Ferals scratching fence

I hate Spring! The neighbor trouble begins...

What can I put outside in my yard that the cats will want to scratch their claws on, instead of using the neighbor's fence?
I know that there are things that they can put on the fence that will make them not want to go near it, but that's not going to happen.

He already throws things at the cats and swears at them like a crazy man.
And after having the six ferals and my own cat disappear three years ago, ( it still hurts...not knowing where they are or who took them kills me!)
I don't want anything like that to happen with the cats that are left.

Thanks for any help!

Good sized logs (or parts of tree trunks) with bark on. Some laying down and if you can put some vertical, too.

But ultimately the cats aren't just scratching the fence to sharpen their claws, they're also doing it to scent mark - which will be harder to stop.

Wow, I can certainly sympathize. I just had a neighbor in the apartment unit complain up a storm about "my cats" scratching to near ruin her new $13,000 car parked in the garage and asking me to stop their feeding. Which is almost certainly her being a drama queen as its very rare for a cat to actually claw a car (random neighborhood cats and strays are always sleeping on cars, I have never seen them cause any damage besides a foot print or 2). Any paint loss is more likely due to a raccoon or some other similar sized animal.

Can they do significant damage to a fence ? Put water and a bird feeder in your backyard to keep your cat inside her own area. There may be electronic repellents or fence guards or something you can set up on your side as well.

I'm setting a bowl out of sight (and hopefully mind !) off the porch and in their shelter. At least the apartment manager is also a shelter operator....Good luck !

I know he won't put anything on the fence to stop the cats, but if YOU can... I'd take Strange Wings' suggestion and put some stumps in the back yard for them to use - but to deter them, I'd look into the deterrant coyote urine (they sell synthetic).

You may get mixed results with any pet and other repellents or predator urine. No one solution seems to work for all cats, but from what I've heard, don't be surprised if they build up a tolerance over the long run. And some just get used to it in short order and continue their business as usual.

Well...There's no way that I can put anything on the fence secretly. It is the fence in front of the house and he is retired and in and out all day. Never gone the whole day that I noticed.

I did manage to pick up a stump today! Here in the Northeast we just had that wind storm and it knocked down a lot of trees here, but that was a week ago and most people have cleaned up. I was going to give up, when I saw a pile of cut up trees in a lot. I hope I wasn't stealing , but I took a stump and a thick branch. I would have loved to get another one or two, but I couldn't pick anything else up!

Now, anything I can spray on this stump to make it more desirable to leave a scent or should I just leave it alone?

Thank you!

Catnip. The most important thing, however, is that they are really stable.

As to the neighbor's fence... I wasn't thinking daytime.

And, actually, a few mothballs scattered along the bottom of it might do the trick too. The idea is to make it undesirable for a little while - and having an alternative they'd like in your yard - and it sounds like you did great!