Terriorial dispute

Think on balance if it's a short life but a happy one that's better than a long unhappy one. Unfortunately it's a fact of life that cats fight, ours does and one of my daughter's cats has just had antibiotics for an infected bite.
Not sure there is much you can do to prevent this happening if he goes out. It's as bad as having children isn't it.

If things are really bad can you make him an outside run so that he goes out but is safe?

Hi * happygardener*
pets are worry.
By your GN name would I be right in thinking you have a garden of your own?
If so what type of boundary do have?
If it is a wooden fence you can buy rubber spike things that fit on top of the fence.
This would hopefully deter any cats into your garden and maybe help to keep your cat in the garden
I couple of years ago I inherited my late fathers two cats (brothers 11yrs) they had no territory other than our garden.
The one has had stroke so I have to keep him in the garden,
The other goes off but only for a short time as I only let them out before they are fed.
So the healthy one does not venture far.
In the late afternoon they go out again before their meal.
If I stay the garden I have found that are both happy to be in the garden. They play happily with ping pong balls.
This is all a far cry from their previous life with my father
So perhaps it is possible to try different routine with your cat.
Good luck

Poor old puss. I do hope you can find a way for him to regain 'his' garden.

Oh dear! I think you know the answer to this but are worried he'll get beaten up again.

A cat has to do what a cat has to do!

Get a terrier, he defends all territory and cats hate them - he can be made to understand that his house mate is off limits!

But what if Happygardener's cat hates the terrier or vice versa?

I agree, terriers are brilliant at keeping cats out of the garden. We are plagued with cats from all round the neighbourhood spraying in our garden and catching birds. I might look for some of those rubber spikes, thanks Cherrytree.

I think you have to let your cat out into your own garden and mark his territory again but try to keep him in there and others out.

The DGD's cat was just bitten by a bully and had to have anti-biotics; she is usually quite feisty but came off worse.

I should have said we are plagued with cats since our terrier died but we won't get another one now.

Actually a dog is a good idea. A puppy will grow up with your cat and, providing you make sure puppy is taught to respect puss from the word go, it would be the perfect solution. It doesn't even have to be a terrier. Our Lhasa had a cat as a mate but wouldn't tolerate other felines in his garden.

Anya Has it anything to do with the breed my Lhasa is best friends with Oliver but hates next doors black moggy with a passion.

Lhasas are very friendly towards those they know and quite fiesty towards strangers...And that includes cats. They wouldn't know what to do if they cornered one though! It's just the fun of the chase.

My terrier when let out the back door dashes around the entire garden, flushing out any intruder. If we say cats before he goes out then he dashes around at g-force. It definitely has the affect of keeping cats out of the garden during the day. At night he's on his back legs in the air.

Ours used to do that as well; the cats used to sit on the fence and eyeball him as he leapt around barking at them.

My cat was always getting abscesses, a tear in the ear and so on but he decided for himself if he wanted to stay in. After a while he learnt to entice cats he was having a conflict with back to the garden and he would suddenly run between the dog's legs. I would see cats chasing him to attack coming to a cartoon like horrified sliding stop. One day I looked out and there was a ring of cats sitting around the dog and he was looking up at the sky pretending that he couldn't see them and I had to rescue him. I think it's all just part of a cat's life.

We have a Burmese who goes out under supervision.We also have next doors cat who comes in the house and steals his food.We have tried everything to keep her out wire netting etc.Also rubber spikes,don't work! She just steps over them.Cats seem to make themselves thinner and can squeeze in most places.

What about a cat flap so he can get in the house quickly.
We had this problem when our 4 cats were being terrorised by a new cat who moved into the area. This cat was deaf so shouting at him made no difference. He never followed them into our house though so they just dived in whenever he was around.
Luckily the people who owned him were only renting the house for a while & left after 6 months.

What about getting another cat...rescue cat. After settling it in it will hopefully have 'bonded' with your cat. This my deter others. Also place a few used litter contents around garden for a while to give other the message. Lion poo pellets may work too. Amazon sell them. Scattered around edge of far den.

Hello HappyGardener. Yes - I have had the same problem. Keeping the cat in didn't work. He was just too unhappy. The warring moggies had to sort it out themselves. They will eventually. It took a few visits to the vet for both of them, and a few interventions with a water pistol to separate them, but they ended up by avoiding each other, using different cat paths around the same territory or slinking through each others gardens very carefully. They did continue to taunt each other through the window just by sitting and looking in. I think they were evenly matched though.
I did have one cat - who was a large and beautiful fellow - who just didn't fight. He used to roll over on his back in submission, and the other cats left him alone.

Birds flew off from the feeders this morning in a fluttering panic. Large handsome white and patch cat sneaking down the garden. Duncan told cats ahoy, job done - birds back everyone calm and peaceful.

Friend of mine has had electric wire run round her garden so her four cats do not stray, it seems to work well for her. Cats wear a collar and get a zap if they go too near edge of garden.

I do understand your worry, we recently lost our male cat who had been having some serious fighting injuries after neighbours moved in with a large cat. Deep claw wounds can be very nasty, and despite treatment our lovely boy died very quickly of blood poisoning.

I agree with the cat flap idea. Ours is clear and our cat will sit and watch through it to see if the coast is clear! He will also charge back through it when he needs a quick get away.

I enjoyed being an Elf in the Brownies and a Robin in Guides. I then became a Guide Cadet and Tawny Owl with the Brownies. I've recently come across the 105page book that I compiled on The History of the Guide Movement, for a Proficiency Badge in 1959. I can't believe how neat my writing was in those days. I know I used to have The Guide magazine and my book is full of cuttings from the magazines.

I've also still got the write-up of a Cadet Expedition I undertook with a friend - a day in London - in 1962 and if anyone's interested, a short article about it will be in the March issue of Best of British magazine.

Think you're on the wrong thread clover

Elenkalubleton you need one of those cat flaps that open for your cats only using their microchips.