Agressive cat in neighbourhood

[mn086]

We live in a nice area for cats and our two cats go outdoors whenever they please and they love it, it is a safe area generally, no cars around, lots of grass and trees etc., no wild animals. A few months ago a new cat turned up in the area, beautiful grey thing, looks very well cared for, groomed, fed etc. however HE has obviously not been neutered. To cut a long story short, he has been harrassing every local cat and has clawed two (one of whch was ours), both ended up in the vets with abcesses - which were small as we are vigilant owners. We don't know who owns the cat, they are obviously incredibly selfish, we have heard it mating a few times so that's going to be another 10 unwanted kittens probably. Our cats (females) are both spayed as are all the local cats. The problem is how to stop this new cat from attacking our cats, we haven't seen him in about a month now so maybe he is gone, who knows but is there anything obvious that we can do to stop him? The vet reckons it is a territory thing and as such our cats have to defend their own territory and we cannot do that for them but any suggestions welcome

 

[Willowy]

There aren't many options in a case like that. First option would be to take him to the shelter. He would almost certainly be killed there (tomcats are frequently deemed unadoptable), so you'd have to decide if you can live with that. The second option would be to take him to the vet and have him neutered and vaccinated. This would probably take care of most of the aggression, and he could settle very nicely into the neighborhood cat group. There might be a low-cost neuter clinic in your area, or you could take up a collection among the neighbors to pay for it.

But if you haven't seen him for an entire month, he's probably moved on (or died, maybe). He might have been just testing out your neighborhood, and decided the local cats weren't so agreeable to him, and went looking for an easier area.

One question--if all the local cats are spayed, who was he mating with? LOL

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by Willowy

One question--if all the local cats are spayed, who was he mating with? LOL

While not exactly common, toms can go after spay females, females that aren't in heat, or even other younger (non dominate/not fighting back) male cats.. I've had a freshly neutered male cat come after me (thankfully non aggressive) and the only thing that saved me from a rather embarrassing situation was a quickly grabbed toss pillow.

If he comes back, I also suggest you consider just getting him neutered. If he settles down after that he could actually be beneficial in keeping new unaltered cats out of the territory, then.

 

[ducman69]

I'd set a trap, and if not ID'd/chipped then I'd consider him a stray and have him neutered and ear clipped and then released in the same area.

 

[mn086]

Sorry I should have been clearer - all the local cats belonging to someone are spayed/neutered. There are unfortunately some cats in the area that are not as they are not owned by anyone

 

[Willowy]

Personally, I wouldn't tolerate having unaltered stray cats in my neighborhood. I trap them and have them fixed. It's really the only thing to do.