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Ugh. Attack number two yesterday, and close call this morning, when the stray came right up to the window when we were in there with the dominant cat. The timid one won't go near the sun porch now.
Getting ready to order motion sprinkler, and probably also window film temporarily while we are working on long term solution. Maybe bottom up blinds, although I don't know if they make those for sliding patio doors.
By the way, there is no law where I live saying cats cannot roam.
Trap the strays and put them in the pound. If they are strays they will be adopted to a hopefully responsible owner. If they are already owned, that owner will have to pay to get them out of jail. They need to "get" that your yard and cats have priority over their cats' privilege of trespassing.
If a few rounds of impoounding still don't work, then maybe some nasty stuff that the cats could roll in and bring home on their fur and feet, heh hehe. There are other steps beyond that but I doubt you would want to take.
It's kind of ironic but I was just talking to a feral cat group about a feral cat that lives in my yard and I was concerned that he might need his shots updated and was looking for suggestions on trapping him.
She told me don't trap him. If he get's caught in a trap he'll avoid my yard completely because he would associate being caught with my yard. She was telling me about one feral that disappeared completely for a year because they were so distrustful of the area they were trapped in.
So, maybe that would work for you. Trap them, let them sit for an hour or so, or overnight and then let them go. Just like with your timid cat. Since he associates your sunroom with fear, he avoids it. If you trap these cats they'll associate your yard with the fear of being trapped and avoid it.
No harm will come to the trapped cats and maybe your guys can actually start to enjoy your sunroom again.
I don't think there is animal control here. I live in a small borough, and called them yesterday. They said there are no laws about roaming cats.
It might not matter anyway. The attacks continued, and are now taking place inside the house. The dominant female now knows my timid male cat can be intimidated,and she's into major bullying mode. We ended up taking them both to the vet yesterday. Her for blood work and to rule out a medical issue and him to make sure no injury from her. The vet thinks this is not medical, but behavior triggered by something, most likely the cats outside. I have read about redirected feline aggression, and I know all the advice, but apparently this is a very difficult thing to overcome, once it's established. And it is, clearly.
I know the arguments pro/con for letting cats roam. I have friends who swear by each side of this argument. But please know, when you decide to let your cat roam, you could be doing great damage to inside cats in your neighborhood. I don't know that we will ever recover from this. One cat might have to be surrendered to a shelter because of these roaming cats. We are very sad here today.
Right now your female is in a heightened state of alert. She's ready to attack and defend her territory and is taking it out on your less dominant cat but the cause of her anxiety is the outside cats. You've got two issues now instead of just the one to deal with. The outside cats.. and your inside female cats aggression.
As far as your female cats aggression, the only way I found to handle that is to separate them for a while and then slowly reintroduce them. I had the same problem when I adopted my 2nd. female. I had a cat who was so easygoing and then I brought home another one who claimed the entire house as her own. It took a while but by getting her used to my 1st cats scents and using treats to get them physically close together they're now okay together. It took time and patience but it worked out in the end. The first time the alpha female realized she was physically close to my other cat, she hissed at her. The next time I got them physically close she was okay. They're not buddy buddy but at least she's not going after the other one now. You've got it a little easier in that your cats are not strangers to each other. You've just got to get your female to calm down. It's been over a year now and my alpha female is finally allowing my easy going female to share her food and cat box. But they were strangers when they met.
Do yours have their own cat boxes? That may help alleviate some of her stress too.
Another thing you could try is if your alpha female is okay with walking on a leash, let her walk around the yard. She'll get to put her scent around her and claim her territory. As far as the outside cats go, according to them it's your cats that are invading their territory. If you don't want to try the leash route, sprinkle a little bit of their cat litter around the yard just to get your cats scent out there.
Try the trap and the sprinkler for the outside cats if you can. Shoot them with the hose if you see them. The noise of the water and getting wet will scare the heck out of them. I've done that with a stray that comes around here. She hisses and growls at the gentle little feral that I have and he's deathly afraid of her. Since I've been aiming the hose at her she doesn't come around anymore. They've got to learn to associate your yard with bad things.
You've got to put an end to the outside cats being able to see your cats too. Even if you just put up cardboard over the lower half of the windows for now it will help because they're not going to be eye to eye.
I'd hate to see you get rid of your cat. If you work with her she'll calm down and she won't be so aggressive.
You say you live in a small borough? A small borough of Manhattan by any chance?
Do they have collars or tags?
Why is taking them to a local shelter a problem ? That is the best gift you can give them, but yes, it takes a bit of effort, if you are okay with that.
Do yours have their own cat boxes? That may help alleviate some of her stress too.
You say you live in a small borough? A small borough of Manhattan by any chance?
This is very helpful information. Thank you
To answer your questions, if you mean litter boxes, yes, they have separate ones. We've tried cat beds but they won't use them. They prefer our bed and furniture.
Not Manhattan. Pennsylvania. No animal control. No law against strays.
Working though all of this...thanks, everyone, for the good suggestions.
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