Help - Cathouse Being Used By Wrong Cat

I have four feral cats (all females, one mother three kittens) I have been caring for for the last 5 months - I spent a small fortune on a cat house with heat -- it is toasty warm -- they were using it since it is quite cold here -- then this big tom cat shows up and is eating their food and sleeping in the house. My poor cats are about 8 feet from the house and him sleeping in the cold...I am so upset...my poor little 5 month old kittens are freezing and this cat has a small heated mansion for himself....No my cats are not fixed and now they are scared to come on my deck even to eat...how can I get rid of him??? He knows he shouldn't be in there since he runs when he hears me coming...but in the meantime my poor little strays are going to freeze all winter long because of him -- can anyone give me some advice...??? I am so angry, I even tried to feed him too but he attacked one of my little kittens...please help...........Barb L.
P.S. I intend to have them fixed...

There is a cat that just walks boldly right into the house to eat my cat's food. I can't even feed my foster outside any more because this bully cat eats his food. I am sure he is not homeless. He has jumped on poor Scooter and beat his little butt, then when I was chasing him away, he ran right over poor Scooter, hit him full on with his shoulder and knocked the little guy tail over teakettle before I could get to him.
I have hooked up the hoses outside and if I can get him without getting any of mine, I will turn the hose on him. I hate to do it, but I can't have him hurting my cats or coming in my house.
They have just begun to have supervised outside playtime, and I don't want them to be afraid. They love it, and I love the less litter box scooping

Originally Posted by krazy kat2

There is a cat that just walks boldly right into the house to eat my cat's food. I can't even feed my foster outside any more because this bully cat eats his food. I am sure he is not homeless. He has jumped on poor Scooter and beat his little butt, then when I was chasing him away, he ran right over poor Scooter, hit him full on with his shoulder and knocked the little guy tail over teakettle before I could get to him.
I have hooked up the hoses outside and if I can get him without getting any of mine, I will turn the hose on him. I hate to do it, but I can't have him hurting my cats or coming in my house.
They have just begun to have supervised outside playtime, and I don't want them to be afraid. They love it, and I love the less litter box scooping

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Good idea! also you could try and trap him inside the house.. lock him inside for half a day he will be so pissed off he will never go in again.. cats HATE doors...

and when u let him out get him with some water!

Do u have a pic of the kittey house?

Can u catch him? If so hold in a bathroom for a few days. He may be stray that needs to find his home OR a bully cat. If the latter, the owners would start looking for him. And he'd likely head home right away! Maybe not come back either!!

I would put a second shelter out, here's a cheap and easy one:

Tupperwear container or Rubbermaid - 70 quarts or bigger, maybe 50 gallons?
get some insulated board (the kind they put in house walls or attics) put on the bottom of the tupper container. Stuff FULL of stray NOT hay. Straw can be found in mini bales at the craft stores now. Hurry tho, they don't last...

put up on blocks or pieces of wood... to keep off ground. Use a coffe can plastic lid to trace a circle, but a hole using a band saw. (This part my BF did for me). Put lid ontop of container.

Purchase a couple of snuggle disks from Valley Vet (on line on the internet) has them for 22 dollars apiece and covers included. Heat them in micro for 7 minutes (1000 watt oven) or till VERY hot. Put in the cover, and put in the tupper -

Easy and safe and warm and dry and very very cheap. Not above
50 for the entire package. And if your bully boy goes away? Then the cats still have a second shelter for "variety"!

Hope this solution helps. Its what I would consider. I might also trap and take bully to my vet to check for chip. If he was not fixed, I might pony up to fix him - reduce agression.

When I had this problem it was another female coming to my porch. She looked pregnant or with kittens b/c her belly was big. She was going after my 2 ferals Ace and William and chasing them off the porch- lots of screeching was happening a lot!

I did trap her and took her to be spayed. She DID have 2 newborn kittens and that was why she was being so aggressive. I found homes for the kits- they survived thank God. It was not a fun situation .

I really feel for you, Barb, I felt so protective toward my kitties, and I was really mad at this other kitty even tho I knew she was just surviving.

After this little girl was released she did not come back to my porch. I have seen her once since then but she doesn't want anything to do with my house.

I still feel bad that I could not also find a comfy spot for her, but as with your situation, they did not want to all be one big happy family. My feral female hated her. I even put a kitty house out for her on the other side of my house, but no luck. Plus they all considered the entire outside perimeter of my house to be their territory, so there was only room for Ace/William or the other kitty.

So, you might try trapping this guy, but I know you have the problem of getting the other kits instead. Plus I'm not sure it would make your guy go away. It sounds like that shelter is something he really loves, along with your house and the food.

As the other poster suggests, you could do another makeshift shelter. If it were me, I would get 2 outdoor cat heating pads and some fleeces to make a donut around the pads; and put them under another solar pool cover, making a tent between two deck chairs, putting bricks around the floor, and leaving a little space open for the kits to go in. It is possible the Tom will prefer this to the house, even. You could put the bedding from the house he is in right now, into the new space for him. My feral male prefers to sleep on the floor of his winter house area- quick escape.

I know your kitties already have the space under your deck- the only other thing I suggest is putting the second solar cover on top of the deck, therefore sealing it better, and putting the heating pads underneath so it helps to enclose that space better and they will be warmer under there.

I just found this site today and I can't tell you what a relief it has been to read these posts. I am a longtime animal lover, but a first time mom to 7 feral cats. Three adults appeared in my yard over the summer. At first I was annoyed because they were hunting my wild finches. However, when one day I looked up on the fence and saw a tiny furry orange face (1 of a litter of 3), I knew they were homeless cats. I called my uncle who works with the Homeless Cat Network and we immediately began "Operation Kitty Trap". We have since trapped and fixed 3 adults and 2 sets of kittens. The older kittens were rejected by the SPCA adoption program, but 3 of the 4 younger kittens were accepted. So, I now have a colony of 7 plus some kitty acquaintences who stop in for a snack.

Anyway, I have been struggling and worrying for months about how to keep my cats warm and dry throughout the winter. San Francisco is normally very mild, but it has been really rainy and the temperatures have been dropping to the low 30's. I have bought 2 sets of double decker insulated cat houses and they only go in them sometimes. I had been using cedar chips, but decided to put fleece blankets to help entice them in. Now I'm reading that I should not put blankets in there because they may get moldy. The houses are waterproof, but I guess moisture can even come from the kitties themselves. I have also taken my two outdoor chaise lounges and covered them with a tarp to keep the underneath dry. I have put a bunch of blankets and cat beds under there and several of them do go under there a lot. However, they mostly go under the deck!!! The deck is not totally waterproof, but they seem to feel most comfortable there. I have thought about buying some of the outdoor heating pads and sliding them under the deck. I may buy some for under the lounge chairs as well.

I am pretty concerned about keeping them dry because they all have colds. Two appeared to have Upper Respiratory Infections and my vet prescribed antibiotics. The feral cat coordinator at the SPCA told me they can handle the heat better than the rain, so I should try to keep them as dry as possible.

In any case, I will try the solar pool covers -- that is a great idea. I would like to hear any other ideas you all have or maybe a little reassurance that we'll all get through the winter! Thank so much.

I just found this site today and I can't tell you what a relief it has been to read these posts. I am a longtime animal lover, but a first time mom to 7 feral cats. Three adults appeared in my yard over the summer. At first I was annoyed because they were hunting my wild finches. However, when one day I looked up on the fence and saw a tiny furry orange face (1 of a litter of 3), I knew they were homeless cats. I called my uncle who works with the Homeless Cat Network and we immediately began "Operation Kitty Trap". We have since trapped and fixed 3 adults and 2 sets of kittens. The older kittens were rejected by the SPCA adoption program, but 3 of the 4 younger kittens were accepted. So, I now have a colony of 7 plus some kitty acquaintences who stop in for a snack.

Anyway, I have been struggling and worrying for months about how to keep my cats warm and dry throughout the winter. San Francisco is normally very mild, but it has been really rainy and the temperatures have been dropping to the low 30's. I have bought 2 sets of double decker insulated cat houses and they only go in them sometimes. I had been using cedar chips, but decided to put fleece blankets to help entice them in. Now I'm reading that I should not put blankets in there because they may get moldy. The houses are waterproof, but I guess moisture can even come from the kitties themselves. I have also taken my two outdoor chaise lounges and covered them with a tarp to keep the underneath dry. I have put a bunch of blankets and cat beds under there and several of them do go under there a lot. However, they mostly go under the deck!!! The deck is not totally waterproof, but they seem to feel most comfortable there. I have thought about buying some of the outdoor heating pads and sliding them under the deck. I may buy some for under the lounge chairs as well.

I am pretty concerned about keeping them dry because they all have colds. Two appeared to have Upper Respiratory Infections and my vet prescribed antibiotics. The feral cat coordinator at the SPCA told me they can handle the heat better than the rain, so I should try to keep them as dry as possible.

In any case, I will try the solar pool covers -- that is a great idea. I would like to hear any other ideas you all have or maybe a little reassurance that we'll all get through the winter! Thanks so much.

Instead of cedar chips, use STRAW. They LOOVE straw. My ferals cat
shelters are all stuffed with straw, and they are ALL in use (I see "nests" made, so I KNOW something for sure is using them, and since I have MORE than 1 shelter out, I know that its probably cats.

I make shelters out of bee boxes, and rubbermaid containers. I also have a dog igloo up on a pallet. And I bought and Indie feral shelter to use, but
its not so popular. I think my ferals also go under the shed, but when it
gets VERY cold and windy, and wet, they go into the shelters rather than the storm drains. the shelters are much nicer they believe!

You can heat cat houses or shelters with snuggle safe disks (Foster Vets online on the web carriers them) put in micro for 8 minutes and they stay hot for 12 hrs. reusuable too... I also use one time use emergency heat packs (like hand warmers but larger) when it dips way down here.

good luck!