Help! My Cat is jealous

Hi, my cat is being very territorial and jealous. There are neighbour cats that come into my backyard, and they are really really nice cats. The neighbours cats dont ever hiss or bite/scratch, and they love attention. However if my cat sees these cats anywhere even off our property she will start to get very angry. She will look at the neighbour cats and just meow lowly and glare at them. And if she can she will attack them. Today the neighbour cat came and I gave it some snack food and I would try to convince it to leave by waving because I knew my cat might hurt it. So turns out my cat was on the roof and saw this neighbour cat, she looks at the neighbour cat and meows alot. Then when the neighbour cat came toward the inside of the house my cat jumped from the roof blocked the neighbours cats escape, and then my cat scratched the neighbour cat. The neighbour cat being so freindly just tried to run. I was very dissapointed in my cats bullish behavior, so me not know anything about cat training, I grabbed a broom and pushed my cat away off my property, finally my cat ran away. And I though "good riddens, maybe she will learn how it feels". I hate being physically mean like that but I have no idea how to make her stop hating other cats. I would really like her to play along with the other cats. How can I make her be freindly with the other cats?

BTW, my cat came back(as expected) after an hour or two.

Hi, and welcome to TCS. Kitties by nature are territorial and will challenge any other cat that approaches 'their' home. When introducing a new kitty to a home with a resident cat, there is a specific routine you should follow to make the introduction with minimal fighting. One of the mods should be able to post a link (a lil help here?, Hissy, I'm looking at you ) I think that when the neighbor cat started to enter your home, your kitty saw that as a definite encroachment on her specific territory. I would suggest keeping your cat inside when you are playing/feeding the neighbor kitty and let her sniff them through the closed screen door. Also, please please please don't lock your kitty out of the house as punishment. I've heard too many stories of people who have locked their cat out of the home as punishment, only to find their furbaby hit by a car or something afterwards, besides your kitty was only defending her home and food source from a competitor. You shouldn't punish her for instinctive survival behavior. Hope this helps.

Sang

I agree with Sang72. Willow is an indoor cat, but if she was an outdoor cat, she'd have killed at least 10 cats by now. She hates, and i mean hates strange cats. I'm not sure if it's a territorial thing or not, but everyone else is saying so. Willow is nasty to all critters, human, feline, and canine. I guess its a lucky thing for all those neighbourhood cats that we chose to make Willow an indoor cat! When we brought Buffy home, Willow obviously disliked the idea of this stranger coming into "her" home, and we had to separate them for a while. But within a week of Buffy's arrival, Willow was following Buffy around, and eventually made the first move to show Buffy that she was harmless. Quickly after that, Willow turned into Buffy's new momma (Buffy was only 4 weeks old, and had lost her momma to a sickness, or so I believe). But Willow still hates other animals. The vet says it's a territory thing, and mentioned that Willow might have some Siamese in her, as the siamese are very territorial. Buffy might have some siamese too, because of her looks (though she's tiny, black, and her fur, while being short, is still longer than the traditional siamese cat). And instead of being territorial, Buffy expresses love and affection to all humans and animals , but she's loud, like a Siamese...

I wouldn't punish your cat either. I don't know if it counts, but the cat may understand you punishing him quite differently. Instead of "Oh, this is wrong... no more nasty behaviour", he might take it as "Ooh, mommy is upset, so there must be something wrong with that stranger being here!" I might be wrong, but cats can be complicated sometimes... Just keep the cat indoors when you feed or play with the neighbourhood cats. And let them smell each other through the screen. Maybe they'll eventually accept each other, maybe not.

My 3 girls never fail to chase away any foreign cat(including the neighbor's) that walk in the garden. These "visitors" (who do come back)learn to respect their wishes by running away when they catch sight of my kitty patrol or by walking on the edges of the garden (in other words, territory limits).
I suggest you avoid feeding your neighbor's cat (after all it is not yours) and avoid punishing your cat for doing what is natural. On the other hand, if you wish to adopt another cat then do the proper introductions as often discussed in this site.

Thank you for the reply. They have been helpful.
-Thanks!

Hi Ricky,

You are fortunate your cat returned, especially after you chased her off your property. What she was doing, was not being a bully, but being protective of her territory and of you. That is HER place and she is going to want to chase off strangers and other competition as quickly as possible, otherwise, they might find their way to her food bowl, or even worse into your heart! If you do not want other cats to hang around DON'T feed them. Feeding a cat, and then waving it away sends mixed messages. Because food means you are satisfying this cat's needs, and she or he will thank you by sticking around. So I wouldn't feed any of the neighbor's cats at all. Chances are when you cat came home, she marked the bushes in her yard as a warning to all to keep away. Because she is so territorial, I would be reluctant (if it were me) to introduce another cat into your home.

But if you do, here is a link that will help:

http://www.thecatsite.com/cat_behavi...=introductions

I echo the others' advice, please do not punish your cat for something she cannot help doing.