Solitary chicken - need advice

[Space Chick]

......For about 6 months now we have been getting a cat visitor who is not our cat, we have done NOTHING to encourage this behaviour. 6 months ago this cat was quite a small cat (young not fully grown), but has now developed into a rather large cat.

 

The problem is the cat is sneaking about and stealing Thomas' food, Tom is now terrified of this cat. Its also getting worse, as the cat knows what I time I get up and feed Thomas and let Henry out, and the last few mornings he has been sat on my patio meowing very loudly

 

This morning, I couldn't get Henry to go out to the garden as he is also scared of this cat. In addition, the cat has used the catflap when we haven't been around (this cat had a poo in my kitchen - I am certain it wasn't Thomas as this has only ever happened twice when he was ill) and we have found him sat on the stairs.

 

I keep chasing him away and telling him he's not our cat, but what can I do to deter him? (Of course there is a part of me that is worried he may not have a loving home, he hasn't got a collar - although he does look well fed)

[Snowy]

Is it worth asking around to find out if he belongs to anyone locally, if not take him into a cat rescue where they will be able to find him a 'legit' home of his own!

[Space Chick]

I have asked around a few neighbours and "Ooops, word censored!"ody knows who he belongs to, in fact he is stealing food from Roly another cat down the road... which has prompted Roly to come into our house but thats another story.

 

I may try ringing a cats home, but I have 2 worries there:

 

1. I don't want to be taking a cat that belongs to someone.

2. If they don't find him a home, I don't want to be responsible if they put him to sleep.

 

I had thought about taking him to the vets to see if he has been identity chipped

[Minnie&Moose]

Hi Space Chick,

 

If the intruder cat looks well fed chances are he got a home but is just exerting his dominance. I'm ashamed to say ours, who even at the ripe old age of 14 is still top cat locally, had a reputation for doing just this . I only found out when I happened to read a notice posted locally, describing Max, and asking if anyone knew whether he was a stray or not, because the owner of one of his 'victims' was planning to ask the RSPCA to trap him as a nuisance feral cat. Needless to say I contacted the person concerned, and admitted he was a well-loved pet. I took the approach of shutting him in at night, in the hopes he was less likely to venture into other people's houses if they were around during the day. In his case it has worked fairly well and went down well with other local cat owners who were also having problems with him Fortunately for us (and him) although he's now slowing down a bit (he's also has had chronic kidney disease for the last 7 years so he's a bit of a wonder really), and has outlived most of his original oponents, he still manages to dominate the younger males in the street so our house remains 'intruder free' However, once he's gone I dread to think what it will be like for our elderly female cat who is scared of all cats but Max

 

Looking at this with my professional hat on (I work on people-wildlife conflict with endangered species) you might want to try the following:

1. remove all incentives for the intruder cat to come in, i.e. rearrange things for a little while in your house so that your own cat's food isn't accessible to the intruder - perhaps feed the cat in a different room for a week or so.

2. make your environment as scarey and horrible for the intruder without actually causing any physical harm - my immediate thought is, if possible, try and get it with a super-soaker as it comes in through the cat flap - ideally it shouldn't be able to see you through the flap before it comes in so it doesn't associate the soaking with your presence but instead associates it with actually coming through the flap.

3. See if you can find out if the cat has an owner and see if they would be willing to help modify its nuisance behaviour by keeping it in overnight for a while, if that's the time it's most problematic.

 

Good luck with this. As an owner of an ASBO cat I feel for you! My own furry terrorist is the sweetest, most lovely cat with people, but he just has to be top cat and I know it's caused many of our neighbours grief over the last 10 years

[The Dogmother]

Can I suggest a magnetic cat flap? I had to resort to one after we had a similar situation and said intruder was peeing in the utility room.

[Chucky Mama]

Magnetic cat flap sounds good. You could also put a collar on him with a note asking for the owners to contact you maybe.

[Space Chick]

Well I have moved Thomas food, and have squirted the the ASBO cat as he has started to come in through the cat flap. So far so good, Tom has been able to eat his food in peace

[Minnie&Moose]

Sounds good Space Chick - good luck and I hope it works.

[Reikiranf]

I'm getting a magnetic catflap from Argos tomorrow for the same reason, if you read the reviews on the website quite a few people bought them because of other cats using their catflap, one said that the other cat tried to get in a few times & gave up and another said that their cat sits there staring at the other cat, safe in the knowledge that it can't get him

[Chickvic]

Glad things have improved Debs