Any advice appreciated

Hello all,

I hope this is an appropriate forum for this question!

I have just moved to a new flat, my lovely cat sits next to me on the sofa. We have a balcony out the back of the building which is connected by a fire escape to all the other floors and to the ground. The flat below us clearly owns a cat, and that cat for some reason has decided our balcony should be its toilet, and we encounter faeces and smell regularly.

Aside from this being annoying and something we'd like to stop, I'd also like to introduce my cat to the outside world now, and let him use the balcony and fire escape to get to the gardens- I'm just worried that he'll be intimidated by this other cats smell as soon as he steps foot outside.

So, I want to stop the other cat from using our balcony, but I want the balcony to remain friendly enough for mine to enjoy going out onto it.

Any advice?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi and welcome to TCS! Hope we can help......
Under the assumption your kitty is an indoor kitty and your building multi floor, first thing that comes to mind is if anyway possible to enclose your balcony. Maybe some type of fence, wire or panel, to deter outside trespassers. Once you do this, definitely clean your balcony thoroughly before he is introduced, otherwise it could cause some stress.

Hello! Many thanks for the reply!

He's not an indoor cat by nature, but having moved only recently we've kept him in so far. The idea is very much for him to use the balcony and then the fire escape to let him into the enclosed and expansive garden area.

So he'll no doubt encounter the other cat (and many more) but I just want him to become used to the outdoors without feeling threatened at first, as he's obviously been moved about a bit recently. Do you think we should block off the balcony to begin with until it's very much his territory?

I think it would be so much appreciated by him to block off the balcony from the other cat, as well as clean it thoroughly of the markings. This way he can claim it his territory in a non threatened, fresh introduction. After all, your goal is to show him his balcony, not introduce him to the neighbors cat or the large litter box the neighbors cat has made of your balcony........
Oh yeah, wanted to mention that I live in NYC with a back rooftop garden on the second floor. Maia is terrified of the outdoors if I'm not holding her, but our last kitty, Sweety, loved to run around out back and I constantly worried about other roaming cats. Thank the lord she was very hesitant as well and only stayed out back for no longer then 10 minutes if we weren't there. I never had the obvious stray in the back area though, the last thing you want is for your boy to get in a fight or feel threatened by the other.

You're never going to be able to keep other cats away from your cat if they're in the same 'territory'. There's just no way, so even though I know UK cats are allowed out and that it might be safe otherwise for yours to be out, I personally would take advantage of her having been indoors for the recent past and just leave well enough alone. You're just asking for trouble with abscesses from scratches, illnesses picked up from others, or who knows what other problems might arise. If she's not tearing the doors down to get out herself, why ask for trouble?

Originally Posted by Larke

You're never going to be able to keep other cats away from your cat if they're in the same 'territory'. There's just no way, so even though I know UK cats are allowed out and that it might be safe otherwise for yours to be out, I personally would take advantage of her having been indoors for the recent past and just leave well enough alone. You're just asking for trouble with abscesses from scratches, illnesses picked up from others, or who knows what other problems might arise. If she's not tearing the doors down to get out herself, why ask for trouble?

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Agree with wanting to insure safety, disagree with not being able to close off your balcony.

Oh... close off the balcony by all means, but I meant once the cat was out in the garden below.