Territorial Stray Cat

A stray cat adopted me a week ago, I've been taking care of him till I can get him to the vet to have him scanned for a chip and get a health check. After that I'm going to have to rehome him because he's territorial and will attack my neighbors cats. I'd keep him if I could keep him from doing that.

He's a very sweet boy with a lovely disposition, but he will not stay inside. He'll caterwaul and scratch at the door if I try to keep him inside during the day, he also door dashes. Due to my home heating up like a car if the electricity fails and the AC goes off during the summer I cannot have an indoor only pet, I need to be able to let them stay outside if I'm not home in the summer, so even if I force him to stay in it won't work. For now I'm following him around when he's outside like some weird wildlife biologist studying the secret life of cats and keeping him and the neighbors cats separate as much as possible.


Is there anyway to overcome the territorial issue? As of today I've started feeding him little pieces of chicken when the other cat is near, not sure if that will work since as soon as the chicken is gone Cat starts going toward Rusty. The other problem is Rusty, and the other cat Bandit, are declawed but live outside (don't get me started on that!) but Cat isn't. So Rusty and Bandit really can't defend themselves from Cat.

We are way out in the country so being outside during the day is pretty safe for him, he's more then welcome inside whenever he wants to grace the house with his presence, and I will not leave him outside at night.

Is he fixed?

Oh sorry, forgot to add that LOL. Yep he's fixed. From what I can tell he was probably fixed as a young car or kitten, he doesn't have the scars or beat up ears that an unneutered tom gets. I know that my neighbors cats were fixed as kittens.

Don't see an edit button, that should have been young cat and not young car. No the cat does not turn into a car.

Territory issues are really really hard.  I moved a stray inside my house in late May due to territory issues with other outside cats.  The stray (Marvin) wanted to take over the territory.  He too had been neutered, but it was still his instinct to fight for what he wanted.  I moved him inside and put him in a safe room.  I removed most of the furniture from the room, covered up any spots that he could get behind, put a cat tree beside the window and gave him plenty of room to move around.  Of course he had a litter box and plenty of food and fresh water.  It was rough the first week or so, but then he really calmed down.  I kept him in the safe room for over 2 months.  We would visit him about 6x a day with lots of attention.  I gradually moved to putting a screen door up so he could see out and hear all the sounds of the house.  Introductions to my indoor cat are still occurring.  It has been a long long process.  He no longer longs to go outside.  He will sometimes sit in front of the sliding glass door and look out at the deck he once lived on, but never tries to dash out. 

If you want to keep him from fighting, you will need to move him inside, but it's not as simple as just bringing him in and giving him run of the house.  Take it slow.  Marvin now loves being inside and sits on our laps and is such a sweet sweet boy.

I really wish I could make him an indoor only cat, but in my current house (travel trailer) I can't. It quite literally heats up like a car in the summer if the AC is not on. We have random power outages here, and the AC breaker will flip every now and then. It's dangerous to leave an animal unattended in here in the summer. I'm home most of the time but when I'm not I could not leave him inside. I'd build a Catio or Habicat if I had the money to do so but sadly I do not, and my problem with that is that Rusty would still be able to come over and torment him, plus every now and then the people down the roads dogs like to come visiting.

That's basically the reason I choose not to have a cat while living here, but there is no way I can turn my back on an animal in need so when he came to me when I called to him last week he got himself a temporary home, or a permanent one if I can solve the territorial problem.

On a side note we were outside today with Cat lying a little bit away from me and me keeping an eye on everything and Rusty came strolling into the yard. Cat started to go toward Rusty and I got in between them. Talking calmly to them both. Rusty stopped and sat down so I went to cat and started petting him talking the entire time. Cat crouched down then decided to lay down with his back legs out to one side. After awhile Rusty went back the way he came from. Cat wanted to follow (probably to pull a Pac Man ghost attack) but I picked him up and carried him inside where I put out a bit more of his daily kibble so it wouldn't be a punishment. Every now and then I have hope that they can learn to co exist but then I'll have days where the exact opposite happens and they both puff up and go into hiss / growl mode.

Update time!

Well, I still have Cat but I've been calling him Kit Cat since he seems to like that better. He'll look at me when I call him that and meow but if I just call him Cat he's taken to ignoring me.

I finally took off the collar he was wearing when I found him. I had left it on even though it was a bit tight but then I noticed that it was rubbing his skin a bit raw and causing sores. Ohhh no! I'm a person who gets totally ticked off with ingrown collars. IMHO people who allow that to happen need to be tossed in jail and forced to wear pants with waist bands that are at least 1 size to tight, so I took the darned collar off. I could have just loosened it but he likes to climb and go in the underbrush so the collar is off. Yes I am outside with him when he's outside!

He's finally slowed down with his eating and is eating what a normal cat would, he no longer acts like I'm not going to feed him so he'd better remind me then eat every bit of what I fed him even if he only ate an hour before. My new worry is that he has diarrhea. I really hope that's from the new food and adjusting to a new home, and nothing else.

We've got a vet appt tomorrow at 10am where he'll be checked for a microchip and hopefully he has a family out there that misses him like crazy and wants him back. I just wish I could have gotten him in last week but I'm doing the best I can since I don't drive and have to wait to get a ride. If he doesn't have one I'll take him home with me and start trying to re-home him. He deserves a home where he'll be loved and treasured for the sweet awesome boy he is, what I'm trying to avoid like the plague is the kill shelter.

He does good then bad with Rusty the neighbors cat. Bandit there other cat he leaves alone although she does try to run him off, but Rusty is a different story. Depending on the time of day, the way the wind's blowing, the sun shining, maybe the birds singing I dunno, they will cordially dislike each other and hiss a few warnings before settling down, or they'll go into "LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!" mode. No fights have broken out, like I said I do NOT leave him outside alone, but they just won't agree to live and let live. I think if I left them alone it'd be on. If it wasn't for that I'd adopt him myself..... Does anyone think they'll get along fiven enough time? I do know that in the cat colony I lived next door to many, many, years ago, if cats didn't get along they never did and that's what I'm fearing and why I'm just planning on re-homing, but if anyone knows different please let me know.

Well, I'm back from the vet without Cat. He had a microchip, yay, boo, I dunno mixed feelings about it. I think I was secretly hoping that he didn't and someway, somehow, him, Rusty, and Bandit, would somehow start to get along.

His owner or maybe I should say former owner, had rehomed him and another cat and told the person to keep him inside for at least a few days. Well the person let him out the next day and he ran off. His name is Hansel and the other cats name is/was Gretel. Anyway, former owner was happy that he's safe and will be picking him up from the vet around 1pm so Hansel gets to go home.

I'm happy for him and former owner but apparently I had become much more attached to him then I suspected because I miss him like crazy. It's amazing how attached I became in 2 short weeks even knowing that he probably had a home and even if he didn't I wasn't going to be able to keep him.

Happy ending overall, he's safe and sound and is going back to someone who must have taken great care of him :-)

I know how sad you must be feeling as it's easy to become attached quickly.  I hope that Hansel will have a nice forever home and be well cared for.  Thank you so much for all you did for him.  It is guardian angels like you that the world needs more of!

I'm happy for Kit Cat/Hansel, sad for you.
Yes, I know how it is to miss a stray cat, they are such brave creatures you want the very best for them.
In my cat colony, we removed/resocialized/adopted out about five cats. I still miss "Petey" the most (he was successfully rehomed), and Kimba and Sandy, who went MIA without notice.