My cat - Will, 2yrs old neutered boy rehomed by me 9 months ago - is being bullied by a local cat, Jerry. Jerry is 18 months old and neutered and has a very nice home of his own, but was around before I got Will, he was coming thru' the cat flap so I changed it to one that reads Will's microchip to stop him. He is now trying to smash his way thru the cat flap, they have huge fist fights from either side. The same is happening thru' the windows - Will sits inside on the window sill and Jerry sits outside on the window ledge and they scrap. Jerry seems to lay in wait for Will, who is now reluctant to go out. Will is far bigger than Jerry, but is unable to stand his ground. We have regularly soaked Jerry, even put the hose on him and knocked him off the fence with the water jet and sprayed him with water through the cat flap, but nothing seems to deter him. When he sees me in the garden he comes over to me like a long lost friend!
We have a detached house with large garden (as does Jerry) so they're not forced to share a small outdoor space.
Suggestions please??

Cat proof your garden or get a big run - that way your cat is safe and the bully stays out.

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The exisiting cat is doing nothing wrong as far as cats are concerned, he's protecting his territory from an interloper.
Do you know if the other cat is neutered? Territorial behaviour is far worse in un-neutered cats, if he is entire neutering might well help the situation.

Knocking him off the fence with a water jet, is cruel and potentially very dangerous to the cat, he's just acting on instinct. Apart from cat proofing your garden, getting a run or keeping him as an indoor only cat, there isn't a lot you can do I'm afraid. Cats don't recognise our bounderies and if you garden was his terrritory before your cat arrived, in his mind it still is.

Making sure he can't get into your house is a good idea, but watch out for inappropriate marking from your boy, sometimes stress like this can cause cats to start urine marking or middening to reinforce the territorial boundries he can keep i.e. in your house.

Sorry i can't wave a magic wand and make it better, poor you!

Emma

you could also speak to Jerry's mum and establish different outdoor times so they can both go out without stress.

Sorry no advise but I am the grandmother of a bully. It's name is SNOOPY LOOPY.
She's terrible only goes in our garden but if our neighbours cat is sitting on the fence she runs up behind her and smacks her on the bottom. Snoopy will also sit on our wall wait for Milly to come back and just sit and give the evil eye, which means that poor Milly has to wait up the road until Snoopy's in before she can go home.
Milly did chase after Snoopy once unfortunately Snoopy ran in the house followed by Milly and ran behind Duke. Milly not realising how soft Duke is ran off even faster than when she ran in even more scared thinking that a big border collie would bully her too.
I'm not proud of her

You've had some fab suggestions so far but can I just add please, please don't spray Jerry when he's on the fence, let alone knock him off again. My aunties cat died tragically a few years ago simply by slipping off a fence and breaking her neck.

I would have needed this testimony when people were talking about using electric fences to scare off cats.

Same here, #3 cat Max and a semi adoptee, Buddy, before he disappeared, used to go out of their way to bully a tom from across the road. He couldn't even relax at home as they'd often follow him and lie in wait. God knows what his owners must have thought about all the silly o'clock fights in their garden.

Even #1 cat, Bola, the friendliest towards other cats, cat I've ever seen, has taken a serious dislike to my new-ish neighbours two toms. He will also go out of his way to pick a fight with them, ie yesterday afternoon when after what sounded like a duel to the death a few gardens away, he arrived back home looking very pleased with himself, if somewhat dishevelled and minus a recently bought collar and his ID barrel.

These neighbours went away on holiday last summer and had someone coming in to look after/feed their cats. They'd leave a kitchen window open so the cats could come and go and one at least one occasion, Bola followed them into the house to carry on fighting

Ian

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RIP Black Tom and Beckett, not just cats, they were my cats and the best ever.

Oh love it that's great the cat going in to continue the fight I bet he's saying "Your house is my house so take it bitch."

Glad I'm not the only one that has a bully cat but yours are slightly worse as there's more than one

Sorry Sue bet this doesn't make you feel any better.

It gets worse when I say the tom from across the road who Max bullies, often sneaks in thro' the flap here when he can't get in at home/the weather is bad. I don't mind as a/ he's jet black, b/ he's a semi long hair, a near perfect combo for me, but you can imagine what Max makes of this.

I did feel guilty about Bola bullying the two toms from next door, till I saw them bullying other, smaller cats themselves. If they can dish it out, they've got to be prepared to take it as well imo.

Ian

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RIP Black Tom and Beckett, not just cats, they were my cats and the best ever.