Saving my feral from another feral

I've posted previously about my sweet semi feral, Soots, who I've cared for for the past 5 years.  She's doing really well for a feral... probably 8 yrs old and looks very healthy.  Steady good food and a shelter has helped.  Plus she lets me pet and brush her.  ANYway, finally took her to a vet recently and it was surprisingly easy.  She got vaccine updates and a rabies shot and a flea treatment.  Vet said it ain't ringworm, but didn't give me any advice as to what's causing the fur loss on the back of her ears.

ANYWAY, new issue.  There's a very mean feral new to the neighborhood who is bullying the crap out of her.  To the point where she's stopped coming around.  It's breaking my heart.  Today she visited and there's a spot on her tail where a big chunk of fur is missing and there's blood on the exposed skin, so I know he got her good.  I started crying.  I just feel so helpless to protect her.  I have two traps out and have for the past 10 days... all I've caught is an opossum and the neighbor's cat.  

What can I do to keep him away from my house without it bothering Soots?  Like, are there scents or other humane options to keep him away?  She's spayed so I don't know why he's coming after her so hard.  I'm hoping to trap him and have him neutered but until that happens, how can I keep her safe?  Will Feliway all over my yard help?  I'm open to all ideas.  My boyfriend suggested a bb gun and at this point I almost considered it!  (Seriously, I would never).  I feel just as badly for him and want to get him some help too, but mostly I want him to stay away from my girl.

Please... anything you can think of... I'll try it!

Poor Soots! The best the you can do is trap this guy and neuter him. His hormones will still be in his system for a few weeks, but after that he will not have the urge to fight and mate any more and he might stop hanging around. Any deterrents will deter Soots as well, and I honestly don't know of anything that would work anyway. Feliway won't do anything is as large a space as a yard. And an intact male can be very determined.

For trapping, you need to clean the trap very thoroughly with disinfectant after catching an animal in it. The scent of fear pheromones, especially of other cats, will deter the cat from entering it. Usually it helps to set up a feeding schedule with the cat you want to trap for a couple of weeks first, so it's used to and feels safe coming to get food from that area. If the cat has seen other cats get trapped before it may be smart enough to avoid it, so you could feed him in the trap without setting it to get him comfortable with entering the trap. If you need to bring the cat on a specific day to be neutered, don't feed the day before you set the trap so he'll be hungry and more likely to enter the trap (but do provide water).

That house cat is not likely to get fooled by the trap again, so you won't have to worry about her. And I would not be surprised if the opossum has wised up, but you can remove bait from the traps at night to avoid catching too many other nocturnal critters.

If you're up for it and your situation is such that you're able, you could try to socialize Soots and help her adapt to a life indoors! It's a big job, and it's stressful for the cat at first, but she sounds like she could be a good candidate for it, and her safety and quality of life would improve dramatically. But shy of that, neutering the tomcat is the best option, and it'll be good for him as well.

Hey Molly,

Thanks so much for all of the great trapping tips... yeah, it's such a catch 22 (no pun intended)... attracting him with regular food but not wanting to put food out in the hopes that he'll stop hanging around.  I also didn't know about the washing thoroughly.  I doubt these traps were cleaned before they came to me so I'll do that this evening.  Wish me luck and again, great advice, thanks!

Any updates on the trapping efforts?  The vet can give a hormone shot (does cost extra) that often helps the older toms stop or lessen those unwanted behaviors.

As far as keeping him away, maybe "marking territory" would help - not sure if it would work with this cat. It seems to work for really wild ferals. It really works well with coyotes since coyotes and wolves respect marked boundaries.

Sending prayers and vibes for Soots' protection and healing

Hello all!

VICTORY!!!!  We caught Bully Cat (now called Bubba)three days ago... his downfall was sardines.  But of course now I think he's the cutest thing and want to keep him.  

He is just beautiful... huge green eyes and that black lip liner (so goth!)

He seems to be a young male; probably born during kitten season last spring.  He was really hissy and scared at first, but then we transferred him to a larger dog crate as a holding pen and he calmed down a lot.  When we transferred him back into the carrying trap today to take him to the SFSPCA for neutering, he was very calm and mostly just watched us; more curious than aggressive.  I still can't believe we got him.  

ANYWAY, there's an Oakland non-profit called Feral Change who have been so generous with their time and advice.  They called SFSPCA and got Bubba accepted for their feral neutering program; includes vaccinations, rabies shot, flea treatment.  So he'll be all set.

My issue now is... I pick him up on Friday.  What do I do with him?

I'm happy to report that Soots is thriving again.  She's quickly reclaimed her dominion over my yard and has resumed letting me pet her and give her belly rubs (she'd gotten to a point where she was under constant stress; wouldn't relax anymore for pets or anything... always on guard); she's back to lazing in the sun on my front porch and yowling at the door when it's food time.  I'm so so so relieved.

But now, Bubba.  I don't want to release him back to my neighborhood.  I understand that his aggression will likely dissipate post-neuter, but that takes a couple of weeks and there's no guarantee.  I honestly can't bring myself to do this, after working so hard to protect Soots.  But I also understand that it could be really traumatic for the poor guy to be relocated.  That said, he's new to my neighborhood so if he hasn't been around that long, maybe moving him to a new location wouldn't be too bad.  Then there's the question of working with him to see if it's possible to bring him around to being a pet; but I certainly can't take that on.    Then if I do decide to relocate him... where to?  I can't just dump him in some other hood and say "good luck!"  I mean, in a sense, I feel responsible for him now.  I'm not, really, but someone has to be so why not me?  Sigh.  As always, feedback appreciated!

Jenn