What to do about an aggressive cat

Hi guys,

I'm new here and hope someone can give me an idea of how to treat this situation. At this time, I'm feeding 13 to 15 cats. Four in our house, two in our garage, five on our back deck and two toms that show up every two/three days. Another cat, I'm pretty sure she is a female, showed up about a month ago.

Late last fall, I had two cats. Someone dropped off three cats, a tom and two females. Another tom showed up about the same time. All were wild. I fixed up some shelters and got them through the nasty winter we had last year. Of course, this last spring I was rewarded for my efforts with nine kittens. Four by one female (with no tail) and five by the other female, a calico. I've gotten all of them fixed except the two toms, can't catch them, and the black cat that just showed up. 

On to my problem, other than too many cats!! The calico female that had the five kittens decided that when the kittens turned about 7 months old she was going to turn on them. At this point she has taken up residence in our garage and attacks any and all of the other cats when she sees them. She is in the process of chasing out the cat that was in there. I don't know what to do about her. If I remove her from the garage, which I don't think will work as every time I open the door she darts in and refuses to leave, she will eventually go back to the deck I've fixed up for her five kittens and torment them. The poor other cat in the garage as numerous cuts and scratches from the fights the calico picks.  

Any ideas of how to handle her. She is disrupting the whole pack.

Thanks,

Linda

Is there a way you can isolate her - perhaps get a large crate or wire off a section of the garage?  She may be in heat, although it is possible she's pregnant again.  Both could be reasons she is chasing her kittens.

She's being territorial, which is not unusual.  But she may need to be an only cat.  If she is tame enough, can you find her a home? 

I know that is next to impossible but it is worth a shot.

Thank you for helping these cats.  Getting them all fixed will greatly improve their lives and cut the chances of more kittens!

Thank you for your reply Ondine,

She has been fixed so she better not be in heat. 13 of the 15 cats have been fixed. The other three haven't because two of them are toms that show up sporadically and I haven't been able to catch them yet and the other one is new and I wasn't sure until recently that she wasn't somebody's pet. I'll need to make an appointment to take her in soon.

I think I've come up with a solution for CC, the calico with a bad attitude. It's a temporary one tonight that will be turned into a permanent one tomorrow or the next day. It turns out that it wasn't so much the garage she wanted as it was the bedding on the chair she has been sleeping on. I'd put an old cat bed with what I think is a real sheepskin cover on an old wicker chair I have in there. She has not left that chair more than 15-20 minutes at a time since she discovered it a couple of days ago. I decided to bring the cat bed out and put it on a lawn chair in front of the garage and draped the chair with a blanket so she could curl up under it. Ten minutes after I finished it up she was up under the blanket and pulled it down around herself. It's mild and dry tonight so she should be fine. It's supposed to be nice through the weekend so I've got some time to come up with a permanent solution. I'm going to fix up a tub shelter for her and put that cat bed into it. It's rather sheltered there in front of the garage so I'm going to set it up right there. I know that it's not advisable to use bedding like that, but, to make her happy I may need to. I'll just have to keep an eye on it to make sure it stays dry.   

I'm pretty sure that I will not be able to find her a new home. I've got three of the kittens from the other cat's litter that are tame, are full time house cats and are the sweetest cats you'll ever see and I could not find homes for them.

What I'd like to do is cause bodily harm to the stupid people who have these animals originally, won't get them fixed and then dump them off on people like me that will not let them starve. 

Anyway, thanks for your suggestion,

Linda

LPrad said:

What I'd like to do is cause bodily harm to the stupid people who have these animals originally, won't get them fixed and then dump them off on people like me that will not let them starve

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I'm with you! I've often said Its a good thing I don't have super powers. Otherwise, well, people who hurt or abandon animals would not like me!

How neat that you figured it out. She was being territorial - her territory is that pillow!

Glad to hear they are mostly fixed. I have a rule. If a cat comes into my yard, said cat is trapped and fixed. If the "owner" isn't responsible enough and that cat is outside and loose, all bets are off.

I wanted to post an update on C.C. the aggressive cat who was disrupting the whole colony of cats. I have found her a new home. After numerous suggestions of posting an ad on craigslist, against my better judgement I did place an ad, after she once again attacked one of the other cats. Thankfully the ad was answered by a very nice young woman who wanted her as a total indoor cat. 

She's posted pictures of C.C. who's name is now Princess on Facebook and it looks like she has taken over the household. 

Thanks goodness she has found a good home where she can get the attention she deserves and there are no other animals to irritate her.

That's excellent!  What a wonderful outcome! Well done.

Oh good. So glad you were able to find her a home. She and the others deserve it.