Cat Next Door Becoming A Real Problem!

Our neighbor's outdoor cat "Thunder" likes to come over and visit our cat "Tommy" at our back door many times a day just to sit and stare at him through the glass. He doesn't act in a threatening manor toward our cat but for whatever reason, Tommy hates seeing Thunder sitting there and goes crazy (hissing, growling and screaming) every time Thunder comes over. They are only inches apart on opposite sides of the glass. They have had a few encounters out in the yard; however, we very seldom let our cat outside. When we do let him out, we watch him every second but Thunder who has claws, has managed to attack Tommy a couple of times and scratched him. Despite these incidents, Tommy who does NOT have claws in front, is not afraid enough to run away when Thunder comes around.

It has become a real problem because all the commotion wakes us up at all hours of the night. In addition, Tommy gets so upset he lunges at the glass and bites the rug by the door which is slowly destroying the rug.

I have some cat repellent called "Fooey" I was thinking of spraying Thunder with at close range by the door to try and teach him a lesson to stay away. It is a non toxic substance but my wife doesn't like this idea because she thinks it's too mean.

By the way, we have two other cats Tommy gets along with just fine and whenever they see Thunder they simply run away and that's the end of it for them.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

I am with your wife on spraying the cat in the face with the repellant... Similar to spraying a person in the face with pepper spray...

Maybe bang on the window to scare both cats away? Have you tried talking to the neighbor? Blinds? Good luck with this, I am sure someone will come by with better ideas, lol!

Yeah....well, we were thinking about discussing the problem with the neighbor but we think they would be upset with us over it and we don't want to strain our relationship with them. The obvious best solution would be for them not to let their cat outside anymore but this option would be out of the question for them because they strongly feel Thunder should have total freedom to come and go whenever he pleases. We have blinds but Tommy easily gets behind them. Also, we have tried scaring Thunder away with sounds (i.e. banging on the window) and hostile actions but he's not afraid at all!

I wasn't planning on spraying him in the eyes..maybe just a little by his mouth because the repellent is very bitter tasting

This is Tommy the Tiger! We just hate to see him so upset all the time lately! He is so adorable when he's happy.....

OK, Tommy is absolutely adorable and shouldn't be under that kind of stress!

I was trying to find a product that some people use around here but can't find the name of it. It has a motion detector and lets out a high pitched sound or a squirt of water to deter them. I've not tried them personally, but look for things like this.

http://www.safepetproducts.com/anima...FR2dnAodplN4qA

http://www.bravisa.com/mybstore/deal...oreProd/354368

I have dogs who do a great job keeping other critters away. They don't attack them, its just that cats and other critters don't want to take the chance of getting close to them.

Thank you very much for the extremely useful info.....I think we are going to opt for a custom built cat proof fence system!

Originally Posted by Momofmany

OK, Tommy is absolutely adorable and shouldn't be under that kind of stress!

I was trying to find a product that some people use around here but can't find the name of it. It has a motion detector and lets out a high pitched sound or a squirt of water to deter them. I've not tried them personally, but look for things like this.

http://www.safepetproducts.com/anima...FR2dnAodplN4qA

http://www.bravisa.com/mybstore/deal...oreProd/354368

I have dogs who do a great job keeping other critters away. They don't attack them, its just that cats and other critters don't want to take the chance of getting close to them.

Click to expand...

I think that is called s-s-s-s-cat! And it's a noise and a puff of air activated by motion.

PS - yes, Tommy is adorable!!! Hugs and scritches for the lil darling!

Please don't spray any product on a cat. Those are meant to be sprayed on the environment only. Even if they're non-toxic, you don't want them going in the eyes. If you want to use a sprayed deterrent, just fill a spray bottle with plain water.

One of the methods we used in the past was a squirt bottle with plain old water. We rented and didn't have a lot of options. We had tried talking to the neighbor, the landlord, etc and got no where. She only kept them on a leash when we called Animal Control and threatened trapping. We have a leash law for cats in our area, so I'm legally in the right to have AC talk to a neighbor. I actually got a trap but never used it. In our case, her cats weren't the only ones driving my cats bonkers. The other neighbors (not in our building) also had roaming cats and there were oodles of strays/ferals since it was a rental/college neighborhood. I tried using orange room spray to repel cats. We also tried bleach in a covered container (supposed to smell yucky to cats). We were all set to resort to coyote pee but were moving soon and decided not to.

In our case what worked best was privacy film on the windows. Essentially blocking my cats' view of the other cats. Then we also ran our air conditioning and rarely had the windows open. I read this idea on a message board quite a few years ago now, that Pam Johnson-Bennett, cat behaviorist, was hosting. She said to block the view. Maybe you could put privacy film over the lower 1/4-1/3 of your back door? Then the neighbor cat can't come over and stare at him. Privacy film is very inexpensive at the hardware store, easy to apply and remove.

Maybe your one neighbor cat isn't the only one coming by bothering poor (very cute) Tommy.