Neighbours Cats - Trying to dominate

[Adams1104]

Hi,
We've had our cats for almost a year now. And we've got them to a stage where they were completely comfortable outside. (although our house is a listed building so it's not allowed to have any alterations made to it, which means no cat flap - so manual letting in and out is required, often is to the extent of just leaving the door open all day and closing it at night). Anyway, just recently new neighbours have moved in just a few doors along in our little cul-de-sac. Instantly their 3 cats have made a move onto our garden, which means contant scraps between the two groups. Daily we hear the howling of cats outside and IN our house and i often come into the kitchen to find the other cats cornering our cats, who are relatively young. I shoo them away and they scat outside to the edge of our property, just looking back in at me. They're not bad cats it seems, i've stroked all 3 of them and they were purring and everything. I've kept up a routine that if they came in i would pick them up and dump them outside out gate, and they seem to know that's the territory line, but it doesn't stop them coming in when i'm not around. Now our cats don't like going outside as much, and often i'll walk through the house to stumble across one of my cats cowering in a corner with tail between his legs and i later discover one or more of the neighbours cats are indoors. Our other cat is female, nuetered, but about the right age to be mating i suppose. We once found her covered in one of the other cats fur and she was licking her private areas as in cleaning them, and she was in a state. We pressumed that one of the other cats has tried to have it's way with her, and i think they try and pick on my male cat because they think if they get rid of him, they can get full access to my girl cat. If you know what i mean.

(continued below)

[Adams1104]

Continued...

Is there anything other than the obvious that i can do about it? I'm thinking outside the box now, is it worth urinating around our garden to warn them off, haha, or on a more serious suggestion, is it worth spreading our used cat litter around the outside of our house etc.
Or is it worth locking all the cats in a room together and being kind of a mediator until they realise they could all be buddies? LOL, sorry about the ridiculous length of this question, but i need some new ideas.

[campbellking]

I think the time has come to stop being nice to these kitties!We don't have a cat flap either, and much as our neighbourhood kitties will come in and raid our cats' food when they think we're not looking, they don't bully ours to the extent yours are being terrorised.
I suggest you get a squeezy bottle, fill it with water and squirt the pussies every time you see them in your garden. Won't hurt them, and hopefully they will get the message.

[Peghead]

A friend of mine is having the same problem, a neighbours cat is getting inside their house, even though they have one of those magnetic cat flap / collar systems, and has terrorised her cats to the point of them (for want of a better phrase) pooing themselves in fear. She came home one night to find her cats cornered in a room by the bully, the room absolutely covered in excretement and one of her cats badly bitten.

She's tried everything - even keeping a super soaker water gun by the back door to soak the little git doesn't deter it.

If she has sucess with any other methods I'll let you know.

[Adams1104]

cheers, i'll give getting a water bottle out. they're quick little ******* though.

And you don't think there's any method to the madness of scattering used litter around our boarders?

[cat woman]

Hi, I seem to remember some while ago that a ABer said that Lion poo was a good deterrent to keep unwanted cats out of the garden, whether this was just a joke I dont know, but it would have to be visit to your local Zoo to get it. X X X :-)

[skylight]

You can get a product from garden centre. I think its Lion Poo pellets, or you could try shavings of coaltar soap.

[hope28]

I don't really know the answer to your question but I would not be too nice to the neighbours cats anymore (though I would not hurt them either).
Especially if my cats gets "raped" and bullied by them. I don't think your cats would like to smell the scent of the neighbours' cats on you either.
Just don't pet them anymore and shoo them away and as the others had mentioned, maybe you can get some sort of repellant from a pet store or something. Worse comes to worse, throw your cat's faeces at them LOL :-))
And if your cats no longer want to go outside to play, get them a pooh/urine tray for inside the house.
Suck and see...

[Elfin]

I know you can't alter the building in any way, but you could possibly use catproof fencing around your garden perimeter to stop the other cats even getting to your cats' turf, as it were. It always makes me sad to think of cats having their homes invaded as it really stresses them.

I've got 2 but they are indoor cats (pedigrees) and I won't be letting them out into my large garden unless I fence it off or get an enclosed cat run (which I'm looking in to now).