Mary Allen
If strange cats come into the garden or into the house and are perhaps also out for a riot, this can stress your own velvet paw enormously. Luckily, there is a lot that can be done to ensure that unwelcome visitors don’t become a constant annoyance.
The first time the big tomcat – we called him Rambo – came by at night. We didn’t notice much about it, except that Pippi, our petite, older cat lady, had a scratch on her nose the next morning. One night later we were woken up by a loud screeching. There was a rumble in the garden. Shortly thereafter, Pippi was meowing, with disheveled fur and a bloody ear in front of the door. She licked her wounds and from then on preferred to lie on the sofa after dark rather than go hunting mice as usual. The unneutered black cat apparently took this as an invitation.
A little later, our cat was no longer safe from him, even during the day. I lay in wait on the lawn behind the house and ran after him, alternately clapping my hands and waving my arms wildly. Rambo wasn’t impressed. I sat down on the grass a few meters away from him and spoke to his conscience. I imagined he was smiling tiredly.
Pippi hardly dared to go outside and was in a bad mood. “No wonder,” says Manuela Schüpbach, cat psychologist from Münsingen-BE: “Such a situation frightens and unsettles cats, in the worst case they feel so uncomfortable that they look for a new home.” I found out that Rambo lived on a farm and spoke to the owner. He just grinned and shrugged. “That’s cats,” he said.
Create Retreats
We adopted a mixed breed dog, Muffin. As part of her new pack, she took Pippi to her heart and made it her job to protect her. When Pippi meowed for help, Muffin jumped up from her place in the sun on the terrace and rushed to Pippi’s side, barking loudly. It went like this three times, then Rambo gave our cat a wide berth. Depending on their disposition, dogs can be wonderful bodyguards for the family cat. Such a constellation is not a panacea. Because there are dogs that would not only chase away cats but would also hurt them. And on the other hand, cats can also hurt dogs with their claws. In addition, not every cat owner wants or can get a dog.
But how can you help your own cat? Manuela Schüpbach recommends taking precautions and creating safe retreats. “The installation of a microchip-controlled cat door is important. Because if strange cats also come into the house, it can mean a lot of stress for your own house cat. » Some cats reacted with aggression towards the intruder, others became unclean or showed marking behavior due to the strange smells.
A few measures in the garden also help to avoid conflicts between your own cat and other cats. The most radical is a cat-proof fence, which prevents strange cats from getting in and your own cats from getting out. A cheaper, if not quite as safe, method is to regularly scare away strange bullies. “It often helps if you stick with it,” explains Schüpbach.
But you should only resort to gentle methods. Many cats don’t like being sprayed with water at all, others will flee if there is suddenly a lot of noise somewhere. However, it is often enough to offer numerous retreats and hiding places for the releasers. In a natural garden, these are, for example, trees, bushes, piles of wood, and dry stone walls. Scratching posts and large flower pots serve the same purpose.
Castration and Catch Games
Such an area in which the cats can move about unnoticed by each other and, if necessary, run home unmolested, contributes a lot to peaceful coexistence. “We have a lot of cats in my quarters, which surprisingly works well,” says Schüpbach. “There are shy and self-confident, old and young animals who have come to terms with each other very well.” Every cat has its own daily rhythm and therefore usually only encounters a part of the neighborhood when it roams its territory. The scratch and scent marks on bushes and trees tell them who was where and when.
If the cats cannot agree among themselves or if there are frequent injuries, you can set fixed, coordinated going-out times. This requires the cat owner to be willing to cooperate and is not always easy to implement but promises good prospects of success. “Over time, the situation can slowly relax and, in the best-case scenario, the brawlers can live peacefully next to each other later,” says Schüpbach.
Since non-neutered tomcats fight particularly often, especially in the vicinity of cats in heat, outdoor cats should be neutered if possible. This has the side effect that the animals’ territory becomes smaller and unwanted offspring stay away. If you own a bully, you can also try to exhaust him or her with hunting games. “Then the energy level drops and the four-legged friend reacts more relaxed to rivals outside. I’ve also had very good experiences with Bach flowers with my cats and those of my customers,” says Schüpbach.