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Old January 10th, 2013, 10:21 AM
embean embean is offline
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Aggression/territorial behaviour in cat

Here is my situation:
My bedroom has a ground-level window that my cat likes to look out. However, my neighbours like to let their cats out and a couple of them hang around outside our window resulting in face-to-face encounters with my cat (through the window). The window is under our deck so the outside cats like it under there.

Whenever my cat finds another cat out there, she hisses and screams and makes awful noises and hits the window. The outside cats could care less. But, this has resulted in her being quite stressed. Whenever she's near the window she growls/makes "huffy" noises/hisses/paces (even if there's no cat there). When the blinds are closed she's kind of paranoid of what's out there.

With summer approaching I'm guessing there will be daily encounters like this. I could lock her out of the bedroom, but I'm guessing she would only cry at the door all day to get in. And, she sleeps in bed with us at night so it would be sad to lock her out (lately she's been nervous at night too and she wakes up several times during the night to pace around the window). I was hoping she would get used to the cats outside or make window friends, but it seems to only be getting worse.

My cat is aggressive now whenever she's in the bedroom. She will hit or bite if you try to pick her up. Basically I don't see keeping her out of the bedroom as a realistic or long-term solution.

I used Feliway once when she was stressed after a move, and it seemed to work (I don't know if it worked, or if she just got better). I was going to buy another because I think I got rid of my 2 old plug-ins. Would a Feliway in the bedroom help her calm down? Or are there any other suggestions?
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Old January 10th, 2013, 10:53 AM
Jim Hall Jim Hall is offline
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is she spayed? and yes get some more fellway
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Old January 10th, 2013, 10:59 AM
embean embean is offline
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Yes, she is spayed.

Update: My husband said he was going to get one of those cat-away sprays to spray outside the window. Does anyone know if these work? It's just stinky and the cats stay away because they don't like it, right? If these are effective perhaps this is hopeful.

Last edited by embean; January 10th, 2013 at 11:11 AM.
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Old January 10th, 2013, 02:24 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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I never used the spray stuff so can't comment, but if that doesn't work you could try SSCAT, which is a motion sensitive device that emits a blast of canned air (so totally harmless, but scary to a cat) when something enters range.

Another option might be to cover the lower part of the window with a frosted film so that she can't see the other cat, but it still lets light in.

I had a similar situation with the neighbor's cat climbing on the railing of my front steps and peering through my living room window. It drove one of my cats absolutely insane and he would throw himself at the window trying to get at him, then re-direct his aggression to his fellow housemates. I had to zip-tie a sheet of plastic to the railing to prevent the other dude from jumping up on it.

Good luck!
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Old January 10th, 2013, 03:51 PM
embean embean is offline
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The canned air sounds like an option but I'd be afraid of victimizing squirrels and other creatures.

I don't think the film would work because she goes nuts if she sees anything moving out there, or shadows, even when the blinds are closed. Also, sometimes the other cats talk back so there's that too
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Old January 12th, 2013, 12:11 AM
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Reg Reg is offline
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I had the same problem last year, with stray cats invading our yard and upsetting our cats. I found an item in a couple of catalogs - one was Lee Valley, and the other was Home Hardware. The item was called motion-activated sprinkler. It looked like the ideal tool for the problem, just a tad expensive though.

I put a ball valve on the outside faucet so I could turn it on quick when the backyard became invaded with unwanted cats. This system worked quite well when I was at home, and it seemed to solve the problem to a degree. If this problem starts again this summer I may have to invest in the motion-activated sensor. Here's Lee Valley's website for the sprinkler.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/Garden/p...t=2,51555&ap=2

And here's the Home Hardware website for the sprinkler

http://www.homehardware.ca/en/cat/se...ated+sprinkler

Lee Valley also has another tool called a CatStop. It would be alright if you didn't have a cat in the house, due to the fact that it omits a high frequency sound that would repell a cat, or any other animal whose hearing range on the high-end is between 21 and 25 kHz and the sound is at 124 dB which is quite loud.

Check out the SSCAT cat I think you'll find it is more designed for inside use. I understand it works quite well for certain applications but the range is only about 3 or 4 feet. Great for tabletops, counters and other close quarter areas. Check it out - it has been a few years since I looked at it and it could have changed.

The motion-activated sprinklers I would expect would be in other hardware stores as well, might be worth looking into.

If it was me, I'd be using the Feliway in the bedroom to help with the stress, until you can correct the situation. As far as the "cat-away" sprays are concerned, if they are a scent deterrent and you open the window, the smell will drift in and have a similar effect on your cat - deterring it from using the bedroom. Don't forget that a cat's nose is about 14 times more sensitive than ours.

Hope this might give you some more ideas.
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