm (when he eventually gets back up again lol) I daren't.

And woohoo I am now the proud owner of a £1 Poundland water pistol!! I'm ashamed to say it took me longer than it should have to realise that I neede to SCREW the water canister back in rather than just push it- thought at first I'd bought a duff item....... So it's all set ready on my bathroom windowsill but I haven't had the chance to use it because the said intruder cat wasn't on my shed roof this morning. I was almost disappointed. lol But I don't think its the end of the story so I will keep it up there in case.

Instead, this morning out went Amber down to the backgate at the same time as Moses and I let them into the backlane for her to wee whilst he did his cat things to make sure nothing had changed in the world overnight..... He stayed out the back, Amber came in with me and within minutes we heard the typical cat scrappy noises......  She followed me into the backlane and there were the 2 cats circling each other with hackles up. Before I could stop Amber (cos I was still half-asleep) she had charged up the lane sending the other cat running whilst Moses sat back and just watched her go by...... Then she came trotting back and checked him over. Looks like he has a personal bodyguard for at least some bits of the day :Happy.

And after what you said about the smell of plastic to cats I sprayed the hutch cover with hutch disinfectant yesterday evening and I didn't notice any evidence of spraying this morning. Fingers crossed.


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