I agree. Call your local animal control and/or local animal shelter and tell them you have an aggressive stray cat who needs to be trapped and removed from your property. If the "non-owners" want him back, they'll have to go to the pound or shelter and pay for him. At that point, they won't be able to deny ownership anymore, and you can hold them liable for damages and expenses the cat causes on your own property and to your own cats.

Laurie

I understand it's frustrating, but treating the cat like that isn't going to do anything but make it more aggressive. If you are in a no kill county, I'd call animal control and request they come pick it up; otherwise before taking that measure, I'd call a few of the rescues in your area to see if any of them can take him.

Thanks for all your responses. Yes, I felt terrible mistreating the cat like that but thought it would put the fear in him so he'd stay away. The thought of my cats being abused by this monster quickly faded when I saw how pitiful he was in that garage corner.

Excellent point too about forcing offical ownership on the neighbors by making them pay the pound to get their cat back; boy, that'll set up a nice neighborly relationship; I guess I shouldn't care. I'll approach them one more time and then it's no more Mr. Nice Guy. I've done feral trapping before, (had them neutered and vaccinated before releasing them back), so I have some experience and a trap.

I should mention too that this cat bit my wife's hand last year when she bent down to pet it; swelled up but she never went to the doc. (I have a buddy right now with a 103 temp from a bite from his own cat.)

keep your cats inside?

Please don't anybody take any chances with any kind of bite;
I nearly lost a thumb one summer when I said, "Oh, it's just a bite, peroxide will take care of it."

had to go to a surgeon to clean all the infection out,
get the incision packed,
get a tetanus shot (made me sick),
spend a lot of money,
take codeine & anti-biotics (eat before you take codeine, & eat yogurt when you have to take anti-biotics),
go back to surgeon to get packing removed (hurt a lot more than when he put the packing in) & get the incision stitched,
even had to stop the car on the side of the road one fine day to throw up the really vile medicine pain medicine.

Do not take a chance with any kind of bite.

Keep your cats inside for a while and maybe he'll go away!

We tried to keep the cats in but they go nuts and after a week we give up and open up again. They absolutely hate being locked in but when out, they do stay in our yard.

A friend who once worked as a vet tech suggested I pee in a spray bottle, add vinegar and let him have it in the face. Just might work.

Please don't spray pee & vinegar in any animal's face.

It's beyond mean, it's cruel.

For godness sake, just call animal control.

That cat isn't mean, exactly, he's just doing what his DNA is telling him to do (unneutered semi-feral). Which I know doesn't make you feel any better about seeing your own cats get bullied and attacked, just to let you know what your up against. Agree with above poster - dont spray any acid (ie vinegar) into an animals face/eyes. At best they will only learn toavoid you when you are present, so its not really doing what you want it to do.

What Im finally doing for my own cats is building a cat enclosure in my back yard out of black plastic mesh deer fence and steel rods - yes it is possible to fence a cat.

I wish more people would do this and we could stop this indoor vs. outdoor nonsense, like theres only TWO choices. People spend $$$$ on fences and kennels for their dogs, why not their cats?

Amen Kashka! BRAVO! Yes love your cat? Your cat loves the outside? Love it enough to keep it safe!!!! Why not even something attached to a cat door so kitty can come and go as it pleases, maybe even a "dog house" type thing if kitty wont come in when you want to go to bed. And that keeps your kitty outta MY yard killing my birds and frogs!!!! My indoor only babies have a sun porch in the trees and patio doors to lay in front of for entertainment. They are very happy! Good Luck Bill! Hope this intruder finds a safe & loving home.

Well, on the indoor vs. outdoor debate? Keeping your cat indoors adds years to his life. You're seeing one of the reasons why--outside is dangerous. Your pet runs the risk of attacks from other animals, and is also exposed to more parasites and diseases than indoor cats.

Do we let our children rule our homes? do we let them do anything they want, even when it's bad for them? just bedcause they go nuts and raise a fuss? Sometimes, being the adult means making unpopular decisions for the good of others.

I'd strongly suggest you let your cats get used to being inside. If that's absolutely not in your or their make-up--then I would say the suggestion of building them a safe outside enclosure would be the second best solution--although, being 'trapped' in something like that may not be their idea of being outdoors and free, either.

Since your human neighbors have absolved themselves of responsibility for this cat, I would suggest trapping the "mean male kitty" and taking him to your vet and having him neutered, then turning him loose again. His aggressive behavior might well subside some. Yes, it would be an expense, but given all the cash you've laid out recently treating your own kitties for wounds, it would be a drop in the bucket.

If it were me, I'd shell out $20-30 more and have him vaccinated against rabies and other contagious disease at the same time. It would enable him to live a better life and hopefully to be a better kitty neighbor.

I would question the qualifications of a vet tech that would make such a suggestion. Maybe that's why he/she is no longer a vet tech............

I'd trap him and take him to a shelter. ..But the easiest advice is to keep your cats inside. I have four and they have never seen the outside. If I held the door open , they wouldn't leave. I know where they are every second of their lives and they have happy fulfilled lives with NO accidents ever in their lives. Their health comes first, but I'm worried more about cars and mean people.

Lot's of suggestions here, thanks. I actually do have a cat enclosure, fairly elaborate, that I used when I acquired 2 cats a few years back, so they could spend time outside. Kept them in for 1.5 years before letting them out, so they'd get the idea that this was their territory. A cat needs an outdoor life IMHO, even if it means some chance of death by car & fights. (No traffic to speak of here.)Yes, a few birds and rats have been sacrificed but none for years now. I also have a 6' wood fence surrounding the yard, topped with metal mesh to keep racoons and cats out but I left one opening just in case one of my cats gets out - it's a way for it to get back in. All my cats stay in the yard. Ages, 17,15,12,2 - the 2 yr old is a stray that we just took on last month, (love him to death already.)

Spedigrees - neighbor's cat is neutered already but if it wasn't I'd do as you said. I googled a lot and I don't see where vinegar is so toxic to the eyes. This, from a hospital's website: The following substances are also generally harmless, but will cause transient irritation: hydrogen peroxide, ethyl alcohol (ethanol), and vinegar. My vet tech friend is no slouch, he moved on to humans and science.

Thanks again, all.

Well OK... that helps bc clearly the answer is to close up the opening. If your cats stay in the yard, if the only cat coming in is the one you DONT WANT coming in ... well, what am I missing here?

Putting aside the debate about whether 5% acetic acid will cause damage to eyes ... if you cause discomfort or pain to an animal, the only thing he is going to learn is to avoid you when you are there. It's simply NOT going to do what you want it to do - so why are you so fixated on doing it?

Other options: pop balloons in the cats ear and then attach balloons to your fence. Spray the area with citrus (cats abhor citrus). The idea is you want to deter the cat even when you are NOT there.

Still think your best bet though is to close up the opening and call it a day. If your cat gets out... well, then you pick him up and put him back inside!

Try a water pistol or soaker and squirt the cat when it comes over. We just got rid of a marauding cat at our barn this way.

Try a no kill trap and , keep trapping until you get the killer cat. Just because cats are legally allowed to roam does not mean you have to put up with that kind of behavior in your yard. I trapped one, one time. It is a long story and will give you the short version. I trapped him and took him to the pound. I told the owner where it was and they got it back. The point of the story is that cat never set foot in my yard again. I saw it walking across the top of the wood fence but it never came down again.

Never,never treat that poor cat like that again. That is not helpful. What do you think we have pet insurance for? If you have a fancy catico then you can have

pet insurance. I did not know there were so many cruel people to animals in this world.

It's somehow OK to have your cats outside and severely injured by another cat if you have pet insurance? Maybe in a bizarro world.

My cats are supervised and I am the only person on my street with cats. They

never have any problems unless a neighbor lets their retriever out. I have had to pay for that but my wonderful and perfect dog lets me know if anything is wrong. All my cats are spayed and neutered, have all their shots and everything else they need. One goes to the dermatologist.

In my world you are not mean to the neighbor's pet because they love

it and that cat was there through thick and thin.

"Any suggestions on how to stop this from happening, short of firing a shotgun in a populated area?"

Keep your cats inside. They will get used to being inside if they are spayed and neutered. Cats do not know how to properly cross a street and they do not know enough to avoid predators, traps and poisons. So keep them inside and keep them safe.